POACHING INCREASED AGAIN Update 17 August,2017

UK is the biggest IVORY dealer in the world despite putting a ban on Ivory sales OFFICIALLY!!

PM May tried to cancel the ban but was outvoted.
 

Update 17 Oct., 2016 -- The latest news is that poachers do not shoot any more but poison the animals. They put poison in water holes.

The poaching of elephants, rhinos, lions and even giraffes are on the increase again.

Even the "legal" hunting has increased. Recent pictures showed a 12 year old and the two sons of presidential candidate Donald Trump posing with their killed animals and feeling great.

The dentist of New York who killed the lion Cecil and shocked the world had also killed already 1000s of wild animal and trades in trophies.

Little do they know how pathetic they are. It only takes a big amount of money of £30,000 to £40,000 to enable them to go on safari and the shooting of the animals is all set-up, made safe for the "hunter"
.
A report in the Daily Mirror state that poaching is on the increase again.

There are ruthless international gangs behind it earning multi-billions of pounds.

The real root lies with the countries like China and Asia demanding parts of wild animals for medicine and ornaments.

Unless these demands are stopped well organised gangs exploit it for huge profits.

The poaching of elephants for their tasks has increased by 400 per cent.  

In South Africa's Kruger National Park which is the seize of Wales 36 elephants had been found since January and it has almost double for the same period last year. Other places it is even worse.

During the same time 456 rhinos were found killed which dropped from 557 from 2015.

The huge area is patrolled by helicopters and pilots are in contact with people on the ground despite South Africa's Government demand the ban to lifted of trading in ivory.

Poachers nowadays are well equipped and work at night

As mentioned above unless the demand stops we will face extinction of all these magnificent wild animals. This warning had been out for decades and been repeated times and again but the greed of international criminals goes on.

SICK TRADE OF IVORY Update 17 August, 2017

America is one of the biggest importers of ivory.  
 Please stop it !!!!!

Update 17 August, 2017 --

UK two-faced Tory Gov. is the second biggest trader in Ivory!!!! To cover their foul deeds and to blindfold the public they put a ban on it.

Update 22 May, 2017 --
Theresa May and the Conservatives will try to stop the ban of ivory trade introduced by Labour if they win in the coming General Election 2017

UPDATE: 4 May,  2016 --
Kenya burned a 106 tons of tasks which were confiscated. It is revealed that about 30,000 elephants are killed each year for their tasks by poachers, Igt is needless to say that it will extinct these magnificent sooner than later. 

According to records every 15 minutes an elephant gets killed by poachers fr their ivory. It is that bad.

Too many articles had been written and yet the killing of these magnificent animals goes not only on but increased for the sick trade of ivory. 

There is no doubt that it is a multi-million business run by a well organised crime syndicate.

The root of the problem is greed by traders because ivory has a higher price than gold.  

For the poachers who actually do the dirty deed of killing the elephants is a good income but not as much as for the traders, and in countries where people are desperate for money it is almost and I say almost excusable. 

When you visit the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya, near Nairobi, you can watch the baby elephants playing in the sunshine looking all carefree but the truth behind it is heart breaking. Their mother had been killed for their ivory. The trust was set up by a British Officer. The babies are so young and therefore still depend on their mothers’ milk. Left in the wild they would have no chance.

Although a law exists that trade in ivory is illegal but despite of it, it is increasing   Poaching is out of control and the demand for ivory from the Far East soars.  The only chance to save these beautiful animals would be if the demand would stop or at least drop.

Dame Daphne Sheldrick the co-founder of the trust stated that with the help of their keepers and the love from other little elephants they survive. They are being hand-reared and then returned to the wild.  They have around 60 baby elephants in their nursery.

It is estimated that there are around 35,000 elephants killed every year by poachers for the ivory trade.  They are dying daily and it is nothing but a crime against a magnificent wildlife. How much longer can this go on without the species being extinct or at least kept in zoos to remind us of the loss in the wild, is any one guess.

That is where people should be fighting and not this continuous wars everywhere, killing each other. It would make far more sense to fight to preserve nature which they are so fortunate to have but do not appreciate it till it’s gone.

The various authorities from many countries doing their best to catch shipments to stop the trade. Only recently they caught a seven tonne shipment destined to the Far East. It was a great success but unfortunately it will not bring the animals back. The shipment came from Kenya.

An art dealer in New York was buying vintage master pieces of ivory and his business was raided and the collection was destroyed.  He received a prison sentence of eight years.

KENYA'S AUTHORITY
DISCOVERED THAT
LOAD AND DESTROYED IT

ELEPHANTS IN DANGER OF EXTINCTION-- Updated 22 May, 2017

Update 22 May, 2017 --
Poachers have new tactic which is, unfortunately, more effective as well as more safe to be caught.

They poison the waterholes!

At the moment there are more elephants killed than born.

UPDATED: 10 June, 2015 -- Police caught two shipments totalling seven tonnes Ivory. They arrested three suspected top men of an suspected Ivory smuggling ring. It is also thought they finance terrorists.

Tycoon Abdurahman Mohammed Sheikh was arrested with his two sons at his mansions 

3.7 tonnes from Singapore was worth £40million and it was the second largest from Kenya since 2002. The other shipment was intercepted from Thailand which had 511 raw task and hidden in containers of tea. Both were destined for the Far East. Police Officer will investigate further and find more suspects. Daily Mirror revealed last year cartels are linked to  British terrorist Samantha Lewthwaite to finance attacks. The illegal Ivory trade is worth £4.5billion.

The ivory trade has raised its ugly head an again and the illegal killing increased last year – 2012.

In 1989 Kenya’s President Daniel Arap Moi set fired to 1`2 tonnes of confiscated elephant task, the value was hundreds of thousands of pounds at that time. Soon after CITES the Convention on International trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora made it law to ban trade in ivory. After this the demand went down drastically. It was hoped than the elephant population would increase.

For unknown reason the trade in ivory increased again a decade ago. Last year was the highest number, so far, of elephant being killed and their task removed. The biggest seizure so far was in Malaysia last month. They discovered 24 tonnes which are 1,500 tonnes, worth £12.4million and death of 750 elephants.

Between January and March in 2012 an incredible 50 per cent of elephant in Cameroon’s Bouba Ndjida National Park were slaughter by bandits.

March 22, 2012  -- 22 elephant corpses were found in Garamba National Park. They way they were positioned it was thought they grouped together to protect their young. All been shot from above and it looked that a helicopter was used.

October 2012 in Hong Kong a record of 3.81 tonnes of ivory was seized. It was the biggest haul in China. The 1,209 tusk and ivory pieces were on board of a ship coming from Tanzania.

October  31, 2012 in Tanzania was 200 tusks were discovered.

The conservationist Jan Goodall suggest that the demand in the last decade had rising because of a number of people getting very rich especially in China.  Tom Milliken director of TRAFFIC which is the wildlife trade monitoring network explains ivory has raised substantial in price over the last decade. In China it is even a status symbol to use chopstick mad from ivory. By now it is the sterling silver of the Far East.  He explains further that China still has that status obsession which is a link to the imperial past.

The other markets are the tourist markets in Thailand which are full of trinket and ornamental carving made from ivory. People still buying it and even the young ones. They know it is ivory but will they know it is from poaching elephants?

Also the West has its impacting demand.  Since travelling is so available the Western tourists are buying these goods and bringing them back as gift and souvenirs. There are enough bangles, beads and brooches to make you look beautiful it does not have to ivory.

Apparently the Chinese government became very alert to illegal ivory trade and made two ivory seizures a day scanning ship containers. Also the luggage and bags are being searched which are brought back by Chinese nationals.

All these successes don’t seem to deter the poachers and trade. Mr Milliken points out that it is the country which don’t report a seizure are heavily involved in the illegal trade such as Thailand, Nigeria and Cameroon.

Ms Goodall thinks that education could have a great impact and she explains that some people who bring ivory over the border don’t even know that it is illegal. Therefore, a good campaign would make an impact.

Chinese basketball star Yao Ming who is the equivalent of David Beckham had joint the fight. It will influence the illegal trade greatly. He made a film standing next to dead rhinos and elephants to show the people what happens in other country. It will be a powerful message being such a well know star. Also Jackie Chan is getting involved and tried to send out a powerful message.

Mr Milliken stated further that in the eighties Japan had half of the illegal trade and today it is only one per cent. This proves that a powerful campaign can turn things around.

Ms Goodall also contacted David Attenborough to ADD his name and influence to the campaign. She said that it not only the animals get killed, it is also Park Rangers.  In the Tsavo National Park in Kenya there were 12 park Rangers killed and 60 poachers over six year. Yet, they still do it. 

The problem is that when a Park Ranger is killed the family automatically loses their homes and the children can’t go to school any more which is totally unfair because the Park Ranger gave his life. She also campaigns for more contribution to pay the Park Rangers and their families especially when the ranger is killed.

ELEPHANTS BEMOAN THEIR DEAD. MOTHER HAD BEEN KILLED AND THE VERY YOUNG BABY TOUCHING HER HOPING SHE WILL WAKE UP AGAIN.  IS IT NOT A VERY SAD PICTURE?  IT SHOULD PUT THE HUMANS TO SHAME  --  BUT WILL IT?

LIONS POPULATION DECLINING

What would Africa be without their lions? Yet they get hunted and/or pressured all the time into smaller spaces. A great warning signal came from Dr Luke Hunter, president of Panthera which is a leading organisation of wild cat conservation.

He stated that it is wrongly to assume the lions are doing well. Apparently only in the last few year the decline had sped up enormously and it is slowly heading towards extinction. It is not even a century ago when there were 200,000 lions living in Africa. This number has dropped alarmingly and unbelievable down to a mere 30,000. A further revelation tells us that 200 years ago, before Europe started to have colonies in Africa; the lions existed everywhere in Africa except in the Sahara, the Congo and the rainforest. It is estimated that there were millions.

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Since 2002 lions became already extinct in five countries. Today there are to be found in only 28 African countries and one Asian country – India.  However, there are only seven countries which have at least 1,000 left in Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

LIONS  IN THE SAVANNAH

The greatest problem is the disappearance of the lions’ habitat. The best example, the Africa savannah disappeared over the last 50 years. The savannah grassland used to be the homeland for lions but has now been broken up into farmlands or developments. A study revealed that the lions’ population is on the verge of extinction especially in West and Central Africa.

Africa has the fastest growing human population than any other continent and this alone has a greatest impact on wildlife including the lions. Since human habitat spreads into lions’ territory it multiplies the danger of attack.  The result is herder either spears, shot or poison them.  In Kenya alone 100 lions are being killed every year.  The country has a lions’ population of 2,000 and with a loss of 100 a year does not give a great survival rate.

Dr Hunter is fully aware to the problem of lions’ attacks either to the livestock or the farmers and herders themselves.  The lions will also increase their attacks since their own prey such as antelope are being over-hunted by humans. Dr Hunter came to the conclusion there could be an answer to save both the humans and lions.  The established conservation in good game reserves and national park has shown a great increase of lions. A fine example is South Africa the National Kruger Park is the size of Israel. Another one is Tanzania is still wild and has mostly large protected areas.

The other way of life for humans and lions to live side by side Dr Hunter refers back to centuries ago. The Masai Tribe had been herding their cattle, which is their main asset, for century across the savannah’s grassland.  They were also known for traditional lions hunt but infrequent. Today it has increased a great deal and as before it was no problem to have a hunting party now and then tradition is forgotten and they kill lions because they attack their cattle. This change of outlook causes now a great damage.

The answer to this is a programme to change lions’ hunter into lions' guardians.  This brings back the old method of good protection of their livestock which avoids problems with lions.  The basic rules are the lions can’t get to the livestock and fewer lions get killed.

One great danger of lions being killed by poachers is either for bush meat, for trophies and for Asian's traditional medicine trade.  Unfortunately, every part of a lion had a potentially use in Asian medicine.  There is also an increase because of the demand.

Dr Hunter states that if there isn’t a drastic change it only would take a couple of decades and lions will be found only in very isolated places like the tigers today.

A rare northern white rhino is already being guarded with a soldier equipped with a rifle on each side while it is grazing. This is a disgrace to humans with their endless greed.

IS THAT WHAT WE WANT FOR EVERY LAST ANIMAL?

EVEN GREED SHOULD NOT OVERRULE COMMON SENSE

ORANG UTAN

ORANG UTAN

The continuous reduction of the rainforest for agricultural land is a great threat to the Orang Utan. They are  a shy animal and lives solitary. Orang Utan means big man of the forest in Malayan language.

There are one species orang utan and nine species of gibbons are members of the ape family. They inhabit the jungle of south-east Asia’s mainland and islands and therefore known as Asian apes.  The agile gibbons are lesser apes but the orang utan is a beautiful example of the great apes.

The orang utan is one species but the group which lives in Borneo differs slightly from the one living in Sumatra. The Sumatran orang utan is thinner, paler and has long hair and a longer face.

SUMATRAN
ORANG UTAN 

The orang utan has a long, red, shaggy hair the faces bare but for the Sumatran male which has a long beard. The adult male is almost twice the size of the female. It is even more emphasised by the development of great, fleshy flanges on both sides of the face, a high fatty crown on the top of his head. He also has a large throat sack from which he produces his loud call. When the male matures his hairs are getting darker.

The orang utan’s long arms help him to swing through he trees. His method of swinging he reaches out from one branch and gets hold of another. He then shakes it vigorously until the whole trees sways to make sure the branch is strong enough to support his weight. His feet are very much like his hands and look like his fingers.

BORNEO ORANG UTAN

The orang utan is different to the ape species in such that he is almost solitary. Only the female has a lasting contact with her offsprings. Adult males establish their own territory but are not very particular about it.  They also wander across their own boundaries. When adults meet in some area they either ignore each other or they can have a noisy and violent confronting.

The orang utan moves around and eats during the day. Although his weight is heavy but they spend most of the time in the trees. They also make a nest in the tree with branches and leaves to sleep in. They bend and weave a number of branches together and then build their nest on it.  Older males spend more time on the ground floor. It is assumed that their great weight is stopping them to climb up into the trees.

They spend most of their day time eating and mainly fruit. Their strong jaws are able to break open shells of the favourite fruit. They have great variety of food such as leaves nuts, shoots, tree bark, insects, birds’ eggs, birds and mammals,

The orange Utah highly developed memory helps him to know where the fruit trees are and the season of the year.

BREEDING

The male has several females in his territory. When one of them is ready to mate they stay together over several weeks, mating several times.  The moment the female is pregnant they split and don’t want to know each other any more. However, the male will move to other females and mate again.

The female has one single young and the gestation period is 260-270 days.  The young one stays with the mother and clinging to its fur. It will be weaned after three years. It will stay with the mother until she is pregnant again. This will be normally after five years. The female can give birth to young ones till she is 30 years old.

The youngster will then go off and establish a territory of their own but still keeping in contact and play with each other. When they are 10 or 15 years old and they are fully matured they move on.

The mature male is known for its spectacularly loud and long call. He then tares branches off and throws them to the ground.  The calls start with a low-pitched sound then it gets gradually louder and louder eventually it reaches a crescendo of a long bellows which then ends into a low-pitch sound again.  This can last for one to three minutes. It is assumed that it is an advertisement to attract sexually receptive females. .

INDIAN ELEPHANT -- AFRICAN ELEPHANT

AFRICAN ELEPHANT

The elephant is the largest living land animal. It weighs 6,5 tonnes and measures up to 3.3 meter tall.

A PREHISTORIC PYGMY ELEPHANT

The largest prehistoric elephant was the steppe mammoth. It was to be found all over the central Europe a million years ago. A skeleton found in Germany suggest a height of 4,5m. The prehistoric elephant which had straight tusks and lived in northern Germany about 300,000 years ago and had longer tusks than today's mammals. Its tusks measured on average 5m.

WOOLLY MAMMOT

A single woolly mammoth tusk which is to be found in the Franzens Museum in Brno, Slovakia. It measures 5,02m on the outside curve.

The heaviest single fossil tusk on record weighed 150kg.

ASIAN ELEPHANT

ASIAN ELEPHANT

ASIAN ELEPHANT FOR CELEBRATION

We have two species - The African elephant and the Asian elephant. They are of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea. Within that are eleven species of hyraxes and the aardvark.

There are two types of African elephants. The Bush elephant and the forests elephant. The forest elephant is smaller, the ears are rounder and the task is thinner as well as turns inwards. This helps to move through the thick vegetation. Although they are moving in a group, they are very hard or almost impossible to spot because of the density of the forest. Sometimes they come into a clearing for a drink or a wallowing in the mud. They have been seen to dig up mud with their tusks and drink the brew. It is assumed that this is to get certain minerals.

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The tusks of an elephant start growing when it is two years old. From there on the tusk is growing continuously. Wild African elephants can live to an age of 60 years. A fully grown elephant's tusks can weigh up to 60kg and a cow's tusk only 9kg. Very old elephants used to have tusks of 3m long but nowadays are very seldom because of the ivory poachers.

Ivory is a mixture of dentine, cartilaginous tissue and calcium salts. These tusks are used to strip bark off trees, dig for roots and minerals. They also used for a display of superiority or as a weapon.

Elephants are herbivores and can crush coarse vegetation in large quantities. To do this they have a huge head, powerful chewing muscles and big, strong teeth. Although, they have only four teeth, they are like massive millstones of ivory, grinding it into a pulp before swallowing. To support the trunk and these great, heavy teeth, the elephant has a large head. The skull itself is very light and has a honeycomb with air cells and cavities.

The trunk enables the elephants to pick food from the ground or the trees. Although, very muscular and powerful it is also very sensitive. It can rip out trees and branches and yet flexible enough to plug individual fruits, leaves and shoots. It is sensitive to smell and is used to investigate new objects. When meeting other elephants it is used to touch and greet them.

The elephants have tree trunk legs and unusual, beefy feet with broad footpads and large nails. The bones are spread out and have a broad bed of elastic, spongy tissue and a flat circular sole. These pads spread the huge weight and give a silent move in the forest and on open ground very little track. It ambles along at a speed of 5km/h.  It puts both right feet forward and then both left feet. It can run or charge at 40km/h

The large ears have several functions apart from hearing. They can be fanned out to show threat or using it as fans to cool themselves

A herd of elephants consists of females and calves of various ages. Each herd has an old female which leads the group. It is related to all the females in the herd. She is called the matriarch. She might be past breeding age but has great knowledge and experience. She knows their territory and leads them to waterhole and seasonal food. They have a strong bond within the family and have a complex society. They also help out with guiding and guarding young ones. At birth it weighs 120kg and by the time it is six it weighs 1000kg.

The females stay in the herd all their lives but the bulls leave when they are adults. Bulls live a solitary live or sometimes live in small groups with other bulls. They don't bond with the female.

Maturity is reached at about 10-12 years of age. The forest elephant matures earlier. Birth can be given at any time but mostly in the rainy season when food is plenty. Females in heat give a trumpet call and bulls travel far to check up on the female.

Bush elephants seek shelter in bushes or trees. Sometimes, they sleep for short while lying on their sides. They can't do this for long otherwise their internal organ suffers. They mostly sleep standing up. Forest elephants feed from early evening and through the night.

They can eat a wide variety like fruits, leaves, shoots, buds, twigs, branches, bark, roots and tubers. Also they raid crops. Plantations of bananas, mangoes, sweet potatoes and sugar cane. They eat up to 225kg a day. Some of the food is hardly digested and therefore it needs a great amount of food to get its nourishment. An elephant drinks every day. It sucks water up with its drunk and squirts it into its mouth. It can drink 100-300 litres. It also uses the water to squirt it over itself.

There are four Asian subspecies which are the Indian, Malaysian, Ceylon and Sumatran elephant. They are only living in the forests and of smaller size. They move through the forests in single file and on well trotten path. They can travel long distances to find food. Asian elephants don't grow tusk but for 10% of the Ceylon bull elephants. They also have smaller ears and have two small tomes on top of their head. The trunk has only one lip at the end.

Elephants were once used for warfare but even nowadays they are still important animals in Asia. The mahout looks after its elephant because he appreciates its good nature, intelligence, strength and memory. They are priceless in rough terrain and road less, thick forests. A lot of them work in timber forests where machinery is useless. They are also used for ceremonies. People breed elephants in captivity but still round the wild elephants in a dangerous drive. Well respected elephant cowboys will train them.

In a remote area of Nepal, giant elephants have been seen. It is assumed that they are especially large animals of the Asian species.