2011-12-31 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Dan Koehl
During 2011 submissions in the elephant database: There was 66 elephants born 2011 in the database, 32 males, 20 females. 49 were born in captivity, 22 males, 17 females. 64 records of elephants deaths in the database during 2011. 105 transfers of elephants during 2011 in the database. In The Elephants News, 359 headlines about Elephants was recorded during 2011.
2011-12-30 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Disna MUDALIGE
Work on four elephant conservation sites planned in selected areas to control the human-elephant conflict would be completed within the next year, Wildlife Conservation Department director general H D Ratnayake told the Daily News yesterday. He said that the centre in Veheragala has been completed, while the construction of the three other centres in Horowpathana, Maduru Oya and Galgamuwa will be completed within the next year using the budgetary allocation of Rs 100 million.
2011-12-30 - Maputo, Mozambique.
Poachers have killed 77 elephants in a Niassa Game Reserve in northern Mozambique this year, Xinhua reported Thursday. Poachers, reportedly from Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, have also cut trees indiscriminately in the reserve, the local media reported. The provincial authorities have intensified operations to nab the criminals.
2011-12-30 - JAMSHEDPUR, India.
The birth of two baby elephants has come as a boon for the villagers of Chandil block in Seraikela as it has stopped a marauding herd from wreaking further damage to crop and property in the area. On Wednesday, the wandering elephants razed about a dozen houses and destroyed crops in Kodidhar village.
2011-12-30 - Chitwan, Nepal.
The lucky ellies got their toes painted in Nepal as part of a a three-day, elephant-themed festival. The event, which includes elephant races, elephant soccer and an elephant beauty pageant (!!), is intended to attract positive attention to Nepal, encourage tourism and raise awareness of conservation efforts. You know how many cool nail designs you could fit on those things? Check it out. But what they really raised awareness of (for us, at least) was how awesome it would be to d...
2011-12-29 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
More elephant tusks were seized in 2011 than in any year since 1989, when the ivory trade was banned, international wildlife trade group Traffic says. The group said elephants have had a "horrible year", with 23 tonnes of ivory seized - representing at least 2,500 dead animals.
2011-12-29 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Elephants in India may be considered an embodiment of Lord Ganesh, but the status of captive jumbos in Kerala is anything but divine. Experts say the lack of proper medical care as well as money-minded owners pose a serious threat to the magnificent beasts. According to 70-year-old veterinarian Jacob Cheeran, of the 14,000 elephants in captivity in the world, around 26 percent are in India.
2011-12-29 - Dong Nai, Vietnam.
Half of the wild elephants in Dong Nai Province have been wiped out in recent years, despite steps taken by the Prime Minister to save them. A project that he initiated five years ago to provide them with sanctuary in three "elephant" provinces by the year 2010 failed to get underway in the province.
2011-12-29 - Pretoria, South Africa.
SIX AFRICAN elephant conservation projects across the continent are the first to benefit from a new international trust fund set up last year to help protect the giant pachyderms. The selected projects, which have collectively been granted $150 000 (R1.2 million), include investigating regional illegal ivory markets, mitigating local human-elephant conflicts, providing equipment to rangers and strengthening the management of key protected areas.
2011-12-29 - Paignton, United Kingdom.
An elephant in a south Devon zoo is recovering well after receiving surgery to remove an eye. Paignton Zoo´s four tonne African elephant Duchess became the first in the UK to undergo the operation. Duchess had been plagued by pain after glaucoma and cataracts had left her virtually blind.
2011-12-29 - Wuppertal, Germany.
Zookeepers in Germany appear to have come up with a novel way of getting reluctant baby elephants to behave. These pictures, which some may find disturbing, show a young man dragging a resistant calf by the trunk to get it on to the weighing scales for a check-up at Wuppertal Zoo in Germany. Uli is one of around 5,000 animals of 500 different species living at the park, who all have to be counted, weighed and measured each year to see if they are developing as they should.
2011-12-29 - Sen Monorom, Cambodia. Dan Koehl
Upon my return to Cambodia in December, I met Jack Highwood, again, and he invited me to Mondulkiri to spend christmas there, and see the Elephant Valley Project again. It once again strucked me, what a nice place Jack has found for the elephants within the project, and for himself and the project volunteers and guests.
2011-12-28 - Los Angeles, United States.
The woman, who has not yet been identified, crossed ditched and climbed fences -- barriers specifically meant to keep people like her out to get into the elephant sanctuary on what was a very busy afternoon at the zoo. The woman walked right up to the animals and even petted some of them while horrified onlookers screamed at her, trying to get her to leave the sanctuary which houses three elephants.
2011-12-28 - Jaipur, India. Akshya Rout
On Sunday , Nanda Lal a Mahot from Uttar Pradesh left the village Trijanga after chained a 50 year old male elephant on the tree . The elephant roared in hunger and due to absence of its Mahot . After knowing this incident, we rushed to the village with veterinary doctors and six forest guards to provide proper food and medicine to the jumbo. A Mahout of a pet elephant left the chained jumbo in village Trijanga under Danagadi block of Jajpur district for two days for which thepanicked villagers ...
2011-12-28 - Dong Nai, Vietnam.
Police in Dong Nai Province said they had found 2 bullet tips in the body of the wild elephant that was killed 5 days ago. One of the tips was buried in the head of the elephant and the other in its right leg, the police said. Six holes similar to bullet-holes were found on the head and hip and two cuts, about 50 cm long each, were also found on the back.
2011-12-28 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Dan Koehl
There is between 400 and 600 wild elephants in Cambodia. There is today around 120 captive elephants in Cambodia. Most of Cambodias captive elephants are privately owned by tribal peoples in eastern Cambodia.
2011-12-28 - Sen Monorom, Cambodia.
A couple of years ago I came in contact with Jack Highwood through the Internet, and finally visited him in Cambodia in March 2011. In 2007, Jack Highwood founded the Elephant Valley Project 20 minutes from the Mondulkiri capitol Sen Monorum, which is 5-7 hours bus trip from Phnom Penh.
2011-12-27 - Dong Nai, Vietnam.
Forest rangers on Friday found the carcass of an elephant in a protected forest in the southern province of Dong Nai, the online newspaper Dan Tri reported. The decaying elephant, which weighed around three tons, was found in the 14,000-hectare Tan Phu Forest in Dinh Quan District.
2011-12-26 - Dallas, United States.
Responsible for the care, husbandry, and training of the African Elephants. Responsible for maintaining all aspects of daily animal husbandry. Responsible for exhibit maintenance and observation. Assists in veterinary procedures and research. Provides environmental enrichment. Actively encourages public interest in elephants through educational presentations, public relations and tours.
2011-12-26 - Houston, United States.
The Houston Zoo Inc. is seeking an enthusiastic professional to join our Elephant Team. This is an exciting opportunity to be a part of a progressive elephant program. With a new exhibit and barn and continued elephant breeding, the Houston zoo elephant program has become a state of the art program and facility. We recently opened another new Elephant exhibit, tripling the elephant’s usable space.
2011-12-25 - Mombasa, Kenya.
Kenya seized 727 pieces of ivory in a container destined for Asia, a customs official said, the latest in a wave of ivory hauls in the east African country. Customs agents in the port of Mombasa said the contraband was hidden in bags of plastic chips and showed up in a scan of the container ahead of shipment on Wednesday.
2011-12-24 - London, United Kingdom. 1. John R. Hutchinson1, 2. Cyrille Delmer2, 3. Charlotte E. Miller1, 4. Thomas Hildebrandt3, 5. Andrew A. Pitsillides1, 6. Alan Boyde4
Our survey shows that basal proboscideans were relatively “flat-footed” (plantigrade), whereas early elephantiforms evolved the more derived “tip-toed” (subunguligrade) morphology, including the predigits and fat pad, of extant elephants. Thus, elephants co-opted sesamoid bones into a role as false digits and used them for support as they changed their foot posture.
2011-12-23 - Bentong, Malaysia. M. HAMZAH JAMALUDIN
THE Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) successfully relocated three out of five wild elephants that were captured in Kampung Troh near here, last week. The pachyderms were relocated to an undisclosed location in Taman Negara on Wednesday. Twenty State Perhilitan employees, including those from the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary, were involved in the seven-hour relocation process of the two adult females and a year-old calf, which began at 8am.
2011-12-22 - Anchorage, United States.
A man from Pennsylvania who planned to go fossil hunting in Alaska has learned the hard way that bragging about your ill-gotten stash can come back to haunt you. In this case, though, it´s the guide who helped him gain access to Alaska´s prehistoric treasures who´s suffering the consequences. On Dec. 14, a federal grand jury indicted author and outdoor guide Karen Jettmar on charges of conspiracy and removing a paleontological resource from federal land.
2011-12-22 - Maun, Botswana. Doug and Sandi Groves
We are looking for a dedicated and experienced person to help with the handling and husbandry of our little herd. If you are interested and qualified please send resume and reference letters. Living With Elephants is dedicated to relieving conflict and competition between the African Elephant and human populations in Botswana.
2011-12-22 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan authorities seized 727 pieces of ivory in a container at the main port of Mombasa in one of the largest hauls of tusks in recent years, officials said Thursday. "We had a suspicion of the contents, and that is why we invited the Kenya Wildlife Service, opened the container and we have elephant tusks," said Kenya Revenue Authority Deputy Commissioner Rose Gachiri.
2011-12-20 - Winston, United States.
This is a full-time, working supervisory role, coordinating daily operations of the Elephant Section while under general supervision of the General Curator and assisting the General Curator in managing the animal collection of the Elephant Section. Senior Ranger is responsible for supervising keeper staff and regularly performs keeper duties.
This is a full-time staff position responsible for the daily animal husbandry of a designated department or area. Works independently and in a team environment to apply highest standards of animal care, enrichment and training. Interacts with the public to educate them about the collection and conservation concerns, providing keeper talks and encounters. Works closely with the vet staff to maintain animals’ good health and well-being.
2011-12-18 - Chitwan, Nepal.
Chitwan National Park (CNP) has decided not to allow the entry of private-owned tuskers for now after all political parties unanimously opposed the government decision to allow private elephants in CNP. CNP was preparing to allow entry from Monday after the government gave its permission despite serious concerns raised by conservation activists about the negative impact of the movement of private-owned elephants on bio-diversity and animal conservation.
2011-12-17 - Santa Ana, United States.
The Santa Ana Zoo announced Friday that it has ended its 25-year-old elephant ride attraction to comply with changes in animal care and safety guidelines designed to protect zookeepers and trainers from being harmed by the powerful and moody land giants. The decision was based on policy changes adopted in September by the Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums, which accredits the Santa Ana Zoo. Santa Ana Zoo was one of the last two zoos in the United States encouraging visitor-elephant interactions.
2011-12-17 - Colombo, United States.
Sri Lanka Department of Forest Conservation says that 200 elephants and 48 men were killed in the human-elephant conflicts this year. Of these elephants, 75 were killed due to gunshot injuries, says the Deputy Director of the Department W.S.K. Navaratne. Another 22 elephants were killed by food traps laid by farmers and hunters. This explosive laden food detonates when the elephant munches it and the animal receives a painful death.
2011-12-17 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Dr Paolo Martelli, Chief Veterinarian, Ocean Park, Hong Kong: His Conclusion states that she is painfully lame as a result of pododermatitis, osteitis, ostoelysis, deep sepsis and other lesions. Furthermore, if the lameness is not improved drastically it will lead to degeneration of all joints in all limbs.
2011-12-17 - Hope, United States.
Hope Elephants welcomes the community to its nearly-completed elephant care and rehabilitation facility in Hope on Tuesday, Dec. 27, at 3 p.m. for a behind-the-scenes tour and presentation in advance of the arrival of its first resident elephant, Rosie. Jim Laurita, executive director and curator of Hope Elephants, will give a short tour of the facility, a description of the care Rosie and a second elephant will receive at the facility, and a presentation on Asian elephants, including their habi...
Went to the area opposite the Australian Embassy and met Sin Sorn and Sambo, it looks almost idyllic. When you get close, the picture changes. Numerous abcesses, and she keep the worst foot lifted all the time. Her nails had really been shortened, but the laength of the nails is now a secondary problem, as can be seen here and on close-ups.
Of course noone wants Sambo to suffer anymore, including her owner, Sin Sorn in Phnom Penh. What can be done for Sambo? I want to stress, that she can not be viewed only as an elephant, shes a vicitm of so many pathological issues, that shes in need of intensive medical care. And her feet are in such a bad condition, that they have to be priority over general management issues.
2011-12-17 - Paignton, United Kingdom.
A FOUR-tonne elephant suffering from painful vision problems has become the first in Britain to have an eye removed. A team of 15 vets, nurses and animal keepers spent four hours operating on giant 40-year-old Duchess. The African elephant is virtually blind due to cataracts and glaucoma and experts decided the only way to prevent her suffering further was to remove it.
2011-12-17 - Moloundou, Cameroon.
Game rangers and the military in Cameroon have confiscated over 100 kilograms of elephant ivory hidden in a truck transporting cocoa. Authorities say four people have been arrested in the case, including a businessman believed to have arranged for the transportation of the ivory. The seizure was conducted Monday near Lobéké National Park in Southeast Cameroon, close to the country’s borders with Congo and Central African Republic.
2011-12-16 - Sydney, Australia.
Taronga Zoo is looking for a number of permanent Keepers to work in our Elephant free contact program within the Exotic Fauna Precinct. The Elephant Unit currently manages eight Asian Elephants on site at Taronga Zoo. Our ideal candidates will have significant experience working free contact with elephants, possess a detailed knowledge of elephant behaviour and biology and will have good team work, communication and mentoring skills.
2011-12-16 - Madera County, United States.
The biggest mammal ever to walk North America now lives in a museum in Madera County. On Thursday, the Fossil Discovery Center unveiled its new replica skeleton of a prehistoric giant. Center director Blake Bufford says it took three hours to set up the display of the mammoth that lived right here in the Valley about 10,000 years ago. But if you´re thinking "wooly," you´ve got the wrong mammoth.
2011-12-16 - Tiruchi, India.
An elephant, visibly weak and with some injury above it´s hind right leg , which was used for begging alms, was chased away by police personnel at Srirangam on Thursday. Even as the mahout was directing the elephant to stand before each and every shop near the ‘Rajagopuram´, a large number of Iyappa devotees, after worship with folded hands, offered money.
2011-12-16 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
I had already from Internet collected information about the female asian elephant Sambo, which were used daily for tourist rides around the temple Wat Phnom, by her owner, Sin Sorn since 1993. Sin Sorn also claims a romantic story, about him finding her again, after being separated from her during the years of Khmer Rogue.Now I should see her myself.
2011-12-15 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Malaysian authorities have seized a staggering 15 tonnes of elephant ivory in Port Klang, just west of Kuala Lumpur; the sixth and by far the largest major seizure involving Malaysia in recent months, quite possibly the largest ever. If we estimate the tusks of an African elephant weigh 30 kilos each, this haul represents the death of 250 elephants! This ivory seizure is the largest to date in a year that has seen an overwhelming number of seizures.
2011-12-15 - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Around Angor Wat and Angkor Thom you can ride elephants on the roads. During the day, elephants await customers near Bayon or at the South Gate of Angkor Thom. In the evenings, elephants are stationed at the base of Phnom Bakheng, ready to transport riders up the hill for sunset.
2011-12-15 - Tel Aviv, Israel.
Findings from the University of Tel Aviv reveal how important the huge animals were to the diet of early humans - researchers that elephants provided 60 per cent of the meat eaten by Homo erectus. Elephants also had the perfect fat-to-protein ratio for early humans and provided a year-round source of food.
2011-12-15 - Chennai, India.
Beginning from Wednesday, the Tamil Nadu government is organising a 48-day-long vacation for temple elephants in the wilderness. As many as 35 pachyderms are heading to a rejuvenation camp in Theppakadu reserve forest along the Moyar river in the Mudumalai hills. From a herbal diet to health screening and treatment for infections, the elephants will get to enjoy a stress-free life in the jungle environs.
2011-12-15 - Madurai, India.
V Sundararaj, an advocate and environmentalist is seeking to restrain the state government from conducting the elephant rejuvenation camp at Mudumalai, a public interest litigation was filed on Tuesday in the Madurai bench of the Madras high court. The petitioner said that the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve has the highest density of tigers in the country.
2011-12-15 - Oklahoma City, United States.
The Oklahoma City Zoo added a bull elephant to its growing herd Tuesday as a male Asian elephant named Rex arrived about noon Tuesday after a 20-hour, 1,300-mile trip from Cambridge, Ontario. Rex was brought to the Oklahoma City Zoo to breed with the two female elephants, Asha and Chandra.
2011-12-15 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Dan Koehl
An albino elephant has been born by the wild elephant Jemima around the 10th of December 2011, in Amboseli National Park. A rare sight, and probably the first albino elephant born in Amboseli. In 27th of October 2011 a captive white elephant was born in Naypyidaw Zoo (Nay Pyi Taw Zoo) in Burma, most probably the first captive bred one documented.
2011-12-10 - Powell, United States.
The 23-year-old named Hank arrived Thursday at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. Plans are to breed him with the zoo´s females, Connie and Phoebe. Zoo Assistant Curator Harry Peachey says Hank has previously sired a calf. The elephant moved from Riddle´s Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary in Arkansas. He was born at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and has also lived at the Bronx Zoo and at Have Trunk Will Travel in California.
2011-12-08 - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
Jenna O´Grady Donley, 26, a Sydney-based veterinarian, was attacked by the elephant yesterday, Malaysian newspaper The Star reported. The animal was apparently startled by the sounds of a camera´s shutter and flash. Witnesses said that she could not escape in time as the elephant suddenly charged at her while her female companion and guide escaped in the attack at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Sabah.
2011-12-07 - Washington, United States. Alasdair Wilkins
No, we won´t be able to clone a woolly mammoth in the next five yearsA team of Russian and Japanese scientists recently announced that they have discovered pristine DNA samples of woolly mammoths, and they will clone a living mammoth within five years. It´s tremendously exciting...but almost certainly not going to happen. Here´s why.
2011-12-07 - Azle, United States.
The International Elephant Foundation (IEF) is thrilled to announce another major grant to help fund the National Elephant Herpesvirus Laboratory (NEHL) at the Smithsonian´s National Zoo. Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, Feld Entertainment, Have Trunk Will Travel, the Oregon Zoo, and the Saint Louis Zoo were all major donors to fund IEF´s grant to the NEHL lab through the Smithsonian´s National Zoo.
2011-12-05 - Tokyo, Japan.
Scientists from Japan´s Kinki University and the Sakha Republic´s mammoth museum have discovered well preserved marrow in a thigh bone discovered in Siberia, buried under the permafrost. The marrow is in such good condition that its cells´ DNA could be used to replace the nuclei of elephant egg cells. Scientists have been trying to clone woolly mammoths for years, but now they´re really close. So close that in five years you may see herds of this gigantic beast—one of t...
2011-12-05 - Kampala, Uganda.
Conservationists have raised the red flag over the increase in poaching of elephants in national parks. According to UWA, 33 elephants have been killed at Murchison Falls National Game Park in the last seven years, of which 25 have been killed this year. The numbers of elephants killed in parks since the year began have more than tripled.
2011-12-03 - Molodova, Ukraine.
The new discovery comes from Molodova, a Ukrainian site first excavated in the 1950s. There, Neandertals erected a mammoth-bone structure thats unlike later mammoth-bone huts, suggesting that the two Homo species developed these practices independently, says study coauthor Stephane Pean, also of France’s National Museum of Natural History.
2011-12-03 - Giridih, India.
A herd of elephants destroyed at least 35 houses in adjoining villages in Giridih district, rendering the dwellers homeless, the police said today. The animals raided villages under Kudko panchayat last night, trampled a few cattle to death and ate away grains, the sources said, adding angry villagers put up road blockade at Pirtand demanding compensation. The blockade was removed after Deputy Commissioner D P Lakra and DFO Asmita Pankaj went to the spot and announced compensations. The DC assur...
2011-12-02 - Washington, United States.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals provides aid and comfort for the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). The two groups are responsible for more than 600 crimes since 1996, causing (by a very conservative FBI estimate) more than $43 million in damage. ALF’s “press office” brags that in 2002, the two groups committed “100 illegal direct actions” -- like blowing up SUVs, destroying the brakes on seafood delivery trucks, and planting firebombs in re...
2011-12-02 - Cincinnati, United States.
Cincinnati’s zoo has received an elephant-size gift from the foundation of the late Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott. She was a major supporter of the zoo and once donated an elephant named Schottzie. Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden director Thane Maynard says the $5 million contribution from the Marge and Charles J. Schott Foundation is the zoo’s single biggest gift ever. Marge Schott died in 2004 at age 75.
2011-12-01 - Vienna, Austria.
This course is organized as a workshop and will be basically in English language but main parts of the presentations and live performances will be provided in English and German. The Workshop is turned specifically to elephant keepers but also veterinarians and curators. The program includes theory - and a lot of practical parts and deals with various topics related to advanced protected contact methods. Beneath preparation for birth, foot care and enrichment there is a special part of the works...
2011-11-30 - Coimbatore, India.
The orphaned elephant calf which was rescued from jungles on Sunday is finding its transit home, the Erode forest office, quite comfortable and responding well to treatment. The two-month-old male calf strayed from its herd and was found stranded near a pond in Chennampatti village in Anthiyur block on Sunday morning. Forest officials tried to reunite the calf with its mother. The officials took it to the forests and left him to the care of a herd. But the calf returned to the pond as the herd r...
2011-11-30 - St. Louis, United States.
A documentary starring Flora debutes nationwide December 1st on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). Circus Flora´s David Balding discusses the film, "One Lucky Elephant." Flora, the African elephant was the star of Circus Flora until she retired from the big top in 2000. Flora was moved to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. That´s where this story really begins: A documentary starring Flora debutes nationwide December 1st on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). Circus Flora´s David...
2011-11-30 - , United States.
Lifting equipment manufacturer R&M Materials Handling have been called on to help veterinary specialists in North Carolina lift a very unusual load, a 6.5USt partially-sighted elephant. A team of vets from North Carolina State University of Veterinary Medicine decided an operation to save the elephant’s eyesight was necessary, but the sedated C’sar had to be lifted into a suitable position to perform the procedure.
2011-11-29 - Polk City, United States.
The USDA on Monday announced a $270,000 fine against the company that owns Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus and an elephant breeding facility in Polk County over its treatment and housing of animals. The United States Department of Agriculture reached an agreement with Feld Entertainment Inc. in which the company would be penalized for violating portions of the Animal Welfare Act between June 2007 and August 2011.
2011-11-29 - ALAPPUZHA, India.
District collector Saurabh Jain on Monday issued stringent guidelines under the Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules 2003 to prevent cruelty against elephants in the wake of the commencement of the festival season. If rules are flouted, action would be taken against the officers concerned, temple authorities, elephant owners and mahouts, he warned.
2011-11-29 - Xayabouri, Laos. Tracy Brookshaw, ElefantAsia
Having reported Laos’ first registered elephant birth of 2011 in Ban Viengkeo, Hongsa late September, ElefantAsia proudly announces the birth of a second baby elephant born in Sayaboury just last week. Born to mother Mae Thongkhoun under the supervision of ECC staff, this new baby elephant, a male, will share the same name ‘Noy’ meaning small with the other calves at the Center until the age of two or three when during an official animist ceremony he will chose his own name through the sel...
2011-11-28 - Jaipur, India.
One of its many popular tourist spots is the Amer fort that was constructed in the 16thcentury by Rajput King Man Singh. Located nearby is the village of Amer after which the Amer fort is named. But another thing, which makes the village special today are the number of elephants it houses. About 110 elephants are taken care of here by the mahouts or elephant riders of the village.
2011-11-27 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan authorities have seized a container loaded with 87 elephant tusks and disguised as soapstone carvings destined for Hong Kong, a customs official said. The 20-foot container was impounded at a depot in Nairobi. As it was being inspected for clearance for shipment, officials scanning its contents became suspicious.
2011-11-27 - Bladensburg, United States. John Kelly
After last week’s column on George’s Pet Shop, Answer Man had mentioned that an elephant from George’s was sold to Jett’s Petting Zoo. Dan Koehl noticed that Jett’s sold an elephant to the Tucson zoo. Could it be the same elephant? Maybe.
2011-11-27 - Hunsur, India.
A 25-year-old elephant was found dead with a bullet injury on its back near the Nagapura Tribal Rehabilitation Centre’s VI block on the fringes of Nagarahole National Park on Saturday. The pachyderm was pregnant. This is the 75th jumbo death in the Hunsur sub-division in the last one-and-half-year, according to Doddahejjur Gram Panchayat former
2011-11-26 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Holding grounds will be the most effective way to address the problem, he said. President Rajapaksa has approved building four elephant holding grounds in Lunugamwehera, Horowpathana, Maduru Oya and Palukadawa Galgamuwa areas where wildlife and people overlap as a means to reduce the conflict. President has allocated Rs 400 million for Wildlife and Agrarian Ministry to carry out these projects.
2011-11-26 - Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Mackrell, a 53-year-old tea exporter in the Indian province of Assam, hurried the convoy of about 20 elephants and their handlers to the river – a journey of more than 100 miles through jungle, braving leeches – in less than a week and waded across the river to rescue troops in danger of starvation, capture or drowning.
Amateur documentary footage filmed by Gyles Mackrell, a British man who rescued hundreds of people during the Second World War using a herd of elephants has been published by Cambridge University.
2011-11-26 - Bladensburg, United States. John Kelly
As for elephants, George actually owned two over the years, baby Asian elephants that he purchased to rent out for political rallies, although a 1966 story in The Post said George was willing to part with his 4-month-old elephant from Thailand, for $5,000 to $6,000. One of the elephants was eventually sold to a traveling petting zoo called Jet’s. One was rented to a Republican convention where, Georgette said, it caught a cold. “Exotic animals are very, very frail,” she said. “It develop...
2011-11-25 - Daytona Beach, United States. Tom Johnson
"They say it´s a mastodon," said Leroy McDuffie. "I live right here on the corner and I´ve been watching them dig the project, and all of a sudden it came to a screeching halt." Archaeologists have already recovered some teeth and at least one tusk. "The tusks on that thing must´ve been massive," said McDuffie. "It had to be at least five foot long!" The historic find was sitting just 8 to 10 feet underground a block from McDuffie´s house.
2011-11-25 - Tuli, Zimbabwe.
Ling Dobson told the Cape Times that her husband Mike, 67, had been killed at the weekend, in a "once-in-a-lifetime freak accident" on a private game farm belonging to close friends on the Shashe River in the Thuli block region in Northern Botswana. Botswana police confirmed that he had been gored by an elephant tusk "with great force".
2011-11-25 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand.
A 50-year-old British man has dragged a piano up a mountain in Thailand - so he could play Beethoven for blind elephants. Paul Barton achieved a long-held ambition as he sat behind his piano, just a few metres away for the graceful giants, calmly playing his instrument. He decided to do the challenge to help fund raising for the blind elephants, which live in a sanctuary on the mountains of Kanchanaburi, north-east of Bangkok.
2011-11-25 - Toronto, Canada.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) are threatening to pull Toronto Zoo’s accreditation over the city´s decision to transfer three of its elephants to a sanctuary in California. Toronto city council voted 31-4 on Oct. 25 to transfer the elephants from the zoo to the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) in San Andreas. The climate at the new location would be much more suitable for these large land mammals. AZA and CAZA...
2011-11-25 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Approximately 200 elephants have died of thirst in Zimbabwe´s Hwange National Park due to searing heat and chronic water shortages, a local conservationist said Thursday. Zimbabwe, which, as a southern hemisphere nation, is currently in the middle of summer, has been experiencing record-high temperatures since October.
2011-11-25 - Paignton, United Kingdom.
An elephant at a Devon zoo is to undergo an operation to remove an eye. Duchess, a 40-year-old African elephant at Paignton zoo has been treated for cataracts in both eyes and glaucoma in her right eye. Paignton zoo said the two conditions meant her eye-sight was "greatly reduced" and she had no sight in her right eye, which was causing her pain.
2011-11-25 - Yangoon, Myanmar.
Myanmar said it was holding a welcoming ceremony in the capital on Sunday for two white elephants, a five-year-old male from western Rakhine state, while the second was a female aged 15 found in the Irrawaddy region, west of Yangon, another official said.considered symbols of good luck -- after a landmark week for the Army-dominated nation. The recent capture of the pale pachyderms brings the number being held by the government to an auspicious seven, according to an official in the capital Nayp...
2011-11-25 - Wankie, Zimbabwe.
Near the waterhole alone, four calves elephants lie dead, while scores of other elephants continue with their struggle to drink, each concentrating on his or her own survival. Close to the drinking hole, a mother elephant battles to resuscitate its dying calf. It uses its foreleg to try and make the baby stand on its feet again but the baby collapses to the ground, headlong.
2011-11-23 - Yangoon, Myanmar.
The Chinese Buddha sacred tooth relic, after being placed in Nay Pyi Taw for 16-day public obeisance, was conveyed to Yangon´s Maha Pasana Cave in Kaba Aye Pagoda Tuesday for continued public obeisance by Yangon residents. Nearly 50,000 people filled the two sides of the 7-kilometer motor road leading from the airport to the Kaba Aye Pagoda in greeting the tooth relic.
2011-11-23 - Ban Ta Klang, Thailand. Dan Koehl
Mew Salangam, was born 1926 in the village of Ban Ta Klang. Altogether he has caught 50-60 elephants, the last catch was about 1970, 40 years ago. Now 85 years, he is one of the five oldest Mor Chang (highranked elephant trainers) of Kui tribe, having the rank Sadam. His father had 5 elephants, which he started to work with, when he was 10 years old. After his fathers death, being the only son, he inherited those elephants, and caught another 5 for himself. His last two elephants were passed to ...
2011-11-21 - Surin, Thailand. Dan Koehl
King Naresuan´s elephant is now standing out on the stadium field, prepared to battle. The black color also has a reason; Naresuan (then known as Prince Naret) was also known as the Black Prince (Thai: พระà¸à¸‡à¸„์ดำ). His younger brother Ekathotsarot was known as the White Prince, and his elder sister Suphankanlaya was known as the Golden Princess.
2011-11-17 - Kolmarden, Sweden. Dan Koehl
What started with a 100 year old picture of 12 Chipperfield elephants in Clonmel railway station, Tipperary, during tour in Ireland in 1952, has developed into an ambitious effort to research all their elephants from 1947.Inspired by this story about about travels, I pack my trunk and leave with air to Bangkok, for a five months journey in Asia, soon comes here pictures and reports from the elephant roundup in Surin!
2011-11-16 - Hong Kong, China.
Hong Kong Customs officials Monday smashed a smuggling case and seized 33 rhino horns, 758 ivory chopsticks and 127 ivory bracelets with a total value of about US$17.4 million. The contraband ivory and rhino horns were hidden inside a container shipped to Hong Kong from South Africa. Acting on a risk assessment, Customs officers selected a container for inspection that was declared to contain 63 packages of "scrap plastic" from a vessel arriving from Cape Town, South Africa.
2011-11-15 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
The Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Elephant Kraal or Wangchang Ayutthaya corral, a major tourist attraction in the central province of Ayutthaya, will reopen Nov 15 as the severe flooding has eased, according to owner Laithongrien Meepan.
2011-11-14 - Hamburg, Germany.
The curriculum will cover the majority aspects of elephant management and elephant care, from husbandry and health care, to transport, training, reproduction and conservation.
2011-11-14 - BARIPADA, India.
A huge herd of elephants sneaked into Khuntapal village in Mayurbhanj´s Rasgovindpur block at about 8 pm on Saturday, triggering panic among people. Before entering into Khuntapal, the herd prowled through Bhuraidihi and Kukudajodi villages of the block, giving forest officers sleepless nights.
2011-11-14 - Rochester, United States.
On Sept. 15, 1885, at St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, Jumbo and a tiny clown elephant named "Tom Thumb" were being led along a railroad track when an unscheduled freight train appeared. Jumbo charged at the train and was killed in the ensuing collision. Barnum immediately summoned the best man in America to salvage something from the debacle – Henry A. Ward of Rochester.
2011-11-13 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Kumudini Hettiarachchi
One is dead and will more follow, for three elephants have been mowed down by the Colombo Fort-Omanthai mail train at the 97.5 milepost between Galgamuwa and Ambanpola at about 3 a.m. last Tuesday. Ironically this is not the first but the third time that elephants have been knocked down at the same location. It was in June this year that three gentle giants died an agonising death after being hit by a special train carrying Poson pilgrims. A few years prior to that another three were killed prac...
2011-11-13 - KOZHIKODE, India.
A 65-year-old man was injured when a wild elephant ran amok at a retreat centre at Kulathuvayal, near Chakkittapara in the district on Saturday morning. The tusker came from Mukkavala forest region and entered the centre by destructing the compound wall.
2011-11-13 - New York, United States.
The bill, introduced this month in the House of Representatives by Virginia Congressman Jim Moran, aims directly at travelling circuses by seeking to outlaw exotic or wild animals from performances if they have been traveling within the previous 15 days.
2011-11-13 - New Delhi, India.
This elephant tumbled into a hole while walking in a tea plantation in India, according to the video. The animal struggles to get off its back to no avail, as a crowd gathers and attempts to help. In what appears to be a last-ditch effort, some locals bring in an excavator to dig out the elephant and give it a few friendly pushes.
2011-11-13 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
IT HAS been more than two months since the Royal Malaysian Customs announced there had been three massive seizures of African elephant tusks or ivory at the ports of Pasir Gudang, Penang and Port Klang. In total, 1764 tusks were seized. Has the ivory been auctioned as suggested by some parties, and if it is to be, where is the public announcement?
2011-11-13 - Bangalore, India.
The forest department is all set to capture and relocate at least 30 elephants in December in Hassan district. While they await the central government´s permission for it, the forest department has begun preparations for one of the massive elephant captures of the country.
2011-11-13 - Thrissur , India.
He was inaugurating the 4th State Conference of Kerala Elephant Owners Federation at Town Hall yesterday. Ganesh Kumar also announced the merger of Kerala Elephant Owners Association with Kerala Elephant Owners Federation.
2011-11-12 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe has donated three elephants to China in appreciation for that country’s assistance to his wife’s orphanage project. The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force says it does not know where the elephants came from and is concerned that they may not survive the long, traumatic journey to China.
2011-11-11 - Mumbai, India.
Kerala’s famous Thrissur Pooram festival will be replicated in the city from November 11 to 13 at the KDMC stadium in Dombivili. Complete with gold caparisoned elephants, colour, dance and fireworks, the festival will aim to increase cultural exchange between the two states.
2011-11-11 - Mfuwe, Zambia. Dominique van Heerden
Most conservationists would agree that you should not interfere with mother nature. But there are exceptions to every rule. Staff and tourists at Kapani Safari Lodge in Zambia were caught by surprise when a mother and baby elephant became trapped in mud. Saying they couldn´t just "stand by and watch them slowly die," what ensued was a dramatic rescue.
2011-11-10 - COLORADO SPRINGS, United States.
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo´s ´Encounter Africa´ project took another step Wednesday morning when crews demolished the old elephant barn to make room for the new exhibit. Elephant keepers got the first swings in with sledgehammers, then gave way to a wrecking ball, which made quick work of the vacant barn.
2011-11-10 - Singapore, Singapore.
In January, Sotheby’s will auction off the statues and donate part of the proceeds to the Asian Elephant Foundation and the conservation fund of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore. The funds will pay for elephant hospitals and land for elephants to roam in the wild.
2011-11-10 - Mong Cai, Vietnam.
Weighing more than a tonne and hidden inside bundles of cloth, more than a tonne of ivory has been confiscated from a river boat near the city of Mong Cai, close to the country´s border with China. Vietnamese officials say that scientific analysis confirms that all 211 items seized during the raid last month were, as suspected, African elephant ivory.
2011-11-10 - London, United Kingdom.
Husband and wife Bobby and Moira Roberts have been charged with causing unnecessary suffering to Anne the circus elephant. The Crown Prosecution Service said it had taken over the prosecution of the couple, who run the Bobby Roberts Super Circus, from Animal Defenders International (ADI) "given the public concern over the case". An undercover team from the animal welfare organisation filmed Anne being hit with a metal pitchfork, kicked in the face and body and shackled with heavy chains earlier ...
2011-11-10 - Syracuse, United States.
Three of the Syracuse zoo´s elephants are finally back home after spending the past five years at a safari park in Canada. Ted Fox, director of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, says Mali and her 3-year-old son Chuck arrived at the zoo Tuesday afternoon, followed the next day by Targa. The pachyderms were carried from Cambridge, Ontario in tractor-trailer trucks specially designed to haul elephants.
2011-11-10 - Kinshasa, Congo.
In some of the best-documented cases to date, the study shows the elephant population in the Okapi Faunal Reserve – one of the last strongholds of forest elephants in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – saw a 50 per cent decline in the last decade due to civil war and ivory poaching, from 6,439 to 3,288. In other parks in eastern DRC, the decimation was even greater.
2011-11-09 - Denver, United States. Electa Draper
The two-year din of construction behind screened fences at Denver Zoo is being replaced by the pitter-patter of enormous feet — elephant, rhino and tapir. The almost-completed $50 million Asian Tropics exhibit is the zoo´s bid for greatness. Everything about the 10-acre exhibit — which must remain under wraps until late spring, when animal relocations, quarantines and training all will have run their courses — is meant to be a gee-whiz, eye-opening experience. And not just for the hu...
2011-11-09 - San Diego, United States.
After hearing three hours of passionate disagreement about how to treat elephants, the governing board of the San Diego County Fair rejected a request Tuesday from two high-profile animal-rights groups to cut ties with a company that brings elephants to the fair for children to ride. But board members voted 4 to 3 to revisit the issue in 2014 when new restrictive rules from the Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums about elephants become effective. The new rules do not have the force of law, but the asso...
2011-11-09 - Snowmass, United States.
The site was uncovered on 14 October 2010, when a bulldozer ran into a number of mammoth bones at Ziegler Reservoir near Snowmass, Colorado. Palaeontologists were called out, including Kirk Johnson of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and found the nearly complete skeleton of a Pleistocene mammoth (Mammuthus columbi).
2011-11-08 - Burdwan, India.
An elephant twice flung a seven-year-old boy to the ground and trampled him to death in front of his parents, shortly after the child had a fun ride on its back here this afternoon. Vivek Sahani had just placed a ten-rupee note in the hollow of 30-year-old Anarkali’s trunk when the unexplained attack came.
2011-11-07 - Toronto, Canada.
Back on May 12th a decision was made by the Toronto Zoo Board of Management to send the zoo´s three Elephants to another accredited facility. On Oct 25th this decision was overturned in a surprise last minute motion by a Toronto City Councilor. Please sign this petition to help us urge Toronto City Council to change this motion to allow the elephant experts at the Toronto Zoo to research and decide which facility is best for these elephants taking all of their physical and psychological ne...
2011-11-06 - Xishuangbanna Dai, China.
Local police confirmed the death of Cao Xiaoer, a resident of Xinshan village in the prefecture, was caused by a wild elephant, said a statement issued by the prefecture government´s information office. Since 1991, wild elephants in Xishuangbanna have attacked more than 140 people and destroyed 50,000 tonnes of grain, local forestry authorities said one year ago.
2011-11-05 - PHNOM TAMAO, Cambodia.
"I really thought he would never make it," said Nick Marx, stroking Chhouk´s trunk with a sense of pride and affection. "He was seriously injured. He was extremely young, emaciated and very, very sick." Chhouk, a bull elephant now 5 years old, was found in the Cambodian jungle in 2007, alone and close to death, his left front foot mangled by a poacher´s trap.
2011-11-05 - BHUBANESWAR, India.
In a chilling reminder of last year’s elephant poaching spree in Similipal, three elephants were found dead in Ektalia forests under Karanjia forest division on Friday. Besides a male and a female, carcass of a calf was found. The tusk of the male elephant was missing fuelling fears of poisoning, as is suspected by the wildlife officials too. “A forensic officer will proceed to the spot on Saturday morning to collect evidence,” said Field Director Anup Kumar Nayak.
2011-11-05 - London, United Kingdom.
Amongst the objects on show will be a rare and important Anglo-Indian writing cum dressing table from Raynham Hall, Norfolk. Vizagapatam ivory inlaid furniture from the late 17th and first half of the 18th century was the exclusive preserve of senior representatives of the East India Company and wealthy British patrons enamoured of exotic Anglo- Indian design.
2011-11-04 - Bedford, United States.
Trimble County High School recently received a special donation that was at least 8,000 years in the making - a mastodon tusk. Trimble County Superintendent Marcia Dunaway delivered the tusk to TCHS biology teacher Debby Griffin about three weeks ago. It was donated by Rick Leach, the plant manager of Nugent Sand Co. in Milton, who found it while digging in one of the company´s pits.
2011-11-04 - Honolulu, United States. Nina Wu
Sometime this month, Honolulu Zoo elephants Mari and Vaigai will take a short stroll to their newly expanded home that is 17 times larger than their old enclosure. The new $12 million elephant exhibit, measuring 1.4 acres, features an open dirt space, tall concrete planters, shady coves and two 55,000-gallon waterfall pools with overlooking viewing areas. It is skirted by a walkway leading from the gharial display to the African Savanna section, and is surrounded by an electrified...
2011-11-04 - Sabi Sabi Game Reserve, South Africa. Boyd Matson
Showing off for the girls, pushing and shoving, picking fights, refusing to listen to their mothers, I could be describing teenage boys, but in this case I’m talking teenage male elephants. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference in their behavior, and the similarities were on display when I was at the Sabi Sabi Game Reserve in South Africa. In the young male groups one minute they would be eating and the next they were butting heads and crossing tusks.
2011-11-04 - Denver, United States.
The arrival Thursday afternoon of a 7-year-old male elephant named Bodhi marked a new chapter for the Denver Zoo, where staffers excitedly welcomed the first of the bull elephants for which it built the $50 million Asian Tropics exhibit. Bodhi, pronounced BOH-dee, traveled by truck with an elephant manager, veterinarian and head animal keeper from the Columbus Zoo in Ohio to his new home — which is nearly completed and slated for a public opening in the late spring.
2011-11-04 - Trivandrum, India.
The wild elephant population in the Kerala forests has remained stable and healthy between 2007 and 2010, according the 2010 wild elephant census results received by the Forest Department this week. The 2010 census, according to what is called ‘block count method’ of enumeration, puts the number of wild elephants in the State’s wildlife sanctuaries and protected areas at 3,520. The same method of enumeration in the previous census conducted in 2007 had put the number at 3002.
2011-11-04 - Niassa, Mozambique.
So far this year, poachers have killed at least 52 elephants in the Niassa Reserve, in the far north of Mozambique, according to a report in Wednesday’s issue of the Beira daily paper “Diario de Mocambique”. Last year, the poachers, many of whom have crossed the border from Tanzania, killed 72 elephants in the reserve. Usually, the poachers hack off the tusks, and leave the elephants’ bodies to rot in the bush.
2011-11-02 - Chitwan, Nepal.
A group of wild elephants has dismantled two houses at Ayodhyapuri VDC of Madi in Chitwan. The wild tuskers entering from the Chitwan National Park area broke down the houses of Bhim Prasad Neupane and Nawaraj Goudel of Ayodhyapuri-3 last night. Losses incurred due to the breakdown of houses by elephants is estimated at around Rs. 100,000, informed Chitwan District Police Office.
2011-11-02 - Philadelphia, United States.
The Philadelphia Zoo announced yesterday that Kallie, an elephant that was moved to the Pittsburgh Zoo´s International Conservation Center in 2009 - along with Bette, another African elephant - was moved again yesterday, this time to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
2011-11-02 - Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
About 300 rampaging elephants have invaded three villages in Sedeko ward in Serengeti district, northern Tanzania, and destroyed over 200 hectares of farmland and killed one person. "Until now the elephants are in the farms and they are grazing on crops like cows. Over 200 hectares have already been destroyed in Mbirikiri, Isarara and Bonchugu villages," Sedeko Ward Councilor, Richard Nyakera was quoted by Dailynews as saying. The stray elephants have also blocked thousands of villagers in the a...
2011-11-02 - Toronto, Canada.
CUPE 1600, representing workers at the Toronto Zoo, can no longer remain silent on the issue of transferring the zoo’s three aged elephants to a private sanctuary in California. “What the council did was an ‘end run’ around the duly constituted Toronto Zoo Board of Management, who, to their credit, were doing due diligence to find the best possible place for our beloved animals,” said Grant Ankenman, president of CUPE local 1600.
2011-11-01 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
A group of elephants is facing a second month cut off by floods in this submerged Thai city, stranded on a small concrete island at an animal shelter just a few yards (meters) wide. The group of 17 includes seven pachyderms under 4 years old who were too small to flee when the rest of their nearly 90-strong herd escaped approaching floodwaters that engulfed this historic city north of Bangkok more than a month ago.
2011-11-01 - Mbombela, South Africa.
The tusk of one of the Kruger National Park´s oldest elephants, Duke, who died in October, seems set to break environmental records, according to a report on Tuesday. The elephant´s left tusk was the longest ever measured in the KNP, reported Beeld newspape. It was 3.21m long, while the right tusk was 2.93m long. Together, the tusks weighed 140.5kg.
2011-11-01 - Cleveland, United States.
The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo´s elephant herd just grew to six with the arrival of Kallie from the International Conservation Center near Pittsburgh. When her quarantine is over in about a week, she will find three familiar faces: Willy, the bull of the herd, and females Martika and Shenga.
2011-11-01 - Auckland, New Zealand.
Luxury items made of elephant ivory and turtle shell have been seized in Auckland as part of an international-sting on smugglers. Wildlife enforcement officers confiscated 25 wildlife items from an Auckland address on Monday night. Forensic tests will be carried out to confirm the pieces including three carved tusks, six statues and a fan - were made from endangered elephant tusk and turtle shell
2011-10-31 - Kunming, China.
China and Laos have signed an agreement to jointly build another cross-border nature reserve in order to better protect the endangered Asian elephant, reports Xinhua news agency quoting local authorities as saying. The second reserve will cover 20,000 hectares of forest in China and stretch across 35,000 hectares in Laos, according to the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve Administration.
2011-10-31 - Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Unplanned human settlement and cultivation on elephant habitat is causing a human-elephant conflict in Bangladesh. The result each year is around 32 human and four elephant deaths, said experts yesterday. Many more are injured and the damage to crops amounts to Tk 3 crore in the country´s north-eastern and south-eastern regions, they said.
2011-10-31 - Pittsburgh, United States.
The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium is seeking experienced elephant keepers who would be interested in joining a progressive elephant management team, utilizing both free and protected contact. The successful candidate´s primary assignment will be at the Zoo’s International Conservation Center just outside of Berlin, Pa., about 100 miles east of Pittsburgh.
2011-10-31 - KINABATANGAN, Malaysia.
Three more Bornean elephants in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (LKWS) in Sabah have joined two others being tracked from space after they were fitted with a satellite collars last week. The collars will help experts track the animals which have been penned into smaller areas over the last several years by uncontrolled plantation activities that have encroached into their habitat.
2011-10-31 - Mysore, India.
If you missed the elephants´s procession during Dasara celebrations in Mysore, here´s another chance. The festival of elephants is being organized on Monday at Dubare elephant camp in Kodagu district where elephants and their masters will amuse the public.
2011-10-31 - Seattle, United States.
For years, scientists dismissed Carl Gustafson´s claims that a pierced mastodon bone found in Sequim in 1977 was evidence that humans were hunting large mammals in North America 13,800 years ago. For almost 35 years, his find was ridiculed or ignored, the site dismissed as curious but not significant. New tests now show he was right.
2011-10-30 - London, United Kingdom.
Million Dollar Dandy brand revealed today a pair of unique, ornamented elephants worth $9 million that were manufactured more than 100 years ago. Standing seven feet high, they were crafted by the Minton factory in Staffordshire, England, for The Great 1889 Exhibition in Paris and to celebrate the opening of the Eiffel tower, these unique pieces are currently on offer by David Frosdick, founder of www.milliondollardandy.com, with a price tag of approximately over $9,000,000.
2011-10-29 - Perth, Australia.
Perth Zoo currently has a fixed term vacancy up to 7 December 2013 as a Keeper within our Elephant Section. The Keeper’s role involves providing the highest possible levels of welfare, husbandry, species management, conservation research and enrichment for the group of elephants in our care.
2011-10-28 - Bangalore, India.
A three-month-old baby elephant, rescued from Kollegal Forest Division was brought to Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) on Thursday. The baby elephant is very weak, tender and suffering from malnutrition. It has been put into intensive care and is being closely monitored. With an addition of one more elephant, the total number of elephants in the BBP has gone up to 14, said R Raju, Executive Director, BBP.
2011-10-26 - Pattaya, Thailand.
Residents help ´Phungbunma´, female elephant that had fallen in the eucalyptus jungle and could not get up on her own, she is a tour elephant that the mahout had tied from being ill in an area vegetated with Eucalyptus not far from the Maaprachan reservoir.
2011-10-26 - , Canada.
The Toronto Zoo’s three aging elephants should be moved to a California sanctuary, city council decided late Tuesday. The elephants would be able to live out their days there, said Councillor Michelle Berardinetti, whose motion to move the elephants was approved in a 31-4 vote. Berardinetti said councillors could be assured the elephants would not be moved again but would stay in the spacious facility, which includes an elephant sized whirlpool to treat arthritis.
2011-10-26 - Toronto, Canada.
A senior elephant keeper at the Toronto Zoo is “begging” city council to reconsider its decision to send its three aging pachyderms to an 80-acre sanctuary in California. In an unexpected, and unusual move, city council voted late Tuesday to seize control of the fate of Toka, Thika and Iringa away from the Zoo board, which had decided earlier this year to place the animals in a facility accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
2011-10-25 - SYRACUSE, United States.
Anyone who has tried to get their pet across an international border knows that it can be difficult. Try getting three elephants across the border. That´s what officials at Syracuse´s Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park are attempting to do five years after sending two pachyderms to a safari park outside Toronto because the upstate zoo was getting crowded. While at the Ontario zoo, one of the elephants gave birth.
2011-10-24 - Quang Nam, Vietnam.
A 70-year-old elephant died last Tuesday due to hunger and cold weather while it was on the way to perform circus in the central province of Quang Nam. The body of the 4-ton elephant has been destroyed and the place where it died has been sterilized, said Nguyen Van Ngu, chairman of People’s Committee of Thang Binh District. The elephant, named Ho Nun, came from the Don village in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak and was hired by the animal circus troupe Hoang Nam.
2011-10-23 - Hanoi, Vietnam.
Vietnamese authorities say they have uncovered more than a ton of elephant tusks that smugglers were attempting to illegally take to China. Customs official Ly Tran Tuan says the 221 pieces of tusks were discovered Sunday hidden in rolls of fabric that were being transported on a boat on the Ka Long river bordering the two countries.
2011-10-20 - Washington, United States.
Other scientists scoffed when Carl Gustafson claimed that Stone Age people were hunting mastodons 14,000 years ago in the Northwest, a millennium before the appearance of the Clovis-style stone tools widely regarded as the signature of the first Americans. Gustafson found mastodon remains including a rib with a foreign piece of bone embedded in it near Sequim, Wash., in 1977. He concluded it was a weapon carved from bone or antler and hurled at the tip of a spear.
2011-10-20 - Whipsnade, United Kingdom.
After a 700 day pregnancy, the newest addition to ZSL Whipsnade Zoo’s Asian elephant herd was born at 12:15am this Tuesday. Despite this, the new calf (who has yet to be named) is also the smallest elephant ever born at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo weighing in at just 104kg, around 16 stone, at birth. At first keepers were not sure whether he would be able to reach his mother’s milk but he quickly learnt to get on his tip-toes and has had no problem feeding.
2011-10-12 - Houston, United States.
An elephant exhibit sets great zoos apart from the ordinary. That is why the Houston zoo is proud to announce the latest improvement to the McNair Asian Elephant Habitat. The end result of two years of planning and construction, the latest addition represents a six-fold expansion of the Habitat since the opening of the 7,000 square foot elephant barn and improved viewing areas in June 2008. The new addition adds 1.5 acres to the elephant’s outside habitats.
2011-10-12 - Jacksonville, United States.
The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is currently seeking a qualified candidate for the position of full time Mammal Keeper with responsibilities focused on the daily management and care of 1.3 African elephants. Desired skills include, but are not limited to, animal husbandry, operant conditioning, environmental enrichment, exhibit maintenance and minor repair. Candidates must possess solid observational and record keeping skills, an excellent safety record, a strong work history, and the ability t...
2011-10-10 - Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The Rotterdam Zoo in association with the International Elephant Foundation (IEF) would like to invite you to participate in the 2011 Elephant and Rhino Research and Conservation Symposium scheduled for October 10-14, 2011 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. This year IEF welcomes to the elephant symposium our colleagues working with all species of rhinos, both in human care and in the wild. Elephants and rhinos face similar problems in the wild (habitat loss and poaching), and many animal managers, ...
2011-10-10 - Washington, United States.
The 36-year-old actor announced yesterday that he´s leading a new initiative, Elephants, Never Forget, to focus on the crisis that elephants face. "The ivory trade fuels conflict and strife," DiCaprio said. "Elephants are killed by poachers so their tusks can be traded for weapons and drugs by international criminal organizations before becoming trinkets and jewelry for consumers. Authorities in 85 countries have seized almost 400 tons of ivory on the black market since the 1989 ivory trad...
2011-10-06 - Memphis, United States.
The Memphis Zoo has an opening for a Keeper in our Elephant area. This position requires a minimum of two years of experience in pachyderm care, including knowledge of training concepts and philosophies needed to work with pachyderms and a varied collection of hooved animals and birds, and a college degree in zoology, biology or a related field (or the equivalent combination of education and experience). Significant experience with operant conditioning is required.
2011-10-04 - Hanoi, Vietnam.
With the death of a large number of tame elephants recently concerns have risen regarding the threat of extinction in the absence of measures to safeguard the animals. Dan Nang Long, an elephant keeper from Central Highland Dak Lak Province, had one of his elephants killed and three others injured in a poaching attack. Long said that while he had reported the incident to local police, very little existed in terms of concrete evidence in confirming the crime.
2011-10-04 - Hohenwald, United States.
Provides day-to-day care for elephants and endorses, practices and promotes the Protected Contact system of elephant management supervised by the Lead Caregiver.
2011-10-01 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Escalating land invasions in Zimbabwe are taking their toll on the country’s already decimated wildlife and a herd of 70 elephants on the Chiredzi River Conservancy (CRC) in the south eastern lowveld, close to Gona re Zhou National Park, is under serious threat. The nucleus of this remarkable herd originated from Gona re Zhou, (place of the elephant) National Park’s conservation programme initiated in 1991/2 when there was an exceptionally severe drought in the lowveld and their elephants we...
2011-10-01 - Ha Noi, Vietnam.
Vietnamese police have seized more than 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of ivory believed smuggled from abroad, state-controlled media reported on Friday. Officers arrested three Vietnamese transporting the banned cargo on Thursday in a van through the north-central province of Nghe An, the reports said. Pictures of the haul showed more than two dozen tusks.
2011-09-30 - Rochester, NY, United States.
The 32nd Annual Elephant Manager’s Association Conference hosted by the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, NY, could very well be one of the most important to date. In today’s internet age, elephant management is now a global effort, and this conference will feature presentations on elephant conservation and management partnerships and collaborations in the US and worldwide.
2011-09-30 - Pattaya, Thailand.
Thailand’s most-famous living elephant nearly went to the big pachyderm park in the sky after a veterinarian’s injection prompted a stagger and fall into a muddy pool at the Pattaya Floating Market. Somrak, whose handler claims is a record-shattering 115 years old, was rescued by staff and residents near the market’s elephant camp Sept. 21.
2011-09-30 - Ha Noi, Vietnam.
A recently released postcard book titled Nhung Nguoi Ban Lon (The Giant Friends) features 51 elephants that work with families living in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) province of Dac Lac. A photograph, biography and the characteristics of each elephant cover a double page colour spread, along with the slogan: "Don´t let elephants become a memory".
2011-09-29 - Jorhat, India.
A person from the Lakhmijan area near Bokakhat forest beat office in Golaghat district was killed in an elephant attack on Wednesday while a herd of wild elephants killed a man on Tuesday night at Bubrighat Tea Estate under Patharkandi block in Karimganj district. Locals said a herd of wild elephant came out from the nearby Karbi Hills damaged the house of Kanchan Sinha, the deceased person and attacked him. However, the other members of his family managed to escape.
2011-09-29 - Coimbatore, India. V. S. Palaniappan
The officials of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) on Wednesday conducted the second phase of morphometric measurement exercise for four of the 20 camp elephants. The ATR has an elephant camp at Kozhikamudhi near Top Slip. Camp elephants are subjected to morphometric measurement exercise every year to assess their health condition and to gauge the efficacy of the camp elephant management strategies.
2011-09-29 - Xayabouri, Laos. Ingrid Suter
ElefantAsia has collaborated with the Elephant Conservation Centre to establish Laos’ first elephant breeding sanctuary. The Elephant Conservation Center (ECC) focuses on providing cows with a safe environment to give birth, when their calves while supplying an income for their owners through soft tourism. The ECC hosts a specialised elephant hospital and laboratory, run by ElefantAsia. This much-needed hospital is capable of detailed blood analysis and the provision of full-time care for sick...
2011-09-28 - Yala, Sri Lanka.
Several villagers including Minipuragama, Buruthagola, Helagama and Pahalagama are facing the threat of wild elephants and people in more than 1000 families are living in constant fear. They pointed out that a herd of about 30 wild elephants from the Yala National Park roam into the villages at dusk and destroy home garden crops, chena cultivations, paddy fields and chase after people.
2011-09-27 - Raipur, India.
After giving sleepless nights for a week to the tribal people in forests of Surguja district, Chhattisgarh, a herd of wild elephants returned on Monday to the same pocket, forcing dozens of families to migrate to safe areas. A group of seven wild elephants entered two forest villages, Bakna and Bakdiha, in the wee hours.
2011-09-26 - Nairobi, Kenya.
More than 3000 elephants may have been slaughtered in 2011 so far - and that´s just those we know about. In Kenya, Mary Rice from the Environmental Investigation Agency witnesses the bloody reality of the global ivory trade. since January 1, 2011 (worldwide): 11,493kg of ivory have been seized; representing at least 1,149 elephants (based on an average of 10kg per animal); � an additional 3,997 tusks (no weight recorded) were seized, so that�s at least 1,998 elep...
2011-09-26 - Kochi, India.
The unnatural death of an elephant, suspected of Anthrax, at the Periyar Tiger Reserve a couple of days ago has raised fears of an epidemic outbreak. With Forest Veterinary officials suspecting symptoms of Anthrax in the animal, samples have been sent for detailed tests. A final confirmation will be made only after the results of the tests are out. It was last week that a female elephant was found dead at Vallakkadavu range, opposite to Nellikkampetti in the Thekkady range. The forest officials ...
2011-09-26 - Keonjhar, India.
Forest department employees on Saturday found the body of two adult elephants, one male and one female, from a remote forest in Ghungi village in Banspal block, about 30-km from here. Another elephant was run over by a train in Dhenkanal district. The 20-year-old male elephant was about 10-foot-tall and the 25-year-old female one close to 9 feet. Officials suspected the death of the elephants was caused by electrocution, as there were burn injuries on the bodies of both. There was no confirmed r...
2011-09-26 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Dhaneshi YATAWARA
Following several rounds of discussion Railway officials together with Wildlife Conservation Authorities will impose speed limits for trains on certain areas on the Northern and Eastern railway track, Wildlife and Agrarian Services Minister S.M. Chandrasena said. "According to the talks we had with Railway officials, the trains need to limit their speed in areas where elephants cross the railway track," Minister Chandrasena told the ´Sunday Observer´. According to the Wildlife Conser...
2011-09-26 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Gazala Anver
Several months ago, reliable sources informed The Sunday Leader that several baby elephants had been taken from the wild and kept at temples around the country. Investigations were conducted in April and three baby elephants were traced to Dewram Vehara in Pannipitiya and the Vipashyarama Purana Vihara, Maharagama.
2011-09-26 - San Diego, United States.
Early this morning (5:45 A.M.) Umngani the 21 year old African elephant gave birth to her third calf. A male. Mabhulane is now tied with Jackson for the most calves sired. Although their ratios are reversed: seven males and two females for Mabhu, seven females and two males for Jackson. This is the sixth consecutive male elephant born at the park. And the third (out of four) born this year.
2011-09-26 - Banlung, Cambodia.
It´s early in the morning and my motorbike guide is driving me two hours northeast from Ban Lung, the capital of Ratanakiri, toward the Vietnamese border. My quest is to find the last of Cambodia´s elephant riders.These indigenous highlanders have captured, tamed and worked with wild elephants for 2,000 years, but their traditional ways and the elephants at the heart of their culture are quickly disappearing. From an estimated wild population of around 500 elephants in this area in ...
2011-09-26 - Front Royal, United States. Brooke Boening
Shortly upon completing her undergraduate studies in animal and nutritional sciences, West Virginia University Ph.D. student, Tina Dow, discovered a passion that would take her beyond the ordinary work environment: elephants. When Dow landed an internship at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, R.I., in 2002, she quickly developed a fascination with the park´s African elephants.
2011-09-23 - Phuket, Thailand. Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian
A rogue elephant responsible for two terrifying rampages on Phuket in which the legs of tourists were broken could already be back making elephant treks on Phuket. Captain, a 22-year-old male, attacked another elephant on a trek on September 12, leaving Ukrainian honeymooner Tetiana Meia, 26, still recovering today in a Phuket hospital from a compound leg fracture. Swedish tourist Gustav Karlsson, 31, suffered similar breaks when he leapt from the back of Captain in full rampage early last year.
2011-09-22 - Narok, Kenya.
Kenyan rangers on Thursday began relocating 50 rampaging elephants to the renowned Maasai Mara game reserve to stem rising human deaths and property destruction in outlying villages. The first four of the elephants due to be relocated over the next 10 days were shot with tranquilizer darts from a helicopter near Narok town, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Nairobi, a zone notorious for human-wildlife conflict.
2011-09-22 - Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom. Lucy Clapham
It was larger than a donkey, could carry up to six children at a time and delighted seaside crowds - yet no one can seem to remember the life of Cromer’s mechanical elephant. Do you know any more about the elephant, what happened to it or where it is now? Contact reporter Lucy Clapham.
2011-09-21 - Keonjhar, India.
In the wake of increasing cases of elephant deaths due to electrocution, the state government has sanctioned Rs 10 crore from the State Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (state-CAMPA) fund for upgrading and insulating electric cables in Telkoi forest range of Keonjhar forest division.
2011-09-21 - Way Kambas, Indonesia.
A picture made available on 21 September shows Indonesian mahouts take care their Sumatran elephants at the elephant conservation center in Way Kambas national park, Lampung province, Indonesia, 18 September 2011. At least 65 elephants are kept at Way Kambas elephant conservation center. The Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) is the smallest of the Asian elephants and suffers from from illegal logging and associated habitat loss and fragmentation in Indonesia.
2011-09-21 - Ueno, Japan.
Hoping to become proud parents, the Ueno Zoo loaned its Asian elephant ASHA to Toyohashi Zoo two years ago. The wait was worth it on Sept. 17 at 12:30 a.m., as ASHA gave birth to a female calf, the fourth successful birth in captivity in Japan of an Asian elephant and the first for an elephant belonging to the Ueno Zoo. The calf weighed 90.5 kilograms and was 93 centimeters tall. At 34, ASHA is the oldest elephant in Japan to give birth. Her age is the equivalent of between 40 to 50 years in hum...
2011-09-20 - Maputo, Mozambique.
Poachers have killed at least 12 elephants in the space of a week in the Quirimbas National Park (PNQ), in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado. The PNQ is a fully protected area covering around 7,500 square kilometres. It consists of the islands of the Quirimbas archipelago, and a large stretch of mainland bush and forest.
2011-09-20 - Nairobi, Kenya. Usra Hussain
The Samburu National Reserve located in Kenya has experienced a high rate of elephant poaching this year in comparison to the past 11 years. Although, elephants do not have any natural predators other than lions, elephants are threatened by human beings. African and Asian elephants are hunted for their ivory tusks and illegally traded for money. The conservationists of the Samburu National Reserve have been actively fighting poachers in order to protect the elephants in their reserve.
2011-09-20 - Nairobi, Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) will move about 50 elephants from Narok North to the world famous Maasai Mara National Reserve, about 80 km southwest of Nairobi to mitigate escalating human wildlife conflict in the area, said a statement from KWS on Wednesday. KWS said the 10-day exercise to be officially launched on September 22 will be the first phase of an exercise whose total cost is expected to reach USD328,000. The first phase will cost USD74,000.
2011-09-19 - Phoenix, United States.
A Practical Workshop on Elephant Footcare and Habitat. Design to support elephant health. Friday, September 23rd, 2011 - Optional Trip to Tucson’s Reid Park Zoo. Reid Park Zoo provides participants to observe African Elephant Footcare.
2011-09-19 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe´s wildlife authority says poachers have begun poisoning watering holes, killing nine elephants and at least five lions in recent weeks. Spokeswoman Caroline Washaya-Moyo of Zimbabwe´s wildlife department says elephants´ ivory tusks were removed but lions´ heads and skins were left intact.
2011-09-19 - Mysore, India.
A new ‘ambari’ elephant is in the making. The 53-year-old Balarama, which carried golden howdah for 12 consecutive years, is likely to do the job for another three to fours years only. Tusker Gopi, who was brought from Dubare elephant camp this year to participate in the famed jumbo savari, is responding well to the training and has been chosen as Balarama’s successor.
2011-09-19 - Hua Hin, Thailand.
Tell most Americans you spent Sunday watching some large creatures chasing a ball around a field and they will assume you went to an NFL football game. But say that to someone in Thailand and they might assume you attended the King´s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament in the town of Hua Hin. The annual event raises money for the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, Thailand, which cares for more than 60 elephants and their "mahouts," the people who drive the lumbering giants.
2011-09-19 - Hong Kong, China.
A long-dormant threat to Africa´s elephant population is back with a vengeance, thanks to rising demand for ivory from newly affluent Chinese consumers.Reflecting this demand, ivory prices in China have soared to as high as US$7,000 a kilogram in 2011 from US$157 a kilo in 2008, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency, a nongovernmental organization based in London. Estimates from other researchers and NGOs put ivory prices in China as low as US$300 to US$750 a kilo, which neve...
2011-09-19 - Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
An ivory smuggler attempting to pass through Dubai International Airport has been arrested. The passenger faces a fine or imprisonment, officials said on Thursday. Police did not disclose how the smuggler was caught, where the ivory had come from or its intended destination. The smuggler´s identity was not revealed. Police said the polished ivory had originally been taken from the tusks of an African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana). Items seized included bracelets.
2011-09-19 - Kathmandu, Nepal.
Fearing further spread of deadly tuberculosis among elephants, the Department of National Park and Wildlife Reserve (DNPWC) has barred government-owned tuskers from taking part in any kind of game where chances of physical contacts with privately-owned elephants without tuberculosis-free certificates are high.
2011-09-17 - Jorhat, India.
An elephant calf was injured in the Deusur area of Kaziranga National Park after being hit by a bus on NH-37 early on Friday. Forest department officials said the incident took place when a herd of jumbos was crossing the highway. "Although the other jumbos in the herd crossed the road safely, the calf got hit by the bus and was injured," said Burapahar forest range officer I Majid.
2011-09-17 - Memnagar, India.
In a bizarre incident, a man sitting on an elephant was stoned by some children in Memnagar for no known reason. The man fainted on the elephant itself. What, however, followed was a scene that resembled a comedy Bollywood flick. The officials of 108 emergency service had to use two ambulances to get the man off the elephant.
2011-09-16 - Pittsburgh, United States. Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University
The blood from woolly mammoths is helping scientists develop new blood products for medical procedures such as heart and brain surgery. Many such operations require artificial hypothermia to be induced by drastically reducing the patient´s body temperature.
2011-09-16 - Dehra Dun, India.
A tusker was found dead today in Corbett Tiger Reserve here, an official said. The carcass of the adult elephant with its back portion eaten by a tiger was noticed by forest guards in Sarpduli range during patrolling, CTR deputy director C K Kavidayal said. A postmortem will be conducted to ascertain the cause of its death, he said. Another 11-year-old tusker was found dead in a paddy field at Halduchaur area in Nainital district yesterday.
2011-09-16 - Chhindwara, India.
An aged elephant was put to sleep by poisoning here today as the animal, suffering from paralysis and other ailments, was very ill, forest department sources said. The elephant had been abandoned by a circus company after it suffered a stroke about two-and-half months ago, sources said. Since then it was in the care of Forest Officials in the Puama Depot. But its condition deteriorated, so the official decided to put it out of misery, sources said.
2011-09-15 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Government spokesman and Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said Thursday that the Cabinet has approved a proposal presented by the Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne to donate the baby elephant from the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage to the Manila zoo. In addition, Sri Lankan Embassy in Philippines has organized a series of events to mark the golden jubilee celebrations to be held in Manila on the 3rd week of September.
2011-09-15 - Mombasa, Kenya. ANTHONY KITIMO
Thirty elephant tusks of undetermined value were impounded at the port of Mombasa en route Hong Kong on Wednesday evening. The consignment weighing 274.4 kilograms was intercepted by Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials during their normal inspection at the port. According to deputy commissioner in charge of customs in the southern region, Ms Rose Gichira, the consignment was stuffed in a 40-foot container covered with bales of buttons and clothes.
2011-09-13 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai veterinarians say a 22-year-old elephant was wounded when he wandered into neighboring Myanmar and stepped on a land mine. Soraida Salwala of the Friends of the Asian Elephant conservation group in northern Thailand says the pachyderm´s left foot was severely hurt in Sunday´s blast in Myanmar´s Kayin state.
2011-09-13 - Kochi, India. Jose Kurian
Just two days ago wild elephants went on a rampage after they strayed into human inhabitations in the hamlets adjoining the jungles of Palakkad district. Man-animal conflict is a continuing story in the State’s jungle zones. For thousands of families living either within the jungles or contiguous to them, life has become dangerous. The elephants, for their part, bear the brunt of man’s commercial greed that has blocked their natural corridors.
2011-09-13 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Greig Box-Turnbull
BABY elephant Paloh – who was cruelly chained up in a filthy zoo – was freed yesterday thanks to campaigning Mirror readers. Shocking photographs of two-year-old orphan Paloh shackled and roped in a dirty back yard in a Malaysian zoo sparked outrage. But now Paloh has been taken to a loving sanctuary where she can forage happily for hours every day.
2011-09-07 - Fellsmere, United States. Eric Pfahler
Plans for a National Elephant Center on the Treasure Coast are back, although the location has changed. The group looking to house elephants now plans to locate in Fellsmere instead of western St. Lucie County. After squabbles with St. Lucie County commissioners over restrictions, the organization is expected to apply for permits on Thursday on 225 acres in northern Fellsmere, currently an unused private citrus grove surrounded by farmland near the Brevard County line.
2011-09-06 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Malaysian authorities have seized nearly 700 elephant tusks bound for China, an official said, the latest in a series of hauls indicating Malaysia had become a key ivory transit hub. Inspectors discovered the 695 African elephant tusks, worth three million ringgit ($1 million), on Friday in Klang, Malaysia´s biggest port, customs official Zainul Abidin Taib told AFP on Tuesday.
2011-09-04 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A new film that highlights the plight of Asian Elephant landmine survivors.
2011-08-26 - LAKE BUENA VISTA, United States.
The elephant herd at Disney’s Animal Kingdom got just a little larger with the birth of a baby calf. Weighing 311 pounds, the male African elephant was welcomed into the group by his mother Vasha, 10 herd members and a team of animal care professionals assisting with the birth. The 25-year-old mother delivered the herd’s sixth offspring after gaining more than 800 pounds during a 22-month gestation. This latest addition, which has yet to be named, is the second calf for Vasha, who gave birth...
2011-08-26 - PETALING JAYA, Malaysia.
A container of anchovies headed for Malaysia from Africa turned out to be no small fry. Hidden within the strong smelling anchovies were more than 1,000 elephant tusks. The killing of more than 500 elephants for the tusks has now turned the spotlight on Malaysia as a significant transit point for the illegal elephant ivory trade.
2011-08-24 - Saigon, Vietnam. Annie Eagleton
Shortly after returning from Dak Lak to Da Nang, I was alerted to a campaign to retire a circus elephant in Sai Gon. This elephant cow, Ny, had been captured from the wild at age three and was gifted to Sai Gon Circus in District 1, by the City of Ho Chi Minh. (I was recently informed that she was originally a gift from Sony Korea, along with another elephant, in gratitude for licence in Viet Nam. The government, at a loss what to do with them, gave them to the circus.)
2011-08-24 - New York, United States. Rachel Raskin-Zrihen
New rules recently adopted by the nation´s animal facility oversight agency may mean the end of Six Flags Discovery Kingdom´s popular elephant encounter attraction. The new policy, approved Monday, prohibits "free contact" handling of elephants in favor of the so-called "protected-contact" elephant management method, according to information from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) website.
2011-08-22 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Dhaneshi YATAWARA
The results of the first ever National Elephant Survey is currently undergoing a close scrutiny at the Statistics Department of the Peradeniya University. The Department of Wildlife Conservation expects to issue an interim report as the initial step and later a complete survey.
2011-08-19 - Moscow, Russian Federation. Michael Santo
Another, new, near perfectly preserved baby woolly mammoth has been discovered in Russia´s permafrost by a reindeer herder, authorities said on Friday. Local officials said that the carcass of the baby woolly mammoth was as perfectly preserved as Lyuba, a 40,000 year old mammoth calf discovered in the same region four yearse ago. The new, still be be "named" calf was discovered sticking out of the permafrost. Although unconfirmed by authorities, they have sent an expedition to the region, ...
2011-08-18 - Jaipur, India.
A global campaign by animal right activists has led to cancellation of the day-long prestigious elephant polo tournament scheduled on Sunday and slated to be witnessed by who´s who of the corporate world at the Rajasthan Polo Ground here. The main sponsor of the event - Carlsberg India Pvt. Ltd. - withdrew on Tuesday in view of the growing opposition to the event as animal right activists from across the world had launched a campaign against it.
2011-08-13 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
An elephant calf has died in Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on the 9th. The calf had been born on 16th January to the she elephant called ‘Lasanda.’ However, this elephant mother had been separated from its calf on a request by the President and was offered to Vishnu Temple at Devinuwara.
2011-08-11 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Wildlife groups in Sri Lanka are threatening to boycott the country´s first national survey of wild elephants after a minister said it would be used to identify animals for use at temples. A dozen privately-run wildlife organisations on Tuesday pulled out their volunteers on the eve of the survey which aims to count the number of animals across all of the formerly war-torn island´s national parks for the first time.
2011-08-11 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Tharindu Muthukumarana
The world famous Millangoda Raja has passed away, leaving us the sweet memories that we had of the great tusker. Millangoda Raja was known as a tusker, had the longest tusks in the whole of Asia. The beauty of the tusker was such that it was featured in the covers of several books about elephants. The death of Millangoda Raja was a natural death. The teeth of the elephant had worn out and it could only swallow little amounts of food at a time. This sort of old aged death comes to wild elephants,...
2011-08-08 - Pittsburgh, United States.
Officials at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium say they´re still waiting for South African officials to ship elephant semen to the United States so the zoo can establish North America´s first elephant sperm bank. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/qS5twH ) says the zoo has been working on the plan for nearly two years, but they´ve had difficulty getting export and import permits for16 liters of semen being stored in the National Zoo´s BioBank in Pretoria, South...
2011-07-31 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
The Chinese, political decisions and a growing black market are being blamed for the rise in elephant and rhino poaching. Last week 10 people were arrested for poaching and unlawful possession of elephant tusks and rhino horns that they were suspected of selling to buyers from China.
2011-07-31 - Hua Hin, Thailand.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament is on Sept. 5-11 in the seaside town of Hua Hin. Returning to its original venue, the annual charity tournament has become one of the country’s largest tourist events. It has raised more than $300,000, primarily for the National Elephant Institute, which provides medical care, sustenance, employment and mahout training for Thailand’s elephant population
2011-07-31 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Last Wednesday, Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki set fire to more than five tonnes of elephant ivory to bring attention to the problem of poaching. About 335 ivory tusks and 41,000 trinkets worth about $16,290,000 ( £10 million) were burned. It had been confiscated by officials in Singapore in 2002 and found to be from Zambia and Malawai, says the Guardian.
2011-07-31 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Malaka Rodrigo
Residents of the area blocked Palagala junction last week, demanding a solution for their Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) issue. About 1,500 villagers gathered at this junction on July 20, protesting the death in the last two months of 7 villagers killed by elephants, according to media reports. Traffic from Kekirawa, Galewela and Mahawa was blocked, causing severe inconvenience to the public. The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) had to assure the villagers that they would relocate the tr...
2011-07-28 - Philadelphia, United States.
An African art dealer from Philadelphia was arrested on Tuesday 26 July and has been charged with illegally smuggling elephant ivory. Police seized one ton of ivory originating from Africa, making it one of the largest seizures of ivory to be illegally imported to the United States. The suspect, Victor Gordon, stained and dyed the ivory to create the impression that it was old.
2011-07-27 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Corroborating previous studies of this and other Asian elephant populations, we find that the sizes of elephant groups observed in the field on any particular day are typically small and that rates of association are low. In contrast to earlier studies, our longitudinal observations reveal that individuals form larger social units that can be remarkably stable across years while associations among such units change across seasons.
2011-07-19 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Tharindu Muthukumarana
The death of this majestic tusker was a tear jerking story for most Sri Lankans. This is not the first time when a death of an elephant became a story much talked about through out Sri Lanka. The tusker passed away on Friday 8, 2011, at about 7 am. Navam Raja was an attractive part of the Navam Prerahera. Raja meaning the king in both Sinhala and Tamil languages became the lead elephant to take part in the Gangarama Navam Perahera.
2011-07-14 - Tyler, United States.
Caldwell Zoo is saddened to announce that our African Elephant bull “Chico” passed away suddenly Saturday July 9. At the time of his death he was 46 years old and the oldest African bull in North American zoos. Chico had not exhibited any signs of illness prior to his death. A team of pathologists from Texas A&M University along with Caldwell Zoo veterinarians performed a necropsy and at this time the cause of death is undetermined pending further test results.
2011-06-08 - Chandler, United States.
One of the more poignant lessons in forgiveness that Colleen Bennett has received is exemplified on the walls of her daughter´s bedroom. Lauren Bennett sleeps at the family´s Chandler home while surrounded by pictures of elephants. They remain her favorite animals, three months after she was attacked by one in Thailand. The incident left her with a life-threatening liver laceration and severe anguish for a family stuck half the world from home.
2011-06-08 - Mysore, India.
Two wild elephants have trampled a man to death and killed two cows in a rampage through an Indian city. The animals entered a suburb in Mysore, in the southern Karnataka state, from a nearby forest and soon caused widespread panic and havoc. A 55-year-old man was killed after coming out of his house to see what the commotion was all about.
2011-06-08 - Amboseli, Kenya.
After four decades of research into the social behavior of pachyderms, biologists have arrived at a remarkable conclusion: they´re really not so different from us. The results of the longest continual study of elephants found that some behaviors many people believe to be unique to humans, like casting flirtatious glances or arguing about directions, are in reality quite common among these species as well -- except they never forget to pack their trunks.
2011-06-08 - Little Rock, United States.
Two retired female circus elephants have arrived at the Little Rock Zoo to keep Ellen company. Full information is on the jump. Jewell is 60. Zina, the one with the hairy legs, is 50. Both are Asian elephants. The elephants came from the Ringling Center for Elephant Conservation and arrived here early this morning following a 20-hour tractor-trailer ride from Sarasota, Fla. They seemed comfortable in their new home when we visited — trumpeting and harrumphing occasionally as they ambled about,...
2011-06-07 - Knoxville, United States.
The Knoxville Zoo has been fined more than $12,000 dollars after an inspection by TOSHA following the death of an elephant trainer. Stephanie James was killed in January when Edie, an 8500 pound African elephant, pushed her into a stall. The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) inspected the zoo after the incident, and their findings were released to 10News on Monday.
2011-06-07 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Two ˜holding grounds to relocate problematic elephants will be completed by the end of the year in a bid to resolve the long-standing human-elephant conflict in the country, the Wildlife Department said yesterday. Wildlife Department Director Dr. Chandrawansa Pathiraja told the Daily Mirror that the construction process of two holding grounds in Lunugamwehera and Horowpathana would be launched in the coming weeks.
The Knoxville Zoo is fighting the citations and fines imposed upon them by the Tennesssee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) after the death of a worker. In January, elephant keeper Stephanie James was killed when an elephant named Edie pushed her into a steel beam.
2011-06-07 - Kochi, India.
A 42yearold elephant, which was suffering from serious injuries, died at Choondi near Muvattupuzha on Monday. The Forest Department has started looking into the circumstances that led to the death of the animal. Officials said the elephant died near Pariyaram Mahavishnu Temple where it was camped for the past few days. The mahout of the elephant Viswanathan also stayed near the temple. According to forest officials, tusker Nayarambalam Ramankutty, owned by the Nayarambalam NSS Trust, died on Mon...
2011-06-06 - Knysna, South Africa.
A handler at the Knysna Elephant Park is in a critical but stable condition in hospital after being attacked by an elephant over the weekend. Arnold Ndzwanana had to have one of his legs amputated after being tossed in the air and then trampled by the 22-year-old bull, Harry. The park is now investigating what happened in the moments leading up to the incident. In June 2005, Harry trampled another handler to death.
2011-06-06 - Dak Lak, Vietnam.
Dak Lak Province authorities have incinerated the body of a baby elephant found in Yok Don National Park last Wednesday. Nguyen Con, Yok Don park ranger, said they found the decomposed elephant, weighing around 100 kilograms, at the section No. 290. He said it was a newborn elephant but they couldn’t identify the cause of the death.
2011-06-05 - Kandy, Sri Lanka. Gandhya Senanayake & Karunarathna Athukorala
A baby elephant had drowned at the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage Saturday evening, officials said. It drowned after the foot of the baby reportedly got trapped in stones in the area which led to the drowning in the Ma-Oya, they said. Senior Assistant Director Renuka Bandaranayke told Daily Mirror Online that the body of baby elephant had been sent to the Veterinary faculty of the Peradeniya University for the postmortem and that they were waiting for the autopsy report. A police and administrati...
2011-06-04 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The scientists from the Northeastern Research Institute of Petrified Wood and Mineral Resources of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University found seven pieces of fossil tooth in Nakhon Ratchasima´s Chalerm Phrakiat district about 10 years ago. "The fossils are different from other ancient elephants found in Egypt, Kenya, Europe and China," said Chavalit Vidthayanon, deputy director of the institute. "This is the first time we have found such a species in Thailand," he said, adding the discove...
2011-06-04 - Charles Q. Choi, United States.
The woolly mammoth may surprisingly have regularly interbred with a completely different and much larger elephant species, researchers now find. Woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) roamed the planet for more than a million years, ranging from Europe to Asia to North America. Nearly all of these giants vanished from Siberia by about 10,000 years ago, although dwarf mammoths survived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean until 3,700 years ago.
2011-06-03 - Atlanta, United States. David Beasley
Queenie, a water-skiing Asian elephant who delighted fans in the 1950s, has been euthanized at the Georgia wildlife park where she lived her final years in retirement. "She had a declining quality of life and declining health," said Micha Hogan, public relations director of the Wild Adventures Water and Theme Park in Valdosta, where Queenie had lived out of the spotlight since 2003.
2011-05-25 - Auckland, New Zealand.
Auckland Zoo´s beloved elephant Burma is set to get new companions after the council approved a proposal to import two young elephants from Sri Lanka. Two female elephants will be brought over from Sri Lanka at a cost of $3.2 million, but Auckland Council´s strategy and finance chair Penny Webster said there would be zero cost to ratepayers.
2011-05-19 - Toledo, United States.
The Toledo Zoo is getting ready for a new addition -- a baby! This one´s going to big, nearly 300 pounds! Louie the elephant is about to get a sibling! Louie´s mother, Renee, is pregnant with her second calf. And her due date is any day now Imagine being pregnant for nearly two years! Mama elephant Renee has been with calf for 22 months!
2011-05-19 - Asheboro, United States.
The oldest elephant at the North Carolina Zoo could not get to his feet after his Thursday morning training exercises, zoo officials said. Thirty-seven-year-old C’sar weighs 13,000 pounds, requiring the assistance of more than just a few zoo keepers to stand up.
2011-05-18 - Santiago, Chile.
A perfectly preserved skull of a mastodon -- a relative of today´s elephant -- was found here during excavation work at a water treatment plant, one of the scientists involved in the discovery said Tuesday. "This is the remains of a gomphothere (mastodon) skull in optimal condition," paleontologist Rafael Labarca told AFP about the discovery of the animal, which had two to four tusks and died out 10,000 years ago.
2011-05-16 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
This is an International training course on the Management of the Health, reproduction and breeding of Asian elephants. The course has two components, a stand-alone distance (online-based) course that is designed to provide you with background knowledge in elephant reproduction and health so that you will be able to fully engage with the one-week practical training course in Chiang Mai in Thailand.
2011-05-16 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Gazala Anver
The gentle giants, inextricably linked to the history and culture of our country, have for generations been hunted and sold for their ivory or as symbols of prestige. It has come to such a point now, that there are very few tame elephants left and the price for them is sky high, as near as a million rupees per elephant.
2011-05-16 - Kota Bahru, Malaysia.
Residents around Kampung Cherang Hangus, Machang, Kelantan (near Kota Bahru) sigh of relief when the wild elephants that roam their village since last week captured by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Wildlife) Kelantan, yesterday. Jeli District Wildlife Officer, Cosmas Ngau said, the 15-year-old male elephant weighing two tons was arrested at about 12.30pm by a team of eight members of the department after a week of monitoring.
2011-05-11 - Lam Dong , Vietnam.
The Lam Dong Province People’s Procuracy has charged Phan Thi Hoa, director of the Nam Qua Eco-Tourism Co., Ltd., and two other with selling ivories of a dead elephant. Hoa, 52, from Lam Dong is now banned from leaving her residence, while Phan Dac Mau Dai, 33, also from Lam Dong and Nguyen Ngoc Thuan, 36, from Dong Nai Province, will be detained for 2 months for investigation.
2011-05-11 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
There was panic for a moment along the main road in Rajagiriya yesterday morning when an elephant ran amok near the Welikada police station after its caretaker lost control of the elephant. However, the animal was brought under control after some time. According to the caretaker the elephant that was brought to Sri Lanka from Myanmar some time ago was being taken from the Kotte Raja Maha Viharaya to the Defence Ministry for a function when it got disturbed and ran amok.
2011-05-11 - Oklahoma City, United States.
The baby elephant born last month at the Oklahoma City Zoo has been named Malee. Zoo officials announced the name at a ceremony Wednesday in the zoo´s new elephant habitat. Malee (pronounced MAY-lee) was chosen in an online vote. Malee, which is Thai for flower or jasmine, garnered more than 70 percent of the 14,000 votes cast. Zoo officials billed Malee as the zookeepers´ preference out of the three names offered. Other options were Annika and Hanako.
2011-05-11 - Marseille, United States.
On a busy day, a veterinary clinic can seem like a zoo. But Tuesday afternoon at the Marseilles Veterinary Hospital it was more like a circus. Tuesday morning the hospital received a call asking if someone could inspect an elephant that was being transported with eight ponies from Florida to Baraboo, Wis. The elephant needed a health certificate to cross into Wisconsin, hospital technician Melissa Peterson told The Times.
2011-05-10 - Bangalore, India.
A seven year old elephant gave birth to a stillborn born baby elephant on Sunday night in Bannerghatta National Park. Nisarga (the mother elephant) went into labour at around 9.30 pm and give birth to premature 10 month old still born baby elephant. "The normal gestation period for elephants is in between 18 to 22 months, while in this case even the mother was only seven year old, as usually in elephants the right breeding age is from 14 years," Dr R Raju, Executive Director, Bannerghatta Biolog...
2011-05-10 - , United States. Das SK, Chattopadhyay S.
The study attempts to find out the nature of injuries caused by wild elephant attack and the common factors contributing to human-wild elephant conflict so that vulnerable population can be cautioned to avoid conflicts. A distinct seasonal as well as diurnal variation of attack incidences was noted. Attacks were sudden and unprovoked. Killer elephants were wild tuskers in all the cases.
2011-05-06 - Nairobi, Kenya.
An official says Kenyan police have seized about a tonne of illegal ivory destined for Nigeria at the country´s main airport in Nairobi. Joseph Ngisa, the officer in charge of criminal investigations in the country´s airports, said they impounded 84 elephant tusks on concealed in metal containers on Thursday. Ngisa said Friday sniffer dogs led the policemen to the containers at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport´s cargo hold. He said no arrests had been made.
2011-05-06 - Hai Phong, Vietnam.
Vietnamese customs discovered nearly 600 kilograms of African elephant tusks hidden in a shipping container of rubber from Tanzania, authorities said Friday. The authorities made the haul on Thursday after receiving a tip. "Smuggled elephant tusks were hidden in a very sophisticated way," Vu Hoang Duong, head of customs at the port of Hai Phong, told the German Press Agency dpa. "They cut open tanks for holding rubber, filled them with elephant tusks and soldered them shut again."
2011-05-06 - New Delhi, India.
The Prime Minister´s Office has shot down a proposal to set up a National Elephant Conservation Authority along the lines of one existing for tigers. The environment ministry had recommended an amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act creating a powerful autonomous authority for the pachyderm. The authority was intended to create a network of elephant reserves which could be kept free of mining and other harmful industrial activities.
2011-05-06 - Ostrava, Czech Republic.
The elephant male born in Ostrava Zoo on March 11 as the first in the Czech Republic died during the night, the zoo´s spokeswoman Sarka Kalouskova told CTK today, adding the baby was too weak. The breeding of the Indian elephant was accompanied by problems from the very beginning. It was probably born prematurely, its weight was low and it was not putting weight on at all.
2011-05-06 - Kushalnagar, India.
It was a day for picnic at the Dubare elephant camp on Wednesday, which is gaining popularity as a major tourist attraction of Kodagu district. The elephants and their care-takers were treated to a feast by philanthropist D. Vinod Shivappa, a well-known coffee planter from Suntikoppa village near here. He also adopted two elephant calves that are star attractions for the visitors at Dubare.
2011-05-06 - Little Rock, United States. Lindsey Fry
The long-lived life of Little Rock Zoo´s Mary the elephant ended peacefully Thursday, May 5, 2011, when the 60-year-old pachyderm was euthanized after her health took a sharp decline in the last few days. During the procedure, Mary was surrounded by the loving Zoo staff that cared for her including several staff members who worked with her for the more than 10 years she lived at the Zoo.
2011-05-04 - Nairobi, Kenya. Jason Straziuso
Four out of seven elephants fitted with satellite tracking collars have been killed on the slopes of Mount Kenya in recent months, only a short distance from the safari lodge where Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton. Scottish conservationist Iain Douglas-Hamilton said the animals were fitted with collars over the last year by his charity, Save The Elephants.
2011-04-26 - Chitwan, Nepal.
A woman was killed in an attack by a wild elephant at Meghauli of west Chitwan on Tuesday. Local resident Bhim Maya Tamang, 45, had gone to collect fodder when she was attacked by the wild elephant at the bank of Rapti River. The elephant had come to the place from Chitwan National Park, local resident Chudamani Chaudhari told Kalika FM. More than 12 other locals had joined Tamang to collect fodder for their cattle however managed to escape unhurt.
2011-04-25 - Dalat, Vietnam.
An elephant was found brutally killed in the central highlands resort town of Da Lat Sunday. The 38-year-old male elephant was found tied to a tree, and the tendons of its hind legs were slashed. Its tusks and tail hair, meanwhile, were still in place. According to initial information, the elephant belonging to Tuyen Lam Lake Tourism Complex went missing Saturday night when it was left to graze on a hillside. The elephant´s caretaker was absent from work that day.
2011-04-22 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The Dehiwala National Zoological Gardens has organized a best video clip competition for visitors from April 8 to 22 for the New Year school vacation, Director General Bashwara Senanka Gunaratne told the Daily News. A tame, juvenile elephant will be brought to the zoo from the Pinnawala elephant orphanage on April 22. People will be allowed to view these animals from 3 pm onwards on this day, he explained. Gunaratne requested the public to visit the zoo during their vacation and participate in t...
2011-04-21 - Vientiane, Laos.
A herd of wild elephants in Luang Namtha province in the country´s north is now being protected to ensure they do not disappear, according to a provincial official. Luang Namtha provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office Head Mr Soukson Phonpadith told Vientiane Times yesterday there were great numbers of wild elephants in the province in the past. “Now only six elephants remain,” he said. The main causes of the decimation of the elephant population are de...
2011-04-21 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Wongai Zhangazha
PRISONERS in the country’s overcrowded jails may soon be fed with elephant meat if a proposal by the Justice and Legal Affairs ministry to curb the shortage of protein in prisons is accepted by government. The ministry is proposing the culling of the “over-populated” elephants and supply the meat to prisons where inmates have had meals without meat for years. The country’s prison dietary requirements are said to be far below international standards and what is required by the law. Inmate...
2011-04-19 - Harrare, Zimbabwe.
Four Harare men were last week arrested at Avondale shopping centre for possession of 15 elephant tusks valued at US$8 500. The four suspected poachers were arrested last week on Thursday following a tip off to the police by the people who suspected the men of possessing weapons. Police spokesperson, Inspector James Sabau said the four, 42-year old George Chatanga, 37-year old Shepherd Naite, 31-year old Farai Dzvairo, all from Chitungwiza, and 47-year old Glen Norah-based Kenneth Sibanda, were ...
2011-04-19 - Coimbatore, India.
A four-year old elephant was found electrocuted in a village near here today. The elephant was found entangled in a snapped electric wire by villagers of Thalimalai near Periyanaickenpalayam, about 25 km from here. On being informed, forest department officials rushed to the spot, recovered the body of the pachyderm and conducted a postmortem, police sources said.
2011-04-15 - Oklahoma City, United States.
The pregnant Asian elephant at the Oklahoma City Zoo has gone into labor and is expected to give birth late today or early Saturday. Asha and her calf are both doing well, the zoo´s veterinarian said this morning.
2011-04-14 - Twycross, United Kingdom.
It is with great sadness that Twycross Zoo has said goodbye to their young Asian elephant, Ganesh Vijay aged 18 months. Ganesh died yesterday due to a heart condition despite all the efforts of the animal and veterinary teams to save his life. Vets from around the country with specialist elephant and equine experience converged at Twycross Zoo in an attempt to keep him alive.
2011-04-12 - Surin, Thailand.
The submissions of some 180 elephants from Ban Ta Klang in Surin, Thailand, made the database tip over 7000 elephants. The elephant database now includes 7081 elephants from 1980 location facilities in 110 countries.
2011-04-12 - Honolulu, United States.
We, as emotional beings, place a high value on happiness and joy. Happiness is more than a feeling to us - it’s something we require and strive for. We’re so fixated on happiness that we define the pursuit of it as a right. We seek happiness not only for ourselves and our loved ones, but also for our planet and its creatures.
2011-04-12 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
The death of Dineo, the first baby elephant born at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa in Pretoria, felt like a death in the family, zoo staff said yesterday. Dineo, born three weeks ago, died in her sleep yesterday morning. An autopsy is being conducted. "We had her under 24-hour surveillance since the day she was born," said Craig Allenby, a manager at the zoo.
2011-04-11 - St. Louis, United States.
St. Louis Zoo says it´s a mystery how 40-year-old Asian elephant Donna contracted tuberculosis. No other elephant or keeper has tested positive for the illness. "We assume elephants get TB like any other animal," said the zoo´s director of animal health, Dr. Randy Junge. "An animal or human who has TB blows it out and another animal can pick it up. It takes prolonged contact. But we have a closed herd with no animals coming or going."
2011-04-05 - Vavuniya, Sri Lanka.
Two elephants have sustained injuries in between the Seelawathura and Mollikulama areas, after being caught to a landmine. The Vavuniya Wild Life office said that the injured animals are being treated for these injuries sustained recently. Officers of the army detachment in the area had informed the wild life office in Vavuniya, after stumbling upon the injured elephants.
2011-04-04 - Singapore, Singapore.
The park’s first baby elephant in nine years makes his first public appearance at the April launch of an exhibit on the Asian elephant, whose population in the wild is dwindling fast. It´s estimated that there are now only some 30,000 to 50,000 left in the forests of India, Sri Lanka, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. In Singapore, the latest addition to the Night Safari’s brood of endangered Asian elephants is the first to be born at both the Night Safari and S...
2011-04-04 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Disna Mudalige
The Wildlife Conservation Department has decided to do away with elephant translocation with immediate effect considering the negative impact it has caused to both humans and elephants, a spokesperson of the Department told the Daily News yesterday. She said that previous translocation attempts had proved to be unsuccessful. "The elephants had somehow tried to find a route to go back to their previous location. Translocation can affect the behaviour of the elephants. In return they become aggres...
2011-04-04 - Wellington, New Zealand.
Generations of Wellingtonians who took ride on Kamala the elephant at the zoo probably didn´t know they were sitting on a saddle stuffed with old undies and a 1940s Avondale racebook. Rides on Indian elephant Kamala were a favourite attraction at the zoo from 1953 till 1983. Now those child riders can take a sentimental journey to the Museum of City and Sea on the waterfront to see the fully restored saddle.
2011-04-04 - Paignton, United Kingdom.
Duchess, who weighs four tonnes, has started a course of treatment to prevent the condition from worsening. Glaucoma is a progressive eye condition which if untreated can lead to blindness. The zoo said she would be monitored closely and medication should help control the condition.
2011-04-03 - Don Village, Vietnam.
An old elephant waits, incomplete, in the shade of a big tamarind tree outside Yok Don National Park. The giant beast’s two tusks have been cut off by its owner to dissuade poachers from killing it. But that didn’t stop them from cutting off the hairy tip of its tail—a single strand can sell for between US$10-15 at tourist shops throughout Dak Lak Province.
2011-04-03 - Sinharaja, Sri Lanka. Srilal Miththapala
It is a known fact that wild elephants were found in most parts of Sri Lanka during the early 1900’s. However, with the rapid development of the South and South West regions, they gradually moved towards the Central, South Eastern and North Eastern regions. With the rapid development of the tea plantations, the elephants living in the central hills also moved away into the central East or were decimated in the course of development.
2011-04-03 - Longleat, United Kingdom.
A circus elephant filmed being abused by her groom was successfully moved to her new home at Longleat Safari Park this morning. Anne, an elderly performing elephant, was ferried by a specialist team of handlers from her winter quarters in Polebrook, Northamptonshire, to the Wiltshire wildlife attraction. Bobby Roberts Super Circus, the elephant´s former owner, agreed to the handover after a Romanian employee was secretly filmed kicking the arthritic elephant and striking her with a pitchfo...
2011-04-03 - Jerudong, Brunei Darussalam. Fadley Faisal
A 49-year-old foreigner who works as an elephant keeper in Brunei Darussalam was slapped with a $1,000 fine by the Bandar Seri Begawan Magistrate´s Court for gambling at a house in Kg Jerudong last week. The court was told that the defedant, Sahit Wongsa, was caught gaming with a few other people at a house in Kg Jerudong on March 26, 2011, at about 11.35pm by anti-vice police personnel during a raid.
2011-04-03 - Surat Thani, Thailand.
In January 2011, Elephant Hills Rainforest Camp situated in the centre of Cheow Larn Lake in Khao Sok National Park, was added to the already successful nature tours offered by Elephant Hills Safaris. As well as elephant trekking, the new luxury floating camp on Cheow Larn Lake in Khao Sok National Park is now on offer, a unique rainforest experience.
2011-04-02 - Knutsford, United Kingdom.
The owner of Anne the circus elephant yesterday apologised for her mistreatment as a deal was struck to rehome her at Longleat Safari Park. Moira Roberts said she felt responsible for the suffering endured by Britain’s oldest elephant because she hired Nicolae Nitu, the Romanian groom secretly filmed kicking her and stabbing her with a pitchfork.
2011-03-30 - Longleat, United Kingdom.
A deal was close last night to rehome Anne the circus elephant within a week. Her owners Moira and Bobby Roberts have finally agreed to allow the 59-year-old animal to retire to an enclosure at Longleat Safari Park, the Mail can reveal. It marks a victory for this paper, which brought Anne’s desperate plight to the public’s attention by revealing secret footage of the Asian elephant’s Romanian groom stabbing and beating her.
2011-03-30 - Binga, Zimbabwe.
PARKS rangers have shot and killed two poachers in Chizarira National Park in Binga. The rangers recovered three .303 rifles, 76 rounds of ammunition, a pair of elephant tusks and fresh elephant meat in the night operation that saw some of the poachers fleeing. Bodies of the unidentified poachers, suspected to have come from the Sinamuchembo communal lands in Gokwe, have since been taken to a mortuary at Binga Rural District Hospital.
2011-03-29 - Osaka, Japan.
Now Japanese scientists believe they may be just four years away from resurrecting something far more impressive – the woolly mammoth. The feat is all down to the discovery of mammoths preserved in the Siberian permafrost and the revolutionary cloning of a mouse – usually portrayed as an elephant’s nemesis. The project to bring back a real life ‘manny’ from Ice Age extinction is being led by researchers at Kinki University in Osaka, Japan.
2011-03-28 - Polebrook, United Kingdom.
Northamptonshire Police said it was investigating jointly with the RSPCA after images emerged of Annie the Asian elephant being struck with a metal pitchfork on Bobby Roberts Super Circus. Animal Defenders International (ADI) shot the covert video earlier this year amid concerns for the 57-year-old animal´s well-being as part of the Bobby Roberts Super Circus.
2011-03-28 - Kampot, Cambodia.
Kampot province’s Teuk Chhou zoo is a place where no one seems to care about how animals are treated, a place where animals are kept in cramped, roofless shelters and rely largely on food from tourists to survive. The state of the zoo’s two elephants is heartbreaking, as their emaciated necks stretch through the thick bars of their enclosure in an attempt to eat blades of grass, seemingly one of their few sources of nourishment. The skeletal bodies of the two animals are hard to ignore and t...
2011-03-28 - London, United Kingdom.
Charitable donations requested by Prince William and Kate Middleton instead of wedding gifts will help the London Zoological Society. It works in Thailand with the Elephant Conservation Network to reduce conflict between villagers and the animals in the western province of Kanchanaburi. Network director Belinda Stewart-Cox said Thursday the gift would help ensure "we really make a difference to the lives of these amazing animals and the villagers who accommodate them."
2011-03-28 - Riaou, Indonesia.
A rare Sumatran elephant has died in Indonesia after blocking a village street for a week, an official said Sunday. The female elephant was in a "weak condition" after becoming separated from its herd about a week ago in Bengkalis district, Riau province, conservation agency official Adit Gunawan told AFP. "It was hungry. We gave it food, water and medical attention. We tried our best to nurse it back to health but it wasn´t getting better and died on Saturday evening," he said.
2011-03-28 - Pretoria, South Africa.
On Monday 21st March 2011 we became parents to a baby girl. Lerata is her name and she is only seven days old. She is managed by Carol Thobela and Graeme Ogilvie and she doing well. Here she is being fed her hourly bottle of milk which she devours. Sadly she was too short and could not reach her mums teat, so could not feed - thus the desperate decision to pull her only 24 hours after her birth. But the vets are happy and so is the herd, mum is fine and seems to be content with the plans t...
2011-03-28 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
An American woman has slaughtered an elephant with a bow and arrow... to win a bet. Teressa Groenewald-Hagerman was so proud, she posted pictures on the internet showing her beaming beside her kill in Zimbabwe. The 39-year-old huntress said she crept into a herd of 37 elephants, knelt down, and shot the grand creature from just 12 yards. It staggered 500 yards before it collapsed, then she left it to die overnight. Ms Groenewald-Hagerman is the first woman known to have killed an elephant with a...
2011-03-27 - Portland, United States.
Packy made his entrance at what´s known today as the Oregon Zoo the first elephant born in the United States in more than 40 years. Matthew Maberry was in the elephant barn that morning and he recalls every detail in "Packy & Me: The Incredible Tale of Doc Maberry and the Baby Elephant Who Made History." Maberry, 93, wrote the memoir with his wife, Patricia, and Michelle Trappen, a former reporter for The Oregonian.
2011-03-27 - Cleveland, United States.
Lisa Leeman´s documentary traces the relationship between circus owner David Balding and his main attraction, not just in the show but in his life. Balding raised the 18-year-old only to realize when she turned 16 that he´d made a mistake. She needs to be with other elephants, even if it means being apart from her human companion.
2011-03-27 - Surat Thani, Thailand.
TWO MALE elephants fought over a female on a trekking ride through Khao Sok National Park, north of Phuket, trampling one tourist to death and leaving several others with injuries. A Swiss woman has been killed, and an Australian woman and two other victims are being treated for injuries in Bangkok Hospital Phuket in Phuket City. One person remains in intensive care after the incident, which occurred yesterday, Phuketwan reporters learned at the hospital
2011-03-25 - Monterey, United States.
Mark Hylkema, Archaeologist with California State Parks, told Central Coast News his team found the remains of a juvenile Columbian mammoth in Monterey County. "We´re hoping to find out more and to get a chance to view and learn more about what they do discover once they´re done excavating," said Annie Holdren, Pacific Grove Museum Curator. The archeologist asked us not to reveal the city or exact location of the discovery.
2011-03-25 - Thai Nguyen, Vietnam.
The fossil tooth is believed to be the tooth of an Asian elephant, with an age of 30,000-50,000 years. “This is the first time a fossil tooth of this species of elephant has been discovered in Thai Nguyen,” said Dr. Trinh Nang Chung, who led the archaeological survey. The tooth was founded in Than Sa River in Vo Nhai district, the section running through the Da Nguom, a famous archaeological site in Thai Nguyen. The tooth was unearthed at the depth of 3m, in a hole dug by gold miners. Gold m...
2011-03-25 - Miami, United States.
An update from the Central Florida Zoo & botanical Gardens: Maude, the Central Florida Zoo’s Asian elephant that moved to Zoo Miami, is adjusting well to her new elephant herd, the zoo reports. She has joined two other Asian elephants, Nellie and Dahlip. Central Florida Zoo hoofstock keepers Bernie Bartosch and Dani Lent remained in Miami for several days after Maude’s arrival to help her adjust to her new environment.
2011-03-25 - Knoxville, United States.
The Jan. 14 death of Stephanie James, the Knoxville Zoo keeper who died after being pushed by female elephant Edie, was accidental, a review panel has found. The zoo also announced Thursday that Edie and its other female elephant, Jana, will be permanently cared for by keepers in what´s called ´protected contact.´ That means keepers will work with the pachyderms with bars or barriers between them.
2011-03-21 - Hyderabad, India.
The five elephants in Nehru Zoological Park may not be relocated to a sanctuary. Highly-placed sources said that Nehru Zoological Park was one among the zoos, which had written to Central Zoo Authority (CZA) requesting an inspection before the relocation is carried out. Awaiting an inspection, the authorities are confident that it is offering an appropriate environment for this largest mammal.
2011-03-20 - Kochi, India.
Elephant owners in the state have increased the daily rentals of their elephants as temples in the state have ushered into this year’s festival season. They, however, justify the hike in rentals citing a variety of factors including the steep rise in the price of essential commodities and decreasing number of captive elephants.
2011-03-19 - Jaipur, India.
The unique annual Elephant Festival in Jaipur is all set to return in 2011. Celebrated along with Holi in Jaipur, Elephant Festival is one of the most popular festival in Rajasthan. As the name suggets the prime attraction of the festival are Elephants. The festival takes place at the Chaugan ground in Jaipur where Elephants participate in varieties of events to entertain the crowd.
2011-03-19 - , Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Ministry of Wildlife says that a new interim elephant orphanage is being constructed in the North Central Province. The new orphanage for wild elephants is in Ulankulama along the A-12 highway from Puttalam to Trincomalee. The Ulankulama orphanage is also expected to be a tourist attraction probably from July this year, says Minister Chandrasena.
2011-03-18 - Rambukkana, Sri Lanka. Oswald Godakumbura
The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage yesterday recorded the 59th birth. Menika gave birth to her third baby and it is in good health, sources from the Orphanage told the Daily News. She gave birth in 2001 and 2005 and they have been named Migara and Mihiri. The number of jumbos at the orphanage rose to 91 with the birth of the latest entry. Nine elephants were born at the orphanage this month alone and they would be christened by the orphanage later this month, sources told the Daily News.
2011-03-17 - AHMEDABAD, India.
Ashok and Roopa were one of the main attractions in the city zoo and after Ashoks sudden death on Monday, Roopa, the 22-year-old elephant who had spent 20 years of her life with him, stands alone today, calm and silent.
2011-03-16 - Chobe, Botswana.
Even a single male can overpower a young elephant. Between 1994 and 1997, Dereck Joubert found that the lions of Botswana’s Chobe National Park were getting better and better at hunting elephants. He wrote: “In one notable case, a single male lion ran at nearly full speed into the side of a 6-year-old male calf with sufficient force to collapse the elephant on its side.”
2011-03-16 - Sherman, United States.
It may be hard to imagine woolly mammoths roaming through North Texas, but scientists from Dallas have unearthed the proof. Someone found a bone in a creek wall in Sherman a few months ago. When archaeologists started digging last week, they found more intriguing remains.
2011-03-16 - Seattle, United States.
The Woodland Park Zoo is hoping it will be able to ring in 2013 with a brand new baby elephant after artificially inseminating its 32-year-old Asian elephant, Chai, over the weekend. "Chai is very healthy and in excellent condition for pregnancy," Bruce Upchurch, curator of behavioral managment and elephants, said in a Woodland Park Zoo press release. "Our fingers are crossed that she has conceived."
2011-03-16 - Washington, United States.
A judge sentenced Pascal Vieillard, CEO of A-440 Pianos Inc., to 3 years probation for illegally smuggling elephant ivory into the US, while the Georgia-based company has been fined $17,500. Vieillard had earlier pleaded guilty to importing pianos with ivory parts.
2011-03-16 - Nashville, United States. Craig Boerner
Circus workers, zookeepers and others having direct or indirect contact with elephants are on alert because of a study definitively showing that elephants can transmit tuberculosis to humans, the result of a cooperative investigation between the Tennessee Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
2011-03-14 - Washington, United States.
Two American explorers are heading to Africa today to begin an important expedition that could prove vital to the fight against the illegal ivory trade. Their five week long journey, dubbed the Elephant Ivory Project, may help to save herds of those creatures, which have come increasingly under attack from poachers in recent years.
2011-03-13 - , Thailand.
In May 1998, the Cabinet approved the designation of March 13 as Thai Elephants Day to raise and sustain public awareness of the importance of elephants. Elephant are recognzied as the national animal of Thailand. National Elephant Day is an occasion when people show their love for elephants and many of the elephant parks hold special events where visitors can look after the animals and help with the feeding.
2011-03-13 - Hohenwald, United States.
A tuberculosis outbreak among workers at a Tennessee elephant sanctuary in 2009 is being blamed on one of the pachyderms, even though some of the employees didn´t have close contact with the animal. TB spread to eight employees, though three of them didn´t work directly with the elephant. The eight employees tested positive on a skin test and received treatment,
2011-03-13 - Hohenwald, United States. Murphree R, Warkentin JV, Dunn JR, Schaffner W, Jones TF.
In 2009, the Tennessee Department of Health received reports of 5 tuberculin skin test (TST) conversions among employees of an elephant refuge and isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a resident elephant. To determine the extent of the outbreak and identify risk factors for TST conversion, we conducted a cohort study and onsite assessment. Risk for conversion was increased for elephant caregivers and administrative employees working in the barn housing the M. tuberculosis-infected elepha...
2011-03-12 - Nashville, United States.
Full Time Elephant Keeper - The Elephant Department is accepting resumes for a full time with benefits elephant keeper position. At least one year of free contact elephant experience is required. This position includes: Daily handling, training and care of 0.4 African elephants in a free contact environment, detailed daily cleaning and maintenance of holding areas and exhibit, record keeping, public speaking, veterinary assistance, team and individual problem solving and decision making.
2011-03-12 - Bangalore, India.
The Bandipur National Park landscape harbours one of the highest densities of elephants in Asia and as per the latest census reports, there are not less than 6,000 to 10,000 elephants that roam free in these jungles.
2011-03-11 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The more than 1,600 tusks seized since the beginning of 2009 by Thai customs indicate that more than 800 elephants were slaughtered to feed a murky and voracious international market. "Thailand is still ranked number one" in the ivory traffic rankings, said Chris Shepherd, deputy manager for Southeast Asia at wildlife protection group Traffic.
2011-03-11 - Dak Lak, Vietnam.
an elephant race and dug-out canoe race were organized by the Dak Lak Tourism JS Company, with the participation of 20 elephants and 20 dug-out canoes. In the qualifying round, four teams, each comprising 5 elephants aged 23 to 45, raced each other and the first five qualified for the final. Each elephant was ridden by two handlers who prodded the animals to run as fast as they could.
2011-03-09 - Atlanta, United States. Plotnik JM, Lair R, Suphachoksahakun W, de Waal FB.
This paradigm explores the cognition underlying coordination toward a shared goal. What do animals know or learn about the benefits of cooperation? Can they learn critical elements of a partner´s role in cooperation? Whereas observations in nature suggest such understanding in nonhuman primates, experimental results have been mixed, and little evidence exists with regards to nonprimates. Here, we show that elephants can learn to coordinate with a partner in a task requiring two individuals...
2011-03-08 - Oklahoma City, United States.
After a year and a half of construction, the elephants at the Oklahoma City Zoo finally have a new home. The new elephant habitat covers more than nine and a half acres at the zoo. The $13 million, state-of-the-art exhibit includes three outdoor yards, pools, a waterfall, shade structures and a more than 15,000 square foot barn.
2011-03-07 - Hohenwald, United States.
The sanctuary has fired back with a counterclaim that Buckley created a hostile working environment, with mistreatment of workers. It also alleges that she failed to implement infection control measures, which the sanctuary and regulators agreed to, that preceded several elephant caregivers´ testing positive for tuberculosis.
2011-03-02 - Miami, United States.
Zoo Miami is accepting applications for a full time, temporary elephant keeper. We are seeking an energetic, team oriented, and outgoing person to join our staff. Experience with elephants and a working knowledge of operant conditioning is desired. This is a substitute position with the potential to be permanent. Minimum requirements are a college degree in Animal Science or related field and one year of professional animal care experience in an AZA accredited facility, as well as the ability to...
2011-02-26 - KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia.
An endangered Borneo Pygmy elephant, Rocco, has died in captivity at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park here. Rocco, reportedly about 27 years old, died at 3.30am on Monday, hardly 24-hours after it showed signs of weakness that was treated with emergency intravenous and subcutaneous fluid therapy.
2011-02-24 - Dvur Kralove, Czech Republic.
An elephant attacked one of its keepers at Dvur Kralove Zoo on Friday morning. The incident happened during a routine visit to the elephants’ enclosure when the animals were being fed. Another keeper was in the enclosure at the time and helped get the injured man out. He was airlifted to hospital and doctors report that he escaped with severe bruises and is suffering from shock. It is not clear why the elephant attacked him. The last time an elephant attacked a keeper was in 2001 when the inci...
2011-02-24 - Baltimore, United States.
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore is looking for a qualified individual to join our team as the Elephant Operations Manager. Under the general supervision of the General Curator/Elephant Manager and Assistant Curator, the Elephant Operations Manager is directly responsible for the development, maintenance, and daily execution of the elephant program so that it meets or exceeds AZA standards for elephant care and management.
2011-02-23 - Bangalore, India.
A tiger cub and a baby elephant were born at Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) yesterday. Veda, a 12-year-old elephant, gave birth to the calf around 5.30 pm in the forest outside the park limits. The forest guards informed the BBP officers, who are expected to bring back the mother and calf to the BBP today.
2011-02-23 - Cleveland, United States.
The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo says its current herd of three elephants this spring will welcome Shenga, a female African elephant from the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. That zoo had two elephants but the other died in October, leaving Shenga alone. Cleveland also will receive one more elephant for a total of five that will inhabit the zoo´s new African Elephant Crossing when it opens May 5.
2011-02-22 - Portland, United States.
The Oregon Zoo is pleased to announce an available position working as a member of the professional animal care team for our Elephant facility. We are headed for an exciting time in our elephant program with the expansion of our current elephant facilities from 2.5 acres to 6 acres and the development of an off-site elephant facility.
2011-02-18 - Paklay, Laos.
For its 5th edition, the Lao Elephant Festival will take place on: 18th, 19th & 20th February 2011. Paklay District, Sayaboury province
2011-02-18 - Memphis, United States.
Working under the general direction of the Director of Animal Programs, responsible for the management and well being of the large mammal collection and associated exhibits in accordance with the Zoo’s goals of conservation, education, research, and exhibition
2011-02-16 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Sambo, the aggressive bull elephant that rampaged through a Kampong Speu village in December, tragically died on Monday during a routine veterinary procedure at Phnom Tamao Zoo in Takeo province, said forestry officials and NGO representatives. “I’m absolutely devastated by this loss … I was directly involved in all of it,” Nick Marx, wildlife rescue director at Wildlife Alliance, said today. “The Forestry Administration wanted to sedate him so that the chains around his legs could be...
2011-02-15 - Knoxville, United States.
The elephant that killed its handler at the Knoxville Zoo last month apparently committed an “intentional” attack without provocation, according to a state report released today. Zoo officials say that’s a conclusion without any proof. “Intentional is a word that I don’t know how you can say,” said Jim Vlna, the zoo’s director. “They don’t know the mind of an elephant.”
2011-02-15 - Ayutthaya, Thailand. Ewa Narkiewicz
Galaget decided to drop her bundle so her little boy could be called Valentine! A big strapping boy with long tail and excellent structure, this is Galaget´s third baby and with same father Junboon as Angpow so they are officially related. As usual mother and baby are doing extremely well!
2011-02-12 - Kent, United Kingdom.
Firefighters faced a jumbo problem when they were called to rescue and elephant at Howletts Wild Animal Park. One of the Park’s elephants collapsed in its bedroom and needed help getting to its feet. Umna, a 13-year-old African Elephant, was trapped on her side at the park in Bekesbourne Lane, Bekesbourne, after becoming ill with colic.
2011-02-11 - Izmir, Turkey.
´Begümcan´ and ´Winner´, an Indian race elephant ‘couple’, had their first baby in Turkey, still unnamed. The baby elephant is also the first to be born in Turkey. The 110-kg-weighed baby elephant was delivered at İzmir Wild Life Park in western Turkey. The number of the Park’s elephants has risen to 3 with the coming of the newborn, whose name is to be determined with an İzmir-residents participated survey.
2011-02-11 - Dak Lak, Vietnam.
Central Highland Dak Lak Province´s famed tame elephants may become extinct in the next 20-25 years unless conservation project receive Goverment funding, experts said. The population of existing tame elephants is being overexploited for tourism and is under threat from poachers. Elephants are also not being encouraged to breed, according to a study on tamed elephants in the province by Central Highlands University, which showed that the number of tamed elephants in the province had declin...
2011-02-11 - Coimbatore, India.
After the killing of Veerappan, who is said have gunned down at least 100 elephants, there was a brief lull in poaching activities in the jungles that stretch from Sathyamangalam to Erode. That changed in 2007 when two tuskers were shot dead in Sathyamangalam forests. Since then, poachers have killed seven elephants.
2011-02-10 - Karaikal, India.
The famous Lord Saneeswara temple at Tirunallar in Karaikal district has got a female elephant calf from Karnataka in exchange for its fierce male elephant.The male elephant ´Ganesan´,gifted as a calf by a Tiruchi-based textiles baron in 2003, started behaving abnormally a few months back and remained restless, temple officials said.
2011-02-10 - Emmen, Netherlands.
The Emmen Zoo in the Netherlands celebrated the birth of a male calf on February 6, the second to be born in the outdoor exhibit with the herd. The calf was the fourth for the thirty year old Burmese cow Htoo Yin Aye. It was sired by the zoo’s breeding bull Radza. The forty four year old male arrived at Emmen in 2003 from Latvia. Since his arrival, he has sired twelve calves. The new calf brought the zoo’s herd size to thirteen, seven of which are males.
2011-02-10 - Chester, United Kingdom.
THE matriarch of Chester Zoo’s Asian elephant herd, Sheba, has died after a short illness. Sheba, 56, has been at the zoo for 46 years and was the zoo’s oldest elephant. Affectionately known as Madam Sheba by the team who looked after her, she had been at the zoo longer than any other elephant. Sheba had been ill for a short time and despite the best efforts of the keeping team and zoo’s veterinarians the decision was taken to euthanise her. She died on Wednesday afternoon.
2011-02-10 - Beijing, China.
CHINA is driving demand for smuggled ivory from Africa, leading to a surge in the killing of endangered elephants. An international ivory trafficking operation saw a Beijing-based smuggler offering undercover reporters three pairs of recently-arrived tusks with a price tag of $64,000. Asked if he could supply more, he replied, "Don´t worry about that. If we can do a deal today, then next time I have some good ivory, I´ll call you." He said his uncle works in West Africa and uses cont...
2011-02-09 - Tokyo, Japan.
A survey of Japanese Internet auction sites has revealed an average of more than 20 new and potentially illegal listings for ivory products per day. The auction site survey -- conducted by the Japanese branch of the non-government organization Traffic, which monitors the international animal trade also revealed that many of the listings do not mention a country of origin or other vital information, suggesting some of the items may be connected to the illegal trade in animals and animal products.
2011-02-09 - Chittoor, India.
Two persons were trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants on Andhra-Karnataka border on Tuesday. Forty others suffered injuries in the attack by the rampaging tuskers.
2011-02-09 - New Delhi, India.
The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the central government and the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to ensure ´conducive´ atmosphere for a pair of elephants to be sent to Germany from Karnataka, as part of an exchange programme in which two pairs of cheetahs would be brought to India. ´Ensure that the elephants live in a conducive atmosphere in Germany,´ said a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.
2011-02-09 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
More than 72 wild elephants have been detected marooned in the flood affected areas in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, Director General of Wildlife Conservation Department, Chandrawansa Pathiraja said. He added that 70 out of them were stranded in Manik Farm and Settikulam areas in Vavuniya. Two elephant calves have been detected in Singhapura area in Welikanda, and measures have already been taken to rescue those two, the Director General said.
2011-02-08 - Whipsnade, United Kingdom.
If you are currently an Elephant Keeper and would like to join ZSL’s world class Elephant team, please apply by sending a full CV including a covering letter detailing your suitability for the above position to: Human Resources Department, ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, Whipsnade, Nr Dunstable. Beds LU6 2LF or email WZHR@zsl.org
2011-02-08 - Washington, United States.
Almost half a century back, in 1954, in the remotes and dense jungles of Angola, Jose (Joseph) Fenykovi first saw the track of largest animal ever recorded in human history. It was an unbelievably big elephant track by the muddy shore of a lake. Joseph Fenykovi, Hungarian-born resident of Spain, was an engineer and big game hunter. Every Year, Fenykovi and his wife would abandon Europe and take off for their 1,000-acre ranch in Angola to start their big-game sport spanning for three months.
2011-02-05 - Sydney, Australia.
One of the stars of Sydney´s Taronga Zoo, an 18-year-old Asian elephant, has been diagnosed with Tuberculosis. The Asian elephant, named Pak Boon, has been diagnosed with the illness which keepers believe she bought with her when she came from Thailand four years ago. She was tested for the bug when she came to Australia, but tests at the time came up negative. Pak Boon gave birth three months ago to a female calf, Tuka.
2011-02-03 - Dak Lak, Vietnam.
The number of elephants in Don Village, Dak Lak province, famous for hunting and taming wild elephants, is going down. According to research, only 0.6 percent of tamed elephants have been reproductive in the last 30 years. Recently, the rate is nearly zero percent because male and female elephants don’t have favorable environment to meet and copulate since they are managed by different people. Moreover, they are overexploited for tourism purposes.
2011-02-02 - Vallejo, United States. AZA
Responsible for helping to train Elephants in a free contact program. Have involvement in training programs; care of Elephants, presentations in Elephant show, and other various duties as assigned. Qualified candidates should submit a resume to the Human Resources Office at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
2011-02-02 - Los Angeles, United States.
Sex and the City star Kristin Davis will receive the Wyler Award from the Humane Society of the United States for her work in helping orphaned African elephants that are hunted for their ivory tusks. She´ll receive the tribute on March 19 in Los Angeles at the organization´s 25th anniversary Genesis Awards.
2011-02-01 - Casablanca, Morocco.
Four circus elephants are locked for months in Morocco by a European administrative imbroglio prevented their return to France and their trainer, out of resources and hope, fear of being forced to euthanize them, "he said today . "We´re going to have to put them to sleep. I have no other options. It is taken hostage by the EU, " said Josef Gartner circus performer in a telephone interview.
2011-02-01 - Central Florida, United States.
The Central Florida & Botanical Gardens announces it will be transferring Maude, the Asian elephant to Zoo Miami within the next month. Maude will share a home at Zoo Miami with two other Asian elephants and will become part of this elephant herd. "We have an obligation to all of our animals, and especially to Maude, to select what is in her best interest," says Joe Montisano, CEO of Zoo. "After an extensive process and analysis of our options, we are confident this is best for her at this time....
2011-01-31 - Kent, United Kingdom.
A baby elephant whose twin died has been causing excitement at the Kent wild animal park where he was born. The as-yet-unnamed male was born to mother Masa following a 22-month pregnancy at Howletts, near Canterbury. The African elephant calf came into the world on January 25 but his twin did not survive. Ecstatic officials are still heralding the survival of its sibling and mother as a major success.
2011-01-30 - Pinnawela, Sri Lanka.
Three more mahouts of the Pinnawela Elephant Sanctuary who were investigated regarding the death of an elephant who died under tragic circumstances, allegedly due to injuries caused by its caretakers’ spear were interdicted. Several mahouts, an Animal Protection Officer was suspended while the Assistant Director of the Orphanage was transferred following the death of the elephant at the orphanage, Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage Director S. Gunaratne said. A total number of nine personnel ...
2011-01-21 - Vallejo, United States.
North America´s oldest Asian elephant has died at a Northern California theme park at the age of 71. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom on Tuesday announced the death of Taj, who had lived at the Vallejo park for 33 years. The elephant was one of Discovery Kingdom´s most popular attractions. Her tricks included stacking logs and playing tug-of-war with guests. The park retired her three years ago.
2011-01-21 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Chamikara Weerasinghe
The Government has allocated nearly Rs 300 million to put up elephant fences in areas where the human-elephant conflict is deemed severe, Agrarian Services and Wildlife Minister S M Chandrasena said yesterday. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has reportedly instructed Minister Chandrasena to fully activate the safety and protection systems in all National Parks.
2011-01-21 - Jamestown, United States.
A fossil which brought thousands of visitors to Randolph nearly eight decades ago could bring a whole new generation of interested guests to Jamestown during the next several weeks. For the first time since it was un-earthed from the Randolph Fish Hatchery in 1934, the fossilized re-mains of the “Randolph Mammoth” will be on display beginning Saturday, Jan. 22 at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown. The fossil — which is part of the museums “Fossils!” exhibit w...
2011-01-21 - Dale McFeatters , South Korea.
Curiosity is an overpowering motivation. Perhaps that best explains a plan by Japanese, Russian and U.S. scientists to clone a woolly mammoth, a large Ice Age mammal that was largely extinct 10,000 years ago. News accounts of the venture suggest that the scientists are doing this basically to see if they can and they´ll worry about what to do with a mammoth once they have one
2011-01-17 - Pinnawela, Sri Lanka. Karunaratne Atukorala
An elephant at the Pinnawela elephant orphanage died under tragic circumstances, allegedly due to injuries caused by its caretakers’ spear, an official said today. Two mahouts and an Animal Protection Officer at the Orphanage were suspended from service following the death of the elephant at the orphanage, Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage Director S. Gunaratne said
2011-01-16 - Knoxville, United States.
Stephanie James loved animals - whether it was the horses she used to take care of as a child, her dog she rescued from being euthanized or the elephants that she cared for daily at the Knoxville Zoo. "That was her life," her father, Ron James, said by telephone Friday evening. "It was just her goal in life to take care of animals and be around them."
2011-01-15 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The weekend of the 15th and 16th of January 2011 we invite you to join our ‘Bike for Elephants’ tour in Northern Thailand. Two days of adventure and fun biking through the Mae Tang valley, in Chiang Mai province. This event will raise much needed funds for the Elephant Nature Park and create awareness about the plight of Thai elephants.
2011-01-15 - Knoxville, United States. Amy McRary
The Knoxville Zoo African elephant that fatally injured one of her keepers will not be punished as multiple agencies begin to investigate what zoo officials call a tragic accident. Elephant keeper Stephanie Elaine James, 33, died from internal injuries she suffered Friday afternoon when a zoo elephant named Edie pushed her into the heavy metal bars of a stall inside the pachyderms’ barn.
2011-01-08 - Dak Lak, Vietnam.
A tame elephant that was stabbed dozens of times by poachers two months ago has died, Le Thi Thanh Ha, director of the Ban Don Eco-tourism Company, said on Thursday. Poachers inflicted 217 cuts to the Pak Cu elephant´s hind legs and tail. Ha said the male elephant had long and valuable tusks. The eco-tourism company spent VND50 million (US$2,500) trying to treat the elephant´s injuries.
2011-01-04 - Greenville, South Carolina, United States.
A Greenville Zoo elephant, Lady Bird, 40, lost part of her right tusk last week, according to zoo officials. In a release, they say the tusk was discovered by zoo staff in the elephant barn when they let her out for exhibit. While they say it is not uncommon for elephants to break off their tusks, Lady Bird had a large crack in what was left of her tusk that concerned staff. “If the pulp canal, the vital portion of the tooth that runs down the center of the tusk, is open via the crack, then th...
2011-01-02 - New York, United States. Matthew McDermott
There are only an estimated 116 wild Asian elephants in Cambodia´s Seima Protection Area, and until now most of the photographic evidence of them has be taken by camera traps. New footage released by the Wildlife Conservation Society changes that. The short video, a screengrab of which is above (here´s the original footage), taken back in August by Allan Michaud shows a male elephant feeding on grass.
2011-01-02 - Jalpaiguri, India.
Forest Rangers of Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary captured a two-year-old male elephant calf from the vicinity of Madarihat village in West Bengal´s Jalpaiguri District. The elephant calf was residing in and around the village located near the sanctuary for the last 13 days. The elephant calf had got detached from its herd few days back and later the herd probably refused its re-entry.
