More Than 11,000 Elephants Poached In Gabon In Past Decade, Officials Estimate

by Sean McLachlan on

The West African nation of Gabon has one of the largest populations of elephants in the world, yet now they’re in danger of being wiped out for their ivory.

The World Wildlife Fund reports that a study done by itself in cooperation with the Gabonese National Parks Agency and the Wildlife Conservation Society found that up to 11,000 elephants were killed by poachers in Gabon since 2004. That may be up to 77 percent of the total population.

Most of the killings took place in and around Minkébé National Park, a vast and remote area that’s supposed to be a safe haven for wildlife.

The area is home to forest elephants, which are especially prized by poachers because their ivory is unusually hard and has a pink tinge to it, making it more profitable to sell on the international black market.

As we reported last month, the illegal ivory trade rose to its highest level ever in 2011. This is mainly due to a rising demand in Asia. While some African nations are investing in more law enforcement, corruption in both Africa and Asia is keeping the illegal trade in ivory alive.

Is it any wonder that another recent study found that elephants try to avoid humans?

The WWF is circulating a petition to stop ivory trade in Thailand. It says in part, “Thailand is also the biggest unregulated market for ivory in the world. Although it is against the law to sell ivory from African elephants in Thailand, ivory from domestic Thai elephants can be sold legally. As a result, massive quantities of illegal African ivory are being laundered through Thai shops.”

The petition already has more than 200,000 signatures, including mine. They’re trying to get to a million.

[Image of forest elephant in Ivindo National Park, Gabon, courtesy Peter H. Wrege]

Zimbabwe has mixed success stopping rhino poaching

by Sean McLachlan on


Zimbabwe has seen an increase in rhino poaching this year, the government newspaper The Herald reports.

At least 23 of the 700 or so black and white rhinos in the country were poached this year, but authorities managed to arrest 37 poachers and horn dealers. Rhino horns are popular for folk medicine, especially in Asia where they fetch high prices. One tactic of the poachers is to poison water holes, which kills not just the rhinos but any animal that drinks there.

More than $4 million is being spent to protect the animals, the government says, including implanting radio transmitters into the horns of 100 rhinos this year.

Zimbabwe isn’t the only country facing this problem. The Huffington Post reports that South Africa is doing more to train park workers on how to investigate incidents of poaching. Several poachers were killed in shootouts with authorities earlier this year, but that didn’t stop 341 South African rhinos from being poached in the first 10 months of the year, more than in all of 2010.

Photo of rhino in Matopos National Park, Zimbabwe, courtesy Susan Adams.

New World Heritage Site for Malaysia?

by Sean McLachlan on

A cave that sheltered early humans in Malaysia more than 40,000 years ago is being proposed as a new World Heritage Site.

Niah Caves are several large limestone caves that have attracted archaeological interest since the 1950s. Excavations have turned up the earliest human remains in eastern Malaysia, as well as artifacts from various periods from early prehistory down through the Iron Age. One cave has paintings of mysterious “coffin ships” dating back 1,200 years. This long period of habitation makes the caves especially interesting to archaeologists because they can see how lifestyles and culture changed over time. The caves are part of Niah National Park.

Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud plans to propose the caves to UNESCO for their World Heritage List. The caves and park are already a popular tourist attraction, and getting the caves listed as a World Heritage Site would add to their appeal as well as attract conservation funding.

Mulu Caves on Borneo are already a UNESCO World Heritage Site and are famous for having the largest cave chamber in the world, measuring 600m (1,969ft) by 415m (1,362ft) and 80m (262ft) high.

The minister also wants to bring the remains found in the caves by foreign expeditions back into the country and wants to build special facilities at Sarawak Museum to take care of them. Malaysia was able to get some artifacts from another site back from Cambridge University in 2008, part of a growing trend of developing nations demanding their heritage back from Western institutions.

[Photo courtesy Dave Bunnell via Wikimedia Commons]