2013-12-31 - Kruger National Park, South Africa.
An elephant bull has been put down after it attacked a couple in the Kruger National Park on Monday, trampling their blue Volkswagen car. Apparently the South African couple were following the elephant bull to videotape it and suddenly the animal turned on them and pushed their car into the bush for about 400m. According to eyewitnesses the animal was extremely aggressive and our rangers were alerted of the incident by the tourists,” Phaahla said.
2013-12-29 - Indianapolis, United States.
Indiana´s own prehistoric beasts are the focus of the museum´s new exhibition. "Ice Age Giants" re-creates the process of uncovering the fossilized bones of mammoths and mastodons, identifying them, studying them and finally reassembling the skeletons to tower once again.
2013-12-29 - Kochi, India.
The foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) that has afflicted domestic cattle in southern States is looking to threaten an unexpected sector — Kerala’s flourishing elephant rental business. The rental business’ high season has just opened and elephant owners are flush with bookings. In the case of certain top-end elephants with high brand value, the booking is for four or five months in advance. But the FMD outbreak in the State over a month ago left thousands of cattle infected. Though the airborne...
2013-12-28 - Chitwan, Nepal.
Breaking into the all-male profession, Meena Chaudhary and Meena Mahato are the first female mahouts of Nepal. Taking control of the elephant rides, they spoke Saturday with Xinhua of the challenges of being one of the few females into the stereotyped male profession.
2013-12-27 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
The European Union Commission has pledged more than 170 million Rand (12 million Euros) to assist in combating the illegal trade in ivory in which the fight will be taken more to the organized crime and rebel forces. Key states involved in the illegal ivory value chain have committed to urgent measures to halt the illegal trade. The measures, which include enhancing legislation and wildlife protection at national level, were adopted at the African Elephant Summit in Gaborone, Botswana, earlier t...
2013-12-27 - Thrissur, India.
A woman had a miraculous escape after she was caught in between the legs of an elephant which ran amok during a temple festival at Kumaranchira near Nandipulam here on Thursday. Shobana of Mupliyam suffered minor injuries and has been admitted to the Puthukkad Government Hospital. According to police, the elephant, Irinjalakuda Kannan, turned violent when the mahouts were adorning it with caparisons before the procession at 9.30 a.m.
2013-12-23 - Dai Nam, Vietnam.
A Vietnamese zookeeper died Monday after being crushed by a two ton elephant. Doan Huu Tai, 27, was attacked by the Elephant who grabbed him with his trunk and slammed him into a water tank. According to Vietnamnet the man attempted to slip into the cage to paint a fence. The Dai Nam tourist area, where the incident occurred is located in the Binh Dong province.
2013-12-20 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Biologists in Sri Lanka have published the first documented evidence of dwarfism in an adult wild animal. A male Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) measuring just over 1.5 meters (five feet) in height was seen in an aggressive encounter with another male of average size, according to the findings published in the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group journal Gajah.
2013-12-20 - Guruvayur, India.
Concerned over the cases of two captive elephants that were infected by foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), elephant owners in the State are coming together to protect the national animal from the epidemic. As a precautionary measure to prevent infection among its herd, the Guruvayur Devaswom had recently banned visitors from its Punnathurkotta elephant camp. The 60 elephants of the devaswom are housed at the camp, which is visited by hundreds every day.
2013-12-20 - Johannesburg, United States.
A Chinese woman was sentenced to a R50 000 fine or three years´ imprisonment by the Kempton Park Regional Court on Wednesday for trying to smuggling ivory through South Africa, the SA Revenue Service said. “She attempted to smuggle 12.7kg ivory, two lion claws and 10 Pangolin scales to Hong Kong,” spokesman Adrian Lackay said in a statement.
2013-12-19 - Prague, Czech Republic.
The five-year female elephant Tonya died in the Prague zoo today, probably of a viral infection, director Miroslav Bobek has said in a press release, adding that she had shown signs of a disorder from Sunday afternoon. “On Monday, when her condition worsened, an intensive treatment was applied. Today, Tuesday, December 17, Tonya collapsed in agony in spite of all effort made,” Bobek wrote.
2013-12-19 - Chennai, India.
For the first time in seven years, the elephants belonging to the forest department would attend the rejuvenation camp, so far held for their temple counterparts, near Mettupalayam from Thursday. Though the 48-day camp would see around 100 elephants, including temple and kumkis. While the 33 temple elephants would attend the Thekkampatty camp, the 55 forest elephants from Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Coimbatore range and Vandalur Zoo would camp at Nellithorai.
2013-12-19 - Oakland, United States.
Joel Parrott, the Oakland Zoo CEO who earlier this month proposed a plan to develop an elephant reserve in Tehama County, assured county supervisors Tuesday that the reserve would not cost the county money, and water concerns would not be a prohibitive factor.
2013-12-17 - Tobe, Japan.
African elephants brought to zoos in Japan are often unable to raise their offspring because many lost their parents to poaching by ivory hunters. But they are smart enough to learn from their keepers, said Osamu Shiina, who cares for the animals at a prefectural-run zoo on Shikoku. Shiina, 51, is in charge of a family of four African elephants at Tobe Zoological Park in the town of Tobe, Ehime Prefecture.
2013-12-16 - Maun, Botswana.
Earlier this month Kiti, an elephant from the Abu Camp’s herd, gave birth to a new calf named Naledia – Setswana for star. She earned her name being born on a completely clear and cloudless night. It is a rare experience to be able to experience a baby elephant first hand, and Mirus Journeys are urging customers to book now will the calf is still young.
2013-12-16 - Salt Lake City, United States.
Eric Peterson works with a pair the zoo´s African Elephants. With the only spectators consisting of a couple of other keepers and a wandering rooster, Peterson interacts with the elephants in an extraordinary manner.Peterson, who commutes from American Fork each day, works as the zoo´s elephant manager.
2013-12-16 - Portland, United States.
An online poll Friday asking, "Should the Oregon Zoo keep its elephants?" drew 5,332 responses. The results: Yes: 3,066 votes or 57.5 percent, No: 2,266 votes or 42.5 percent. The poll was prompted by news Friday morning that comedian-turned-animal-activist had emailed the Oregon Zoo and Metro, which operates the zoo. Her goal: persuade the zoo to send Packy, the zoo´s beloved, 51-year-old male Asian elephant to a sanctuary.
2013-12-09 - Tehama, United States.
Representatives from the Oakland Zoo and Ndovo Foundation shared their vision Thursday at a Tehama County Planning Commission meeting of a 4,900-acre facility that at peak capacity would house around 50 African elephants.
2013-12-06 - New York, United States.
In Zoo Tycoon you can hose down a baby elephant and pull faces at a chimpanzee. The premise is fairly simple: you must build a popular, profitable zoo and care for all of the animals and visitors inside your gates. You can buy the PC game at the link to the right >>>
2013-12-05 - Beijing, China.
Despite being the largest market for illegal ivory, China has agreed to label the trade of elephant ivory as a serious crime along with 30 other countries at a summit in Botswana. The deal is proposing a cooperative, multi-national effort to prevent the killing of thousands of elephants, caused by the lucrative ivory trade, in which China buys 70% of the world´s illegal ivory.
2013-12-05 - Gaborone, Botswana.
Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft Corp (MSFT:US). with Bill Gates, will fund a survey of the number of elephants in Africa to help combat poaching that is claiming the life of one of the pachyderms every 15 minutes. The family trust of Allen, who’s worth $15.7 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, will fund an $8 million count of the animals in 13 countries using three fixed-wing airplanes and two helicopters, Botswana-based Elephants Without Borders said today in an e-mail...
2013-12-05 - Karachi, Pakistan.
KMC Administrator Rauf Akhtar Farooqui has said that construction of a modern elephant enclave on 65 thousand square feet has been completed in Safari Park. He said that a bath pool for elephants along with rest area and shades on 2800 square feet was also constructed. He was speaking during a visit of Safari Park to inspect development work, said a statement on Wednesday.
2013-12-05 - New Delhi, India.
Seventy elephants have died on Bengal’s railway tracks since 1994, all but three of them in north Bengal, the state government has told the Supreme Court. According to the state’s affidavit, 57 elephants have died in train hits and 13 of electrocution on the tracks in the past 19 years. Since 2009, the number of elephants killed on Bengal’s railway tracks has been 29.
2013-12-05 - London, United Kingdom.
It was the arrival of the cannon in the 19th century that finally heralded the end of elephants being used as an instrument of war. Until that time, from as early as 1000BC, they trampled across battlefields around the globe. So far, it seems as though the elephants’ easily panicked nature meant that they weren’t useful companions for battle.
2013-12-04 - Bhubaneswar, India.
Rising incidents of human-elephant conflict has become a headache for the state government. As many as 354 people were killed by the jumbos in the past six years, while 368 elephants died during the same period. Between 2008-09 and 2013-14 (till November 15 this year), the number of elephant deaths caused by poaching, electrocution, and accidents is higher than the casualties due to natural reasons and diseases. Nearly 150 elephants died due to poaching, electrocution, and accidents as against 1...
2013-12-04 - Melbourne, Australia.
Sanook, the 11-month-old Asian elephant calf at Melbourne Zoo has died after becoming entangled in a favourite toy. "The CCTV footage shows that at 7pm while playing with the tyre, Sanook managed to manoeuvre it in an unusual way that caused his head to become caught," Melbourne Zoo director Kevin Tanner said in the statement.
2013-12-04 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Environmentalists have responded with alarm to a proposed amnesty permitting the registration of illegally captured elephants in Sri Lanka. Recent reports in Sri Lankan media have outlined the proposal, stating that during the amnesty period it would be possible to register elephant calves for a fee of about $7,600.
2013-12-04 - Bowmanville, Canada.
On Tuesday, as zoo staff mourned, Hackenberger told the Star he couldn’t say whether Limba would be replaced. “At this point I’m dealing exclusively with Limba, so I don’t know. Anyone anywhere in the world, as long as you comply with the laws, can get an elephant. It’s not just Bowmanville Zoo. A private person who has the necessary land can own an elephant.”
2013-12-04 - New York, United States.
So the team removed the sperm to examine the seminal plasma, the nutritive brew that helps fuel and protect sperm in the female reproductive tract. Good samples had higher volumes of plasma. They also found that a particular protein showed up in almost all of the good samples and almost none of the bad ones.
2013-12-03 - Dak Drong, Vietnam.
Three wild elephants ravaged crops and damaged dozens of houses in a hamlet in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong last week, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported. Initial statistics by Dak Drong Commune showed 47 households had their houses and crops damaged by the elephants.
2013-12-03 - London, United Kingdom.
Heathrow airport is at the centre of a booming trade in illegal ivory, with most of it being carried by big-name courier companies. Border officials are making record seizures, the vast majority taken from newly slaughtered African elephants. Last year a specialist UK Border Force team made 50 seizures of ivory weighing 80.7kg at British airports — compared with just 3.3kg in 2010. Most was at Heathrow. The number of seizures is thought to be a fraction of the amount being smuggled.
2013-12-03 - Hongkong, China.
When Hong Kong intercepted yet another huge shipment of illegal African ivory in early October, it added to a growing headache for authorities: What exactly do you do with one of the world’s biggest stockpiles of elephant tusks?
2013-12-03 - Amboseli, Kenya.
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the School for Field Studies, East Africa (SFS) will Tuesday start fitting tracking collars on four elephants within the Amboseli ecosystem in Kajiado County. The fitting of collars, will be conducted by a team of scientists, researchers and veterinarians from the partnering organisations.
2013-12-03 - Bowmanville, Canada.
Limba, a beloved elephant at the Bowmanville Zoo, has died. The zoo confirmed that she was euthanized at 12:34 a.m. on Tuesday. Limba was walking through the zoo and on the flood plain on Monday, the zoo said, but became very ill in the evening. “We have always been very clear that Limba would not suffer. Our decision was made to honor that commitment,” the zoo said in a statement.
2013-12-02 - Dublin, Ireland.
ALL four female elephants in the herd at Dublin Zoo are pregnant, the keepers believe. The happy news, which was supposed to be kept secret until after Christmas, emerged at the launch yesterday of a new book for children titled ´Dublin Zoo Elephants´.
2013-12-02 - Ponte Vedra, United States.
In a traditional Hindu marriage ceremony, the groom travels from his city to the bride�s in a procession called a Baraat, entourage in tow, often riding a mare. �We were lucky enough to find an elephant,� Puja Roy said. It was Deepak Dugar�s first time aboard one. Tiny arrived late Saturday morning, said Cyndi Benzel, the wedding planner. She has used Tiny before, she said. Tiny is no newcomer to Hindu weddings.
2013-12-02 - Beijing, China.
The CITES office in China has released details of a number of cases involving ivory importing and trading. In the most recent case 8 people accused of illegal ivory trading received prison sentences of between 3 and 15 years. The recent case involved the import of 3.6 tonnes of ivory between 2010 and 2012.
2013-12-01 - Bath, United Kingdom.
Local film makers presents their beautiful and moving documentary on Myanmar timber elephants and the relationship between elephants and the men they work with. The film made by Suzanne and Simon Campbell-Jones (both of whom are Bath residents), will be shown to public in Bath film festival on 1st December, 2013 (4:00pm).
2013-12-01 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
From 26 November 2012 to 27 November 2013 elephant.se had almost 500 000 visitors, and totally since 23 Nov 2009 over 1,500,000 visits. Thank you for supporting the website, and promoting it during its 13 years on Internet.
2013-12-01 - Miami, United States.
On Wednesday morning Maude, a 41-year old Asian elephant at the popular South Miami-Dade attraction, died while receiving treatment for a severe digestive impaction. Essentially, Maude appears to have died of constipation.During a treatment session at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Maude collapsed and passed away in less than a minute
2013-11-29 - London, United Kingdom.
Burma (also known as Myanmar) has been closed off to the world for over five decades. As Burma takes steps towards democracy, it will have to decide the fate of its forests. For the first time, the government has granted unprecedented access to an expedition team of scientists and wildlife film-makers.
2013-11-27 - Miami, United States.
Zoo officials also announced that Asian elephant “Maude,†is gravely ill. “She has displayed symptoms of having a severe impaction in her digestive tract which has resulted in no bowel movements and an almost total loss of appetite,†said Zoo Miami’s Ron Magill in a press release. Maude arrived at Zoo Miami from the Central Florida Zoo in 2011. The elephant is believed to be age 40 and suffers from arthritis.
2013-11-25 - San Diego, United States.
Read the bullshit: >> "A coroner´s investigation later branded the death as the result of an accident, not an attack. A witness told reporters that Mila seemed to be trying to protect, not harm, Schofield." The coroner and the witness are they elephant experts? Not really...
2013-11-25 - Springfield, United States.
Federal inspectors have found no issues with the care of an elephant that killed a zookeeper last month in Springfield. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates zoos under the Animal Welfare Act, released a report last week that found “no non-compliant items.”
2013-11-25 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Three adult elephants and one baby elephant were found dead in the Hadilla area of Gannoruwa in Hamabntota in southern Sri Lanka. The elephants were killed when they got caught in an illegally set up electric fence in a private land, local media reported. The Wildlife Department has commenced an investigation in to the incident.
2013-11-24 - Gaborone, Botswana.
When word started getting around that Botswana is to host an emergency African Elephant Summit on December 2-4, 2013, residents of Chobe and Ngamiland naturally started rekindling hope that finally the elephant problem is being addressed. It, therefore, comes as a shock that the Botswana government has missed this rare opportunity to include the concern of over-population into the agenda of the forthcoming emergency elephant summit.
2013-11-23 - Wayanad, India.
The team of Gajakesari has selected the elephant that will play an important role in the film. the elephant for the film has been found in Waynad, Kerala. The elephant, named Arjuna, and the shoot for the fourth schedule of the film involving him started earlier this week. Arjuna is a tusker and is one of the biggest domesticated elephants in India.
2013-11-23 - Peren, India.
The Nagaland forest department has “arrested” a domestic elephant, believed to be from Assam, for allegedly destroying large patches of crop land and bamboo groves in a village in Peren district, bordering Assam. “The elephant is in safe custody. We have engaged a few persons to look after it till the owner shows up and claims it by producing proper documents,’ Mokok Jamir, a forest official in Peren district, told The Telegraph over phone today.
2013-11-22 - Perth, Australia.
Perth Zoo´s 56-year-old Asian elephant Tricia is receiving 25 minute back and shoulder massages twice daily using a specially designed massage pad usually used on horses. Perth Zoo Senior Vet Dr Simone Vitali said he hoped the massages would starve off the aches and pains of old age as the elephant stomps towards her twilight years.
2013-11-20 - Sydney, Australia.
The Taronga Western Plains Zoo is planning to build a multimillion dollar home for three male Asian elephants due to arrive in Dubbo next year. The bulls, Pathi Harn, Luk Chai and Gung, are being moved to the west to free up space at Taronga´s Sydney zoo.
2013-11-16 - Surin, Thailand.
The over 200 elephants and mahoots congregate at the Elephant Stadium to the south east of the city centre. Here the main show is performed culminating in a re-enactment of the battles of a past century.
2013-11-16 - San Diego, United States.
The 41-year-old elephant, named Mila, arrived in San Diego on Thursday, through collaboration with the Franklin Zoo Charitable Trust. Mila has been living at the Franklin Zoo since 2009, where she has been cared for and trained under a system of positive reinforcement. San Diego Zoo Global was a pioneer in development of this training system for managing elephants.
2013-11-16 - Lupane, Zimbabwe.
FIVE more people believed to be involved in the cyanide poisoning of 10 elephants in Ngamo Safaris in Lupane have been arrested while five others were arrested for poaching game at the University of Zimbabwe farm in Harare this week. This brings to 22 the number of people who have been arrested following the deaths of about 100 elephants in Hwange National Park in August this year.
2013-11-16 - Sonepur, India.
The globally renowned, month-long ´Sonepur mela´ at which elephants, horses and cattle are sold and purchased began today on the bank of the river Ganga in Bihar´s Saran district. The fair originates from the times when Emperor Chandragupta Maurya used to buy elephants and horses from across the Ganga.
2013-11-15 - Yangon, Myanmar.
“There are only around 50,000 Asian elephants in the world,” said elephant expert Khine Oo Maw. “More than 14,000 elephants have been held captive and 40 percent of them are in Myanmar. Besides Asian elephants, there are also white-coloured elephants. These elephants are regarded as white elephants in Buddhist countries.”
2013-11-15 - Los Angeles, United States.
Ivory stockpiles were destroyed in Kenya in 2011, Gabon in 2012 and the Philippines in 2013. But those events haven´t deterred poaching and the illegal trade of ivory, and raw ivory prices in China have doubled since 2011, said Godfrey Harris, a representative of the Political Action Network of the International Ivory Society.
2013-11-15 - Vazhachal, India.
Prince Charles met representatives from WWF India at the Vazhachal Forest in the south of the country in an area known as the Western Ghats. He was told about the issues and challenges related to conservation in this area, including the role of corridors, the illegal trade in elephant tusks, and the human-elephant interface in India.
2013-11-14 - Denver, United States.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is about to destroy 6 tons of confiscated ivory being held in Denver — ostensibly to help the campaign against the illegal killing of elephants.But does the destruction of stockpiles really help the cause?
2013-11-14 - Washington, United States.
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday offered a $1 million reward to help smash a Laos-based poaching network slaughtering endangered elephants and rhinos for their precious horns and tusks. The reward, the first of its kind by the State Department, targeted the Xaysavang network which operates from Laos as far afield as South Africa, Mozambique, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and China.
2013-11-14 - Los Angeles, United States. Dr Daniel Stiles, IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group
Don´t give an incentive to criminals to kill more elephants. They see this as ivory getting scarcer, prices and demand going up. In response, USFWS will crush seized ivory, almost certainly sending a message to criminals that they had better step up their killing of elephants before all the ivory is gone.
2013-11-14 - Kolkata, India.
Wildlife authorities Thursday lodged police complaints against the railways, a day after five elephants were mowed down by a speeding train. The incident took place around 5.45 p.m. Wednesday near the Nagrakata-Jaldhaka bridge in West Bengal´s Jalpaiguri district. An earlier report said six elephants were killed, but authorities later revised the figure to five.
2013-11-13 - Sheffield, United Kingdom.
As World War One raged, the military purchased most of England´s horses and sent them to the Western Front. Many farmers and traders had to find alternative beasts of burden, but none more exotic than elephants. Lizzie, as she was known, was used to performing tricks as part of a travelling menagerie.
2013-11-13 - Beijing, China.
Meng Xianlin, deputy director of China´s Endangered Species Import and Export Management Office said that China, which has been making prestigious products from elephant ivory for almost 5,000 years, has taken most stringent regulatory measures on ivory trade. China does not ban domestic ivory trade, but it sets a ceiling for the amount of legal market consumption at five tonnes each year.
2013-11-13 - Medford, United States.
Jumbo took the United States and Canada by storm as the headline act in Barnum and Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth. But in the fall of 1885, tragedy struck in the shape of a passing freight train. The elephant’s untimely death should have spelled the end of his career. Instead, the act of stuffing Jumbo transformed him into the stuff of legend
2013-11-13 - Deep River, United States. Paula Kahumbu
Indeed, Deep River owes a steep debt to the African elephant. Nestled in the lower Connecticut River Valley, it and the nearby village of Ivoryton in Essex at one time processed up to 90 percent of the ivory that was imported into the United States. According to the Deep River Historical Society, it began with Phineas Pratt’s invention of the circular saw. This led to the area’s dominance in the production of piano keys—made of ivory.
2013-11-13 - Baripada, India.
Elephant rides will be an added attraction for tourists visiting Similipal National Park as the state´s only tiger reserve, located in Mayurbhanj district, opened for public today. Kunki elephants -- Mahindra, Sobha and Raj Kumar -- will take tourists on joyrides, said an official of the park, which opened today after a 12-day delay caused due to efforts to clear trees uprooted by Cyclone Phailin.
2013-11-13 - Jalpaiguri, India.
Six elephants were killed and several others injured after a herd was run over by a train today near West Bengal´s Jalpaiguri district. The herd was hit by a passenger train which was headed for Dibrugarh. In a similar incident, seven elephants had been killed by a speeding train in September 2010 near Binnaguri in Jalpaiguri.
2013-11-13 - Bowmanville, Canada.
Limba, the beloved Bowmanville elephant, has been invited to walk in the Bowmanville Santa Claus parade but she may be too ill to attend. The zoo is about to announce she may have cancer. “Our number-one commitment has always been Limba’s health and welfare,” said Michael Hackenberger, Bowmanville Zoo director.
2013-11-13 - Ontario, Canada. Oliver Knevitt
As someone who works on Silurian age fossils, I can´t help but be jealous every time a new mammoth "fossil" is found in permafrost. These mammoth corpses can barely be considered to be fossils. My most recent pang of jealousy occurred on finding out that Yuka, one of the more famed frozen mammoth corpses is to have her brain scanned.
2013-11-13 - Denver, United States.
U.S. wildlife officials in Denver plan to destroy 6 tons of ivory to send a message against elephant poaching that has reached record levels. The ivory tusks, statues and jewelry that will be destroyed Thursday were confiscated by federal agents around the country.
2013-11-12 - Melbourne, Australia.
The Melbourne Zoo was named the best major tourist attraction at the RACV Victorian Tourism Awards on Monday night. The nod to the zoo breaks a three-year winning streak by the Melbourne Museum, which had won the top award on the back of some blockbuster exhibitions including Tutankhamun and Titanic. The zoo´s award, announced at a black-tie event at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, was given for its 150th anniversary campaign last year that featured major events around baby...
2013-11-12 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Royal Elephants´ Stable Museum is open to the public on weekdays during office hours, but reservations must be made in advance.The museum was visited by His Majesty the King on Nov 26 last year, officially opened by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on May 13 this year and has been welcoming the general public since last month. Under the supervision of the Royal Chitralada Projects, the museum consists of two former stables for royal elephants covering a total area of 176m2, as well ...
2013-11-12 - Mysore, India.
Three weeks after the returning of Dasara elephants to the woods, one of them went berserk on the forest fringes of Nagarahole and charged out of the woods. The drama that began on Tuesday ended on Thursday with the tranquilizing of elephant Harsha.It took 36 hours for the foresters to capture Harsha, otherwise known for his composure, and bring the situation under control.
2013-11-12 - Luangwa National Park, Zambia.
An elephant was bitten by a hungry crocodile as it reached its trunk into a watering hole at the Mfuwe Lodge in the South Luangwa Nation Park in Zambia.
2013-11-12 - Sen Monorom, Cambodia. Sean Teehan and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
A long-running animosity exists between local tour guides – some of whom include elephant rides in their tours – and EVP, which brands itself as an ethical alternative to traditional tours in the area, said Phearakech Than, a tour guide in Sen Monorom, who signed one of the letters of complaint and attended Friday’s meeting.Chear Chantorn, who owns a local guesthouse and attended the meeting, added that local restaurant and guesthouse proprietors lose tourists through rumours posted on EVP...
2013-11-11 - Erindi Private Game Reserve, United States.
This female hippo was flipped several feet into the air as she stood her ground against an aggressive elephant bull at the Erindi Private Game Reserve in Namibia.The elephant was grazing alongside a group of hippos, but took exception when the mother hippo ventured slightly too close. Amazingly, the mother emerged relatively unscathed from the attack, apparently suffering nothing worse than a little gash on her side - and a rather bruised ego.
2013-11-10 - Perak, Malaysia.
Elephants and humans are coming into contact with each other more often in Malaysia. The areas where elephants used to roam are being built upon or used for agriculture. Some favour relocating them to a national park - but is this the right thing to do? A team from the University of Nottingham is investigating the impact of the relocation process. Certain hormones can indicate a rise in stress levels with potentially serious consequences for the animal´s health.
2013-11-10 - Nairobi, Kenya.
In an initiative backed by Prince Charles and Prince William, 25 soldiers from 3rd Batallion Parachute Regiment have been sent to train Kenyan rangers. Al Shabaab, a group linked to Al Qaeda, is said to be funding their training and attacks by selling elephant and rhino horns on the Somalian black market - a trade worth £12billion a year. In the past year, 60 wardens and 38,000 elephants have been killed by illegal poachers.
2013-11-07 - Hongkong, China. Samuel Chan
Hongkongers have the chance to see more than 200 pieces of mammoth tusk carved by ivory master carver Chu Chung-shing and his 100-strong team at a free show at the Convention and Exhibition Centre today and tomorrow. Chu has been using the tusks of the prehistoric creature, which became extinct more than 10,000 years ago, as a substitute for African elephant ivory ever since a transnational ban on the ivory trade was imposed in 1989 to protect the African elephant.
2013-11-07 - Bangalore, India.
A Bangalore-based conservation organisation is testing GPS collars that could help tackle man-elephant conflicts. These collars are designed and developed by a team of engineers at the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering (DESE, formerly CEDT), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The collars will be used by the Aane Mane Foundation to track the movement of tame elephants that the state government had decided to release into the wild.
2013-11-06 - Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
According to the Agence France Presse, Tanzania shelved its anti-poaching operations on Friday in order to investigate reports of wrongful property seizure, torture and killings that were allegedly perpetrated by officials during the campaign, dubbed "Operation Terminate."
2013-11-06 - Yedashe, Myanmar.
The number of tourists visiting Pho Kyar Elephant Camp during the peak season between October and February is expected to increase by as much as 50 percent, camp officials say. Pho Kyar Elephant Camp is located in Yedashe Township, Bago Region. It is situated in the foothills of the Bago Yoma mountain range, lying within the Saing Ya tropical reserve, 10 miles west of Thargaya near Yoma crossing road.
2013-11-06 - Maputo, Mozambique.
A man, who wants to remain anonymous, sustained light injuries when the elephant cow attacked his large 4x4 bakkie. He was alone in the bakkie when he visited the reserve on October 16. A cow in the herd lifted her trunk, flapped her ears and then approached his bakkie. She got so close that she scraped past his passenger side door. In an attempt to frighten them off, the panicky man decided to give the elephants an earful by pressing the vehicle’s hooter.
2013-11-05 - Bowmanville, Canada.
A Facebook event shows that a group was planning to form a human blockade to stop the elephant from being part of the procession, and the parade’s organizing committee was concerned about what could happen if protesters got involved, said Terryl Tikas, the committee’s chairperson.
2013-11-04 - Ellenton, United States. Michael Pollick
Ringling Bros. circus operator Feld Entertainment Inc. has asked a federal judge to make three animal rights groups pay $25.4 million in legal fees incurred by Feld during the activists´ unsuccessful lawsuit challenging Ringling´s use of elephants in circus acts. One of the original four complainants, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA, already paid Feld $9.3 million in December.
2013-11-04 - Belfast, Ireland. CLAIRE MCNEILLY
The true story of a Northern Ireland woman who kept a baby elephant in her backyard during the Second World War is going to be made in to a £5m film. Denise Weston Austin – better known as the "elephant angel" – rescued the calf from Belfast Zoo and kept it at her home on the Whitewell Road in the north of the city when we were being bombed by the Luftwaffe in the 1941 blitz.
2013-11-04 - Stockholm, Sweden. Ewen Callaway
Linnaeus dubbed the species Elephas maximus, which is now commonly known as the Asian elephant. He recognized just one species of elephant in the world, and this would be its archetype. In some ways, the specimen looked more like an African elephant, two curators later suggested in unpublished notes and at academic meetings.
2013-11-03 - Jamsha, Bangladesh. Getty Images
Two circus performers ride an elephant past the circus tent of the Olympic Circus, November 1, 2013 in Jamsha, Bangladesh. As modernization slowly takes over landscape of Bangladesh, the circus is a dying art form and is moving further and further away from mainstream entertainment. Generations of low income families are born into circuses with rarely the hope of ever working in different profession or escaping the harsh realities of the circus.
2013-11-03 - Yangon, Myanmar.
The mahout was killed by tusker Yaza Gaha Thiri Pissaya Gaza Yaza, 19, who was the first white elephant captured under the junta that ruled Myanmar between 1988 to 2010. Thein Sein, 56, died en route to hospital after being gored accidentally by one of the three white elephants kept at the Royal White Elephant Garden on the outskirts of Yangon, said a garden official. The pachyderm was reportedly moving his massive head up and down when he caught the mahout in the left chest.
2013-11-03 - Kaziranga, India.
The Park was opened for four months by Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain today. Over 67 foreign travellers besides hundreds of domestic tourists took the elephant rides on 17 pachyderms pressed into service from the Mihimukh ground inside the Park, KNP officials said.
2013-11-03 - Sai Yok, Thailand.
Police released 28 seized elephants back to a kraal in Kanchanaburi´s Sai Yok district on Friday after their owner presented correct registration papers for the animals. The elephants were seized from the Mahawang camp in tambon Wang Kra-jae by the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division on Aug 29.
2013-11-03 - Sukhothai, Thailand.
"I am deeply honored to have won the People’s Choice Award. It is a very exciting opportunity to raise the profile for Thailand’s elephants and educate the public about the cruelty elephants suffer when forced to entertain tourists traveling to Thailand," she said. She hopes her work will inspire others to explore and preserve the world around them.
2013-11-03 - Kochi, India.
Dearth of money and a serious shortage of hardwood kambakam (Hopea parviflora) is holding up repair work on the famed elephant kraal (aanakkood) at Kodanad, a village whose history is intimately linked to the tradition of capture and taming of wild elephants.
2013-11-03 - Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
At a time when poaching has tremendously scaled up in the country, about 706 pieces of ivory, representing more than 200 tuskers killed, were found yesterday in Dar es Salam Mikocheni area at a residence of Chinese nationals.Three Chinese, Che Jinzhan, Xu Fujie and Huang Qin, are said to use a special Noah microbus with registration number T713 BXG to transport the ivory pieces to the house.
2013-11-01 - Odzala National Park, Congo.
In its first push, 56 former poachers applied to become park rangers, but the park only had the ability to train 28 of them. Thursday, the parks, along with the Richardson Center—a nonprofit group set up by former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson—announced plans to make the program permanent. They’ll be building a training facility sometime within the next six months and plan to sign up more poachers in early 2014.
2013-11-01 - Hwange, Zimbabwe.
Two more men accused of poaching elephants in Zimbabwe were this week handed jail sentences, amid an ongoing crackdown that has followed the poisoning of dozens of elephants in the Hwange National Park. Caroline Washaya-Moyo, the spokesperson for Zimbabwe´s Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks), on Wednesday welcomed the sentence, saying such jail terms are a ´deterrent´ to would-be poachers.
2013-11-01 - Sussex, United Kingdom.
African elephants´ decision-making abilities are left impaired by culling operations that ended decades ago, according to research. Scientists from the University of Sussex found that elephant herds that had lost adults to culls during the 1970s and 1980s were less able to respond appropriately to other elephants´ calls.
2013-11-01 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Srilal Miththapala
Charles Santiapillai, recently penned an article about the perpetrated suggestion to cull Sri Lankan elephants; this has caused considerable concern and debate among a wide cross section of people. Firstly,one must establish the context in which this statement was supposed to have been made, by the eminent Indian Elephant Expert Ajay Desai during a recent lecture in Sri Lanka.
2013-10-31 - Basel, Switzerland.
On 23rd October, bull elephant Yoga (16) left Basel Zoo for Boras Zoo in Sweden. An articulated lorry and an extra large crate were required to transport the 4.6-ton bull. Yoga should be back in three years’ time for the opening of the new elephant enclosure. On Friday 25th October after 48 hours of travel, Yoga arrived safe and sound at Boras Zoo.
2013-10-31 - Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary, Cambodia. Phak Seangly and Amelia Woodside
A group of endangered Asian elephants found dead in Mondulkiri province on Sunday were likely slaughtered, investigators from conservation group WWF-Cambodia have found. The organisation said in a statement yesterday an investigation into the deaths in protected Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary suggested the elephants were “slaughtered by well-organised poachersâ€.
2013-10-31 - Mumbai, India.
The Maharashtra wildlife department has passed an order prohibiting the entry of elephants into Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane regions. The directive was issued on Monday by additional principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Suresh Thorat. The circular said that elephants were mostly brought into city limits to beg, entertain, "bless" people and even used for shoots though they were a Schedule-1 protected species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act.
2013-10-31 - Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand.
Police have launched a hunt for two teenage mahouts who were filmed attacking a baby elephant on a street in Ubon Ratchathani province. Wildlife officials yesterday filed police complaints against the two mahouts. The video clip has been circulating online since late last week and shows two young mahouts using hooks to attack a baby elephant after it collapsed from exhaustion because of a lack of food and water.
Maybe we need to look at that video again. What appears to be cruel and abusive treatment of a baby elephant may just be a case of young mahouts trying to deal with an animal that was acting, well, like a baby. That´s what the two teenage mahouts involved in the incident claimed yesterday. Local authorities and wildlife officials yesterday visited the home of Sarayuth Khamkonyai, 50, the owner of the four-year-old elephant shown in the video clip which was circulated online last week.
2013-10-31 - Houston, United States.
Houston Zoo is making preparations for 23-year-old Asian elephant Shanti to give birth in January 2014. Shanti gets regular ultrasounds and zookeepers have been monitoring her weight and her diet and leading the expectant mother through a regular exercise program. The night watch pregnancy monitoring will begin in late November and will continue until the calf´s birth.
2013-10-31 - Childers, Australia.
RON Simpson may not look like your typical zookeeper but then his "zoo" in Childers isn´t your typical collection of animals. Ranging from a $13,500 life-size elephant to a $605 replica of Scooby-Doo, his business, Pick-It Papers, which he runs with his wife Heather, has an animal for every occasion.
2013-10-31 - Los Angeles, United States.
Cheered on by animal-welfare activists, City Council members voted unanimously last week to make Los Angeles the only place in the United States to ban the use by elephant trainers of the implements known as bullhooks. Is this a case of animal-welfare activists going too far and pressuring elected officials to take a politically correct stand that really isn’t necessary?
2013-10-31 - Kaziranga, India.
Tusker ´Ratan´ (26) in Musth, suddenly attacked another elephant ´Gautam´ (25) when they were playing with each other on Tuesday and seriously injured him. Gautam, who does not have tusks, succumbed to his wounds within three hours of being attacked. Ratan was also grievously injured in the fight and died yesterday, the Park director said.
2013-10-29 - Auckland, New Zealand.
Mila was with her former trainer, Hamilton man Tony Ratcliffe, for 31 years before being taken to Franklin Zoo by vet Schofield in 2009. At the time of Schofield´s death, Tony Ratcliffe´s brother Robin told the Waikato Times the family had warned officials something would happen if the transition was not handled correctly.
2013-10-29 - Melbourne, Australia.
A Melbourne Zoo elephant that gave birth to the first female calf in Australia four years ago is about to make history again. Zoo head vet Michael Lynch says it could still be a while before the calf is born. "We really expect it between the 1st and the 21st of November."
2013-10-28 - Hohenwald, United States.
The Lead Caregiver position is a working, front-line supervisory position. This position implements policies and procedures established by The Elephant Sanctuary with direction from the Director of Husbandry. Provides and supervises daily care of elephants utilizing positive reinforcement to manage elephant behaviors.
2013-10-27 - Chennai, India.
Elephants in the Nilgiri biosphere comprising Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, are relatively safe, with the number of poaching cases having reduced over the years, renowned conservationist and expert on Asiatic elephants Dr Raman Sukumar said here on Saturday.
2013-10-27 - Yangon, Myanmar. Nirmal Ghosh
The Ministry for Environmental Conservation and Forestry has pledged to reduce its logging by more than 80,000 tonnes this fiscal year. Myanmar will ban raw teak and timber exports by April 1, 2014, allowing only export of high-end finished timber products. MTE says that the private elephant owners contracted by the government will be the first on the chopping block. Saw Moo, a second generation private elephant owner, sees a bleak future for his stable of 20 elephants. He fears the family busin...
2013-10-27 - Mombasa, Kenya.
Kenya is borrowing a page from America’s war on drugs. Sniffer dogs, normally used to ferret out cocaine shipments, are being put to work in Kenya to track down hidden tusks and horns passing through Kenya’s seaport and airports.
2013-10-27 - Los Angeles, United States.
Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey, argues they are an accepted tool and that the new law is misguided. “There are already laws in place — federal, state and local ordinances – that prohibit animal cruelty," said Payne. "So this is basically an animal rights driven bill to kick out the circus.” Payne says his company is waiting to see the exact wording of the new law, which will be phased in over three years.
2013-10-26 - Thondamuthur, India.
The Forest Department on Thursday night deployed two kumki (tamed/trained) elephants, Nanjan and Pari, at Kuppepalayam near Thondamuthur to send back the lone female elephant and a herd deep into the forests. For the last ten days, the herd and the lone elephant have been straying out of the forests and two days ago, the female elephant trampled a 55-year-old woman to death.
2013-10-26 - Toronto, Canada.
Bob Barker may have called the Toronto elephant keepers �miserable� on Monday � in fact, he declared they should all be fired, but to those who participated in or observed the elephants being unloaded from their crates at PAWS, it was clear the zoo handlers played a key role in their safe delivery.
2013-10-26 - Phuket, Thailand.
Kathu district chief officer Veera Kerdsirimongkol visited a coconut farm yesterday afternoon (October 25) in Baan Bangthong, Kathu, following a complaint. Here Mr Veera found a one-year-old baby elephant, named Sukjai, chained to a tree. The elephant is believed to have been smuggled to Phuket without any permit. At the scene was Prasop Jerkaew, 37, who is understood to have brought the elephant to Phuket from Phang Nga two days ago, and did not report it to authorities.
2013-10-26 - Ayutthaya, Thailand.
Hundreds of mahouts gathered with their elephants yesterday at Ayutthaya´s elephant corral and called on the government not to approve the draft Wild Animals Preservation and Protection Bill, which would transfer the ownership of domesticated elephants to a state agency supervising wildlife protection.
2013-10-26 - Mumbai, India.
54-year-old elephant Laxmi is the oldest resident in Jijamata Udyan zoo, Byculla. And everyone is fond of her mahouts, keepers and the public. A few years back the elephants were supposed to be moved out of the zoo to a protected sanctuary. But because of their old age and inability to adapt to new surroundings they were kept back in the company of mahouts who are extremely fond of them.
2013-10-26 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Charles Santiapillai & S. Wijeyamohan
In 2012, a total of 252 elephant deaths were reported from Sri Lanka. In the same year, 66 people were killed by wild elephants. Thus it appears that in Sri Lanka, annually about 100 to 120 animals may be killed deliberately in the human-elephant conflict. The pocketed elephants can be captured and relocated to other Range States so that they can still live in the wild, and a few could even be maintained in well managed zoological gardens and safari parks. Thus culling of elephants is not an opt...
2013-10-25 - Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
TWO Zimbabwean cross-border bus drivers arrested in South Africa last week for smuggling ivory into that country have each been jailed for four years. Parks and wildlife spokesperson, Caroline Washaya-Moyo said Langton Saka, 35, of Silobela and James Nyirenda, 37, of Bulawayo were convicted after being found guilty by a Musina court in South Africa. The pair worked as drivers for Citiliner bus company.
2013-10-25 - Dong Nai, Vietnam.
Police in the southern province of Dong Nai have arrested five people on suspicion of killing a wild elephant in 2011 with military weapons, and for illegally trading and keeping the rare animals. According to police, they suspected the poachers of murdering a wild elephant in Tan Phu Forest, Dinh Quan District, nearly two years ago. The elephant was found dead on December 23, 2011, with one of its tusks missing.
2013-10-25 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Twenty-four elephants lined up for a race Thursday on Sri Lanka´s newest expressway, but thousands of spectators were left disappointed when organisers scrapped the event due to safety concerns. The animals and jockeys were jostling at the start line on the Chinese-built 25.8-kilometre (16 mile) four-lane expressway from the airport to the capital when authorities had a sudden change of heart. Police felt that the tuskers could pose a threat to the safety of spectators if one of them went ...
2013-10-25 - Colombo, Sri Lanka. Malaka Rodrigo
Considering all these failed options Mr. Desai said there was a fourth option—the difficult choice of culling these elephants in ‘troubled’ spots. He said this method was cost effective and would even have conservation gains such as using funds to conserve other viable elephant populations. It would also bring a quick end to these elephants instead of a slow lingering death which is what actually awaits them or a life time in captivity and death in the end.
2013-10-24 - Hwange, Zimbabwe.
Three elephants have trampled a park ranger to death during an anti-poaching patrol in a Zimbabwe nature reserve where more than 102 of the animals have been poisoned with cyanide in past weeks. The veteran ranger was charged by the elephants when separated from colleagues in the remote Hwange National Park. The National Parks Department said Lovemore Maphosa, 61, was out on a 10-day foot patrol.
2013-10-24 - Kochi, India.
Juhaim Ibnu Abdul Jabbar, 22, is studying engineering at Toc H Institute of Science and Technology, Kochi. The name of my device is EDD (Elephant Deterrent Device). When elephants run wild, they end up dying in rail accidents or they become a threat to people on the streets, farmers and crops. My device can avert these tragedies.
2013-10-22 - Hai Phong, Vietnam.
Authorities in Vietnam have seized 2.4 tonnes of elephant tusks illegally imported from Malaysia in the second large seizure this month. Customs official Truong Cong Thanh in the northern port city of Hai Phong says the tusks were found in a container on Monday. The cargo had been declared as sea shells. Thanh said Tuesday that the case was under investigation.
2013-10-22 - SURAT THANI, Thailand.
Park officials on Tuesday said they are investigating the death of a wild female elephant believed to have been electrocuted and killed on an orchard near Tai Rom Yen National Park in Kanchanadit district. The dead elephant was found by the road side adjacent to an orchard around 300 metres from one of the six national parks in Surat Thani province. A team of park officials and veterinarians found a wooden pole wrapped with a 200-Volt electric wire in a shack about five metres from the animal, p...
2013-10-21 - Toronto, Canada.
Lies reg TB at PAWS, lies and propaganda from animal rights activists, politicians, and media who failed to cover the story objectively. Harrasment of staff wo pere pressed not to tell the truth. And the victims, a group of healthy african elephants, exploited by ZooCheck, PAWS and others.
Three elephants from the Toronto Zoo have arrived at their new home at a California sanctuary after a three-day road trip. A truck carrying Toka and Iringa arrived at the Performing Animals Welfare Society (PAWS) Sanctuary near Sacramento around 8:30 p.m. EDT. A separate truck carrying the youngest elephant, Thika, was travelling in another truck and arrived about an hour later.
2013-10-21 - Dimapur, India.
A Female elephant calf, about three weeks old, was rescued from a location called Rara by the Aliba Village Council under Mokokchung District on October 18, 2013. Fondly christened ‘Rara,’ she has been safely relocated to the Nagaland Zoological Park (NZP), Rangapahar on October 20 by a seven-member team comprising of Obed Bohovi Swu, Officer-in-Charge, NZP, Rangaphar along with Dr. R. Wati Ao, the visiting Veterinary doctor of NZP and the Wildlife Staff.
2013-10-21 - Pegu, Myanmar.
In January, residents and lawmakers from Irrawaddy Division’s Ngaputaw Township reported the deaths of five elephants within seven months by hunters. Myint Wai, a local resident in Pegu Division, northeast of Rangoon, points to a homemade map of the mountain range, identifying sites where he found the dead carcasses most recently. Some sites are deep in the jungle, he says, adding that he walked for several days to get there. One of the closest sites lies two hours from the highway, over a rou...
2013-10-21 - Williston, United States.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesperson Karen Parker on Monday said Diane Bedard was injured Aug. 26 by an elephant at Two Tails Ranch at 18655 NE 81st St. Bedard has been in the hospital since Aug. 26 with “life-threatening” injuries, Parker said. According to Parker, Bedard was at the house of the owner, Patricia Zerbini, taking pictures of the elephant.
2013-10-20 - Masai Mara, Kenya.
Standing in his flatbed truck, Marc Goss touches “take off” on his iPad 3, and a $300 AR Drone whirs into the air. It’s his latest weapon to fight elephant poachers around Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve. Kenya is proposing stiffer penalties for the slaughter of elephants and rhinos, with fines of as much as $117,000 and 15-year jail terms. The government has deployed paramilitary forces and plans to acquire drones to fight poaching.
2013-10-20 - Walcott, United States.
Three Toronto Zoo elephants en route to their new home in California have passed Chicago and Nebraska and are now travelling through Wyoming. Their convoy crossed the U.S. border early Friday after leaving the Toronto Zoo before 11 p.m. ET on Thursday. The pachyderm parade had a minor incident overnight in Walcott, Iowa, at what´s billed as The World´s Largest Truck Stop.
2013-10-20 - Bhubaneswar, India.
The elephant enclosure at Nandankanan would soon be expanded to 20 acre from the current five. The zoo authorities have already got the nod from Central Zoo Authority (CZA). Besides, it will also get four more adult elephants by December. Currently, there are three elephants in the zoo.
2013-10-19 - Nairobi, Kenya.
A joint week-long wildlife census carried out by Kenya and Tanzanian wildlife authorities have counted 1,193 elephants, a remarkable recovery from massive deaths, provisional results show. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the figure is a 12 percent increase compared to a similar dry season in October 2010 when the authorities counted 1,065 elephants during the joint aerial count of elephants and other large mammals in the shared ecosystem of the Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro.
2013-10-18 - Kampala, Uganda.
Over 800 pieces were found concealed in a container ready for shipment via the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa to China. Said to be worth over 6 billion Uganda Shillings, the catch will financially pain the middlemen of the illicit trade but have cost several hundred elephant their lives.
2013-10-18 - Toronto, Canada.
A longtime elephant hauler is unhappy with the way Toronto Zoo elephants are travelling to a California sanctuary. Stephen Fritz said he has transported more than 70 elephants in 27 years and he would not have chosen to transport Thika, Toka and Iringa by truck in the fall, he said Friday from Arizona.
2013-10-17 - Springfield, United States.
The morning of the incident, Patience hesitated in the chute, and elephant manager John Phillip Bradford, 62, was coaxing her forward. Bradford leaned into the chute, reaching for her with a guide. The animal suddenly lunged forward, knocking Bradford down, into the chute. The animal then crushed Bradford against the floor, killing him instantly.
2013-10-17 - Toronto, Canada.
Vice-president of CUPE Local 1600, which represents Toronto Zoo workers, Matt Berridge says they spoke with Active Environments, the company in charge of the move, and they have agreed allow keepers to come along as far as the U.S. border. However should staff wish to travel any further, Berridger says they would need to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
2013-10-17 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan and Tanzanian will jointly conduct a cross-border aerial count of elephants and other large mammals in the shared ecosystem of the Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro and Natron-Magadi landscape. Kenya Wildlife Service spokesperson Paul Udoto says the initiative is set to start from October 6 to 13, 2013.
2013-10-17 - Hwange, Zimbabwe.
A Zimbabwe court on Wednesday sentenced a poacher to more than 15 years in prison for poisoning and killing elephants with cyanide, the fourth such conviction in the country in a month. The court in the western town of Hwange also found Akim Masuku, 26, guilty of illegal possession of ivory, handing down a total jail term of 15-and-a-half years, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority said in a statement.
2013-10-17 - Kingman, United States.
Fritz and his wife Phyllis came to Toronto to investigate the project. Even though the money was there; and even though he had tons of experience and wasn�t afraid of facing down animal-rights people, Fritz said no. �It�s not the people of Toronto; it�s not the zoo; it�s the way the whole thing came together. �I took a look at that Toronto project and said �no thanks.� He said he and Phyllis �loved the city; but he couldn´t tolerate the politi...
2013-10-15 - Hwange, Zimbabwe.
WILDLIFE authorities said Tuesday they had found another 11 carcasses of elephants killed by cyanide poisoning, bringing to 102 the number of pachyderms poisoned for their tusks in a continuing wildlife crisis. Authorities arrested two suspected poachers at a village outside Hwange National Park where a small quantity of cyanide was recovered.
2013-10-12 - Toronto, Canada.
As you can see council has approved the allowance of 4 anti zoo animal rights groups to make decisions about the future of the Toronto Zoo. These organizations are 100% against zoos, they will begin systematically removing animals and exhibits and move them to their affiliated facilities as was the case with our elephants.They will start with all large iconic mammals, polar bears, bears, big cats and primates.
2013-10-06 - Dallas, United States.
The Dallas Zoo welcomes you to Dallas for the 34th annual conference of the Elephant Managers Association. Please submit abstracts by July 15 to both Karen Gibson and Harry Peachey. Registration is $175 until August 15; $200 August 16 and later. Thursday, Oct. 10: Optional post-conference trip to the Oklahoma City Zoo.
2013-10-05 - Little Rock, United States.
The elephant, named Jewell, was euthanized after staff members discovered her lying on her side, unable to get up. Necropsy results showed that tissue from the elephant tested positive for tuberculosis, though the official cause of death will be listed as euthanasia due to arthritis and severe musculoskeletal problems, the zoo said.
2013-10-05 - Bamako, Mali.
The six-hectare zoo – small compared with European counterparts – is home to three lions, a small elephant and baboons among the 100 animal species, which also includes 12 breeds of birds, such as white egrets and ostriches, and 58 varieties of fish.
2013-10-05 - Ramat Gan, Israel.
Safari workers have yet to decide on the calf’s name, but have said it will start with the letter “L” — like her mother’s name. The birth, which happened 22 months after the mother was caught on camera mating with the happy father Motek, was particularly welcomed by workers at the safari since the Asian elephant is considered an endangered species
2013-10-05 - Niabi, United States.
A trailer was inside the elephant enclosure at Niabi Zoo on Friday, October 4, 2013. Zoo Director Marc Heinzman said Asian elephants Babe and Sophie will eventually travel in the trailer, and that it was placed in the enclosure so the elephants could get accustomed to being inside of the trailer before they are moved. Heinzman did not give an exact timeline for the move. He previously confirmed the elephants would be gone from Niabi Zoo by the 2014 season.
2013-10-04 - Kinabatangan, Indonesia.
Myne Resort has set aside 160 acres of land at Kampung Bilit, Lower Kinabatangan as an ecological corridor for the Bornean elephants. Myne Resort managing director, Ouh Mee Lan said that the Myne Resort was supportive of the effort undertaken by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and the Borneo Conservation Trust (BCT) to enhance the ecological corridor for the Bornean elephants at the Lower Kinabatangan.
2013-10-04 - Lampang, Thailand.
Naetiwin Amorsin, the owner of a four-year-old female elephant, Phang Taengmo, submitted a complaint with Surapong Kongchantuk, a member of the Lawyer´s Council of Thailand’s human rights committee, on Monday. The mahout asked for legal action against the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) for unfairly confiscating his elephant, and for putting the animal at risk of "imminent death" because of poor treatment
2013-10-03 - Albuquerque, United States.
The newest addition is the third elephant born in New Mexico. Rozie was the first elephant born at the ABQ BioPark Zoo back in 1992. She gave birth to Daizy, her first calf, in 2009. The multi-generation herd includes Rozie, her mother Alice, daughter Daizy and brand new calf. An unrelated female, Irene, is also part of the herd and has been a good auntie. Samson and Albert, two young males, have formed a bachelor herd, and can be seen in yards adjacent to the females.
2013-10-02 - New Delhi, United States.
In a first experiment of this kind, the researchers recorded growls of tigers and leopards when they came upon elephants in the vicinity. There have been sporadic instances of use of predator sound playback to deter elephants or other animals, but in the long range they fail because the animals realize that it is a hoax. However, it is better to try out these methods than fight a costly and unjust war!
2013-09-20 - Tampa, United States.
Spike, the 32-year-old Asian elephant, arrived safely to Busch Gardens in Tampa, Fla. Friday that will be his new home after a safe 2 1/2 day, 4,500 km journey from the Calgary Zoo. The zoo’s three female elephants are scheduled to depart for the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. early next year.
2013-09-18 - Berlin, Germany. Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA).
The aim of this conference is to foster an exchange of ideas between wildlife scientists from different disciplines with an interest in both wild and captive animals, with a focus on mammalian species.
2013-09-16 - Sangiran Dome, Indonesia.
Archaeologists in Central Java have discovered fossil evidence that prehistoric humans may have hunted a forerunner to the elephant that was twice the size of today’s pachyderms. The archaeologists also found several ball-shaped rocks near the stegodon fossil, which they have identified as weapons used for hunting.
2013-09-16 - Coimbatore, India.
Two tuskers were found dead, probably during fights with other members of a herd, in the Coimbatore and Satyamangalam forest areas. In the first incident, a male tusker was killed in a fight with another elephant, near Kallar in the Mettupalayam forest area. In another incident, a 15-year-old male elephant was found dead in the Satyamangalam forest range in neighbouring Erode district on Saturday.
2013-09-15 - Sheffield, United Kingdom.
Researchers from the University´s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences accessed records of the life and deaths of more than 2,000 working elephants from Myanmar, Burma. The unique dataset was recorded from 1948-2000, spanning five generations of elephants – a remarkable feat considering the animals can live up to 80 years.The elephants in the data base are semi-captive animals working in the timber industry by pushing and dragging logs.
2013-09-15 - Auckland, New Zealand.
Auckland Zoo says the new elephants it wants to bring to New Zealand will definitely spend three months in quarantine on Niue first. The zoo’s head of marketing Ben Hutton says work is continuing to import two elephants from an orphanage in Sri Lanka and if the deal is successful the earliest they will arrive by plane on Niue is late November.
2013-09-15 - SACRAMENTO, United States.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus opens a four-day run in Sacramento Friday with animal handlers defending their treatment of the elephants. "Our animals receive the highest level of care," said assistant animal superintendent Ray Henning.
2013-09-14 - Wichita, United States.
The Sedgwick County Zoo will get about $31 million from the county over the next five years, giving zoo supporters a boost in efforts to expand the elephant exhibit. The zoo has two elephants and needs at least one more to meet new requirements for accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
2013-09-14 - Houston, United States.
A $459,147 grant will support a research project focusing on elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). The research resulted from a collaboration between Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston Zoo and now also includes Johns Hopkins University and the National Elephant Herpesvirus Laboratory at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park.
2013-09-11 - Stockholm, Sweden. Laura Poppick
A previously unknown European lineage of woolly mammoths once plodded Earth, suggest new DNA analyses, which also provide new evidence for the role of climate change in the animal´s ultimate extinction. a team of researchers based at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm has analyzed a suite of 88 new DNA samples from woolly mammoth museum specimens ranging from Europe to North America.
2013-09-11 - Davis, United States. Animal Behavior Graduate Group, University of California, , Davis, CA, USA.
Elephants retreated silently to tiger-growl playbacks, whereas they responded with aggressive vocalizations, such as trumpets and grunts, to leopard-growl playbacks. Elephants also lingered in the area and displayed alert or investigative behaviours in response to leopard growls when compared with tiger growls. We anticipate that the methods outlined here will promote further study of elephant antipredator behaviour in a naturalistic context, with applications for conservation efforts as well.
2013-09-10 - Washington, United States.
U.S. wildlife authorities say they will destroy six metric tons of illegal elephant ivory seized by customs agents. Whole tusks, carvings and other ivory material held in storage in the western state of Colorado will be crushed next month.
2013-09-09 - Spokane, United States.
The Ringleader of the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus says Carol the Elephant has made a full recovery and will make her first appearance Friday night, after being shot in Tupelo back in April.The circus is in Spokane, Washington this weekend.
2013-09-09 - Bakersfield, United States.
The protests have become a circus tradition in their own right. Animal rights activists show up outside circus venues to condemn what they consider to be inhumane treatment of exotic animals by traveling circuses. The circus industry sees these protests as well-meaning but wrongheaded.
2013-09-09 - Little Rock, United States.
The Little Rock Zoo is sad to report the death of Jewell, a 62-year-old elephant living at the Zoo since 2011. The Zoo will be closed today as staff remove the elephant from the exhibit. Large equipment is in use and most pedestrian paths are blocked inside the Zoo.
2013-09-09 - London, United Kingdom.
An independent, artisan gin inspired by Africa and in support of African elephants has launched in the UK this month with an ethical cause at its heart. Elephant Gin is a new handcrafted London Dry Gin of 45% abv, made with carefully selected ingredients to capture the essence of Africa.
2013-09-08 - Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.
The deliberate poisoning of more than 40 elephants in the Hwange National Park has sparked outcry across the world, with a growing chorus of voices demanding that stricter poaching penalties be implemented. The elephants died after members of a suspected poaching syndicate laced salt with the toxic chemical cyanide and distributed the salt in a drinking pool used by elephants in Hwange. The carcasses of the animals were discovered late last month after park rangers heard gunshots within the park...
2013-09-08 - Portland, United States.
Construction workers digging the new elephant habitat at the Oregon Zoo discovered a human skull last month. Since then, archaeologists have found the remains of nine people buried within a six-acre area. The remains are believed to be people who lived at the Hillside Farm, a 160-acre poor farm owned and operated by Multnomah County. It was a place for the poor to get medical care, and often live out their last days.
2013-09-08 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Environmentalists have warned that the amnesty period for those who rear elephants illegally to register them, will have far-reaching consequences as it will promote elephant poaching. The Environment Conservation Trust has highlighted that relaxing laws on illegally domesticated elephants will encourage poachers to pry on baby elephants, and would run contrary to the Ministry’s good intentions.
2013-09-08 - Monroe, United States.
During Shirley’s long sojourn in Monroe, Solomon James was her principal keeper and caregiver. Both James and Shirley are featured in the Emmy Award-winning documentary, “The Urban Elephant,” made for National Geographic and PBS.
2013-09-06 - Na Jomtien, Thailand.
Police and wildlife officials raided a Najomtien elephant camp, arresting its owners for illegal documentation seizing a wild elephant 47-year-old elephant “Phunzup,” sold as domesticated using falsified documentation. The arrest came as Thai officials launched a nationwide crackdown on illegal elephants, many of which were shipped over the border from Myanmar with falsified documents.
2013-09-05 - Vienna, Austria. Harald Schwammer, Vienna Zoo
This is the first calf which was sired through artificial insemination with frozen sperm and its father is a wild elephant bull at Phinda Reserve in Africa. Through a novel technique which was developed by a team from Berlin’s Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research the sperm gained in the bush was frozen and successfully thawed.
2013-09-02 - , United States.
Thai police have arrested a Vietnamese couple for allegedly smuggling 105 kilograms of African elephant ivory from Angola to Cambodia through Thailand. Pham Ngoc Tuan and his wife Pham Thi Kim Chi were nabbed Thursday at Suvarnabhumi Airport after customs officials detected pieces from 23 African elephant tusks in their four suitcases, Bangkok Post reported Friday.
2013-09-02 - Mysore, India.
Tall and handsome Arjuna is the new leader of Dasara jumbos. On Wednesday, as the first batch of five jumbos started their sojourn to Mysore from Nagapura bordering Nagarahole national park, 53-year-old Arjuna led them indicating the change in order. After his performance at Dasara procession in October 2012, the tusker is now undisputed leader of the pack of elephants.
2013-09-02 - Trivandrum, India.
The death of 36 elephants during the last eight months (2013 January-2013 August) reflects the sorry state of the lives of the captive elephants in the state. Among these captive elephants, 29 were owned by individuals and seven were under the control of state forest department. The statistics is prepared by Thrissur based Heritage animal task force with the help of environmentalists and elephant activists in the state. But the government admits that they are yet to compile the list of dead elep...
2013-09-01 - , United States.
A mechanical elephant built in the 1950s at an engineering works in a Lancashire village has returned home. Organisers said 250 people turned out for the official homecoming of Rajah to the former Luneside Engineering works in Halton, near Lancaster.
2013-09-01 - Coimbatore, India.
The last two members of an elephant herd that was roaming near Thandarampatti near Sathanur dam in Thiruvannamalai were captured on Wednesday night by forest officials. The two male calves had come in search of the herd leader, a female elephant, which was captured early Wednesday
2013-08-31 - Pittsburgh, United States.
This week the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium hosted the International Elephant & Rhino Symposium, including a session Thursday at the International Conservation Center in Glen Savage. About 150 researchers, scientists and keepers from Africa, Europe and Asia attended the workshops. The last time the Pittsburgh Zoo hosted the symposium was in 1999. The International Conservation Center in Somerset County is believed to be the only one of it’s kind in the world. It’s home to five elephants an...
2013-08-27 - Uda Walawe, Sri Lanka.
It was about 10-15 years ago that a big bull elephant was sighted regularly along the electric fence bordering the Thanamalwila Road that runs adjacent to the Uda Walawe National Park ( UWNP) and he was named Rambo. While certainly everyone will hope and pray that we are all proved wrong, the prognosis is not good, and all logical evidence indicates that Rambo may be no more in the land of the living.
2013-08-25 - , United States.
Ronald B. Tobias has written a comprehensive history of the elephant in America. As tragic as it is comic, this enthralling chronicle traces this animal´s indelible footprint on American culture.
2013-08-25 - Negev, Israel.
A project that organizers hoped would bring masses of tourists to the western Negev – an elephant park – apparently won´t be getting off the ground, despite the fact that Kibbutz Nahal Oz and other investors have sunk over a million shekels into it. But despite international laws against transporting elephants, organizers are still helpful they will be able to make a go of the project.
2013-08-24 - New York, United States.
Qiang Wang, a.k.a. Jeffrey Wang, 34, a New York antiques dealer, pled guilty on August 7 in Manhattan federal court to conspiracy to smuggle Asian artifacts made from rhinoceros horns and ivory and to violate wildlife trafficking laws. Wang was arrested in February 2013 as part of Operation Crash, a nationwide crackdown in the illegal trafficking in rhinoceros horns, for his role in smuggling libation cups carved from rhinoceros horns from New York to Hong Kong and China.
2013-08-23 - Ho Chi Min city, Vietnam.
Customs officers at ICD Phuoc Long Port in Thu Duc District said they had seized 158 elephant tusks hidden in a container coming in from Mozambique.The case has now been transferred to the Investigation Police. On August 22, Le Van Tu, Deputy Director of Thai Minh Company and an accomplice were caught illegally transporting a container with the elephant tusks through the port into Vietnam.
2013-08-22 - Kolkata, India.
The tropical rainforests of Andaman islands are under threat - not from illegal felling of timber or clearing of forests for development activities - but from being finished off by an invasive species of deer and elephant, a research says. According to the report prepared by Rauf Ali from the Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy and Learning in Puducherry, the herbivore species is causing the vegetation to decrease significantly.
2013-08-22 - Tesso Nilo, Indonesia.
A domesticated elephant, a member of the Flying Squad at the Tesso Nilo National Park gave birth to a female calf on Aug. 7. The calf is the fourth new member of the squad at the park located in Pelalawan regency, Riau.The calf, which has yet to be named, was delivered by its 35-year-old mother Ria.
2013-08-21 - Washington, United States.
A $2 million gift from businessman David Rubenstein will allow the Smithsonian´s National Zoo to nearly double the size of its Asian elephant herd. The zoo announced Tuesday that it will receive three female elephants in an open-ended loan from the Calgary Zoo in Canada, which is relocating its elephants to more suitable habitats. The move will be funded entirely by Rubenstein, a co-founder of the Washington-based private equity firm The Carlyle Group. In 2011, Rubenstein gave $4.5 millio...
2013-08-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Police said Wednesday they had seized 16 elephants from tourist destinations as part of a nationwide swoop on operators suspected of using smuggled wild pachyderms for entertainment. The animals were removed on Tuesday and Wednesday from camps in the southern and eastern resort areas of Koh Chang in Trat and Phuket, Krabi and Phangnga provinces, which are popular with holidaymakers, said Watcharin Phoosit, from the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division.
2013-08-21 - Phuket, Thailand.
Elephant camp owners and officials met yesterday (August 20) to hammer out a code of management for the camps, which have so far been pretty much unhampered by regulations. In addition to the excess elephants, the meeting, held at Phuket City Municipality, discussed the smuggling of elephants onto the island, unregistered sales of elephants from one camp to another, hygiene – or the lack of it – at the elephant camps and the effect of elephant ‘pollution’ on the surrounding area.
2013-08-19 - Alappuzha, India.
Businessman Sundar Menon’s confession seems to have courted a controversy. Menon, owner of Thiruvambadi Shivasundar, who said he was in the habit of giving his elephant buckets full of brandy, has come in for severe criticism from all quarters. The row came following a report in the New York Times… “A Big, Blingy Indian Love Song for a Brandy-Swigging Elephant”, which appeared on August 16.
2013-08-18 - Palani, India.
A pregnant elephant and tusker were found killed in what seemed to have been a fiery battle within the herd in the reserve forests near the Palar-Porundhalar dam on Saturday, forest officials said. The carcass of a six-year-old male elephant was found near Kallar Odai, a forest stream, and 15-year-old pregnant female elephant 300 feet away.
2013-08-18 - Pleiku, Vietnam.
Mr. Nguyen Truong Son, 49, a resident in Phu Hoi Ward, Pleiku City, Gia Lai Province is very cautious seeing strange guests because he owns four pieces of ivory fossils which is a 1.26 m long tusk when they are joined together. According to Son, about 40 years ago his father – a photographer, often worked in Chu A Thai in Thien Phu District, Gia Lai Province. He usually lived with and helped indigenous ethnic minorities there. The village chief once presented the beloved artist four pieces of ...
2013-08-17 - Windhoek, Namibia.
Namibia will airlift 10 rhinoceros and five elephants to Cuba in September, concluding a massive translocation project of 135 animals taken from its national parks, the environment ministry said Wednesday. The 15 animals will be captured from the Etosha National Park in northern Namibia – one of the country´s major tourist attractions – plus a nearby smaller game reserve, the Waterberg Plateau, environment and tourism deputy-minister Pohamba Shifeta told AFP.
2013-08-16 - Portland, United States.
Mitch Finnegan said Wednesday that Rama, who started treatment about three weeks ago, began rejecting the oral portion of his drugs on Saturday. Packy´s treatment stopped one day after it started about 10 days ago because the Asian elephant went into musth, a periodic condition during which bulls´ testosterone spikes. Often, bulls in musth grow aggressive but Packy simply turns uncooperative, making it impossible for keepers to medicate him.
2013-08-15 - Palakkad, India.
A captive elephant gored to death its 50-year old mahout to death in Puthur in the district today, police said. The jumbo, which had been brought to participate in the ´anayootu´ (feeding of elephants) festival at Thirupuraikkal Bhagavathy Temple here, killed its second mahout Ramankutty (50).
2013-08-10 - Springfield, United States.
Dickerson Park Zoo announced today that its oldest elephant, Connie, is battling kidney disease. She is not expected to recover. The estimated 50-year-old elephant - nicknamed “Pinky” - was born in the wild and came to the zoo in November 1981 from the Zoological Gardens in Abilene, Texas. She has exceeded the average life expectancy for an elephant cow, which is about 47 years.
2013-08-10 - Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The female Asian elephant baby was born this morning at 5 AM at the outside habitat. Mother is Throng Nhi born 2003 in Rotterdam (her father Alexander was born 1978 in Tel Aviv Zoo), father is Timber. Timber was born in Rotterdam 1998, Timbers father Ramon was born 1970 in Hannover Zoo, Germany.
2013-08-10 - Albuquerque, United States.
Zookeepers say blood tests indicate that Rozie the elephant´s calf will likely be a girl. The window for her giving birth is between August and November, but keepers suspect the calf may come in mid-September. The BioPark´s elephant manager, Rhonda Saiers, says the zoo is excited about the potential of adding another female to the multigenerational herd. Still, there´s a chance the gender test could be wrong.
2013-08-09 - Lome, Togo.
An ivory trafficker whose work is suspected to have fuelled the slaughter of more than 10,000 elephants over 40 years has been arrested. Emile N´bouke, 58, known as ´The Boss´, was detained in the Togo capital Lome where police found 1,500lbs (700kgs) of ivory at his shop. Activists say N´bouke is not only a buyer of illegal ivory but helped finance poaching targeting elephants throughout Central Africa.
2013-08-06 - Ea Sup, Vietnam.
The herd of 30 wild elephants usually appears on the fields of people in J’Loi commune of Ea Sup district. Ea Sup is not the only district which suffers from elephants. A report of the Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Center, since 2011, the wild elephants have damaged 185 hectares of crops in Ea Sup, Ea H’leo and Don Village.
2013-08-06 - Ramat Gan, Israel.
La Belle, a seven-year-old Asiatic elephant, gave birth to female calf, handlers at the Safari Park discovered Friday morning. The father is Motek, a 53 year old Asiatic elephant. The maternal grandmother, 25 year old La Petite, is behaving in a pushy manner since the birth and has tried to suckle the calf. Handlers explained that since this is La Belle’s first birth, her mother may be trying to teach her how to care for the calf.
2013-08-01 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Former US defence attaché in Nairobi David McNevin has been convicted of smuggling thousands of pounds worth of ivory. According to officials, McNevin was arrested with 21 pieces of ornately carved elephant tusks as he boarded a flight to Netherlands from Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
2013-08-01 - Pittsburgh, United States.
Officials at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium say a young bull elephant is being treated for a non-contagious autoimmune disease that is preventing skin lesions from healing. Zoo officials announced the illness in a news release Thursday and planned a news conference to provide additional information
2013-07-26 - Portland, United States.
A Multnomah County health official says members of the Oregon zoo staff, who have had contact with an elephant infected with tuberculosis, tested positive for the disease. A spokesperson for the Oregon Zoo would neither confirm nor deny that members of the staff tested positive for the disease.
2013-07-23 - Washington, United States.
What people really don´t know about PETA is that if they got their way, not only would they ban meat, milk, eggs, honey, leather, or fur. There would also be no more silk, wool, down feathers, fishing, circuses that use any kind of animals even domesticated, horse back riding, live animal shows, aquariums, zoos *even if they´re AZA approved*, hunting, service animals for disabled people, even pets.
2013-07-19 - Hong Kong, China.
More than 1,000 ivory tusks, mainly from baby elephants, were seized by Hong Kong customs in their biggest haul in three years, officials said on Friday. The tusks, which weigh over two tons and are worth more than 2 million dollars, were discovered at the city´s main port in a cargo container from the African country of Togo.
2013-07-16 - Manila, Philippines.
A bigger, better and modern Manila Zoo and possibly two more elephants to keep Mali, its most popular resident, company. This was confirmed by Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada who told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, on Tuesday, that talks were ongoing for a public-private partnership program with investors from Singapore who would spend P2 billion for the project.
2013-07-13 - Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
"Selemani Isanzu Chasema, in his 50s, is believed to have exported 781 tusks through Malawi," in May, prosecuting attorney Tumaini Kweka told AFP. Chasema, who denied the charges, was arrested earlier this month in Tanzania´s commercial capital Dar es Salaam with 347 elephant tusks. If found guilty, he could face a minimum of 15 years in jail.
2013-07-13 - Fort Worth, United States.
The Fort Worth Zoo is asking the public to help find a name for its newest bundle of joy - a 330-pound baby elephant The female Asian elephant was born Sunday. The calf´s mother is 40-year-old Rasha. The father is Groucho, the zoo´s 43-year-old bull, who is on loan to the Denver Zoo. Her sister, Bluebonnet, is 14.
2013-07-13 - Roc Agel, Monaco.
Two circus elephants who were threatened with euthanasia in France, arrived in their new luxury home near the Cote d´Azur on Friday after being taken in by Princess Stephanie of Monaco, French media reported. The two pachyderms made the 500-kilometre road trip to the Monaco royal family´s estate in Roc Agel in two giant air-conditioned containers.
2013-07-12 - Roc Agel, Monaco.
Two sick elephants who were given an 11th-hour stay of execution after a Brigitte Bardot lead public campaign to save them, arrived at their plush new home on Friday where they will be treated like royalty under the watch of the Princess of Monaco. The princess has agreed to host the two elephants, aged 42 and 43, at the royal family´s Roc Agel ranch in the Alpes-Maritimes region in the southeastern corner of France.
2013-07-11 - San Diego, United States.
San Diego County Fair visitors, inspired by two of the five America’s Elephant Ambassadors, Rosie and Becky, donated over $5,000 to fight a virus that is fatal to young elephants. Before the fair opened, Have Trunk Will Travel held a news conference at Del Mar´s Dog Beach to encourage San Diego residents to donate to International Elephant Foundation
2013-07-11 - Kota Kinabalu, Indonesia.
Baby elephant Joe, the sole survivor of a poisoning that killed a herd of 14 Borneo pygmy elephants, is out of the woods. The calf has gained weight and is now socialising with other elephants at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park here. “He is very healthy and has gained over 100kg in the past few months, from 90kg when we rescued him, to almost 200kg now,” said Sabah Wildlife Department assistant director Dr Sen Nathan.
2013-07-10 - Phuket, Thailand.
A 50-year-old female elephant called Wasana, died yesterday (July 9) after a long illness at the Baan Chang Safari elephant trekking camp on the Patong-Karon road. Weerasit Puthipairoj, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office, told The Phuket News, “I was told the elephant was ill last week but was revived by a veterinary team. But today she collapsed again and died.”
2013-07-10 - Kottayam, India.
A tusker fainted and died at 14th Mile in Kottayam on Sunday morning. It is reported that the elephant died as soon as it fell to the ground. Erumeli forest range officer Shantry Tom told ‘Express’ that the deceased elephant was owned by Babu from Thottakad, who owns several elephants. “The exact reason for the death of the animal is not known.
2013-07-03 - Chester, United Kingdom.
Jamilah, who was born in January 2011, was taken ill yesterday morning and was being treated by the veterinary team. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of all involved in her care, Jamilah died during the night. The cause of Jamilah´s death will be determined at post-mortem. Jamilah, daughter of Thi Hi Way, was a much loved member of the herd and will be greatly missed by many. It is expected that the elephant house will open a little later than usual today. We are sure you will join ...
2013-07-01 - New York, United States. Michael Daly
In a tale that interweaves the electrocution of a gentle giant with the electrification of America and the rise of the big top circus, �Topsy,� by Michael Daly, reports that the elephant of the title was not the serial man-killer portrayed by those seeking to justify her wrongful execution.
2013-06-30 - Manila, Philippines.
“Mali” the elephant appears to be in the pink of health—if a bit on the stout side. “She looked healthy in every system. The color of the mouth is pink. It’s a good color. It means an elephant is healthy. And her skin is healthy, no wound. The scientist added that contrary to some reports, Mali’s nails “do not look bad, compared to elephants of the same age.”
2013-06-28 - Phuket, Thailand.
Smugglers attempting to transport three elephants onto Phuket illegally were nabbed by livestock officials at 3am today. Phuket Livestock Director Werasit Puphipairoj told Phuketwan today that he was aghast to find the elephant smugglers were carrying fake documents in his name. Nine people on two six-wheel trucks were apprehended, together with female adult elephants Kamsan, 26, Kanoon, 13, and a two-year-old male juvenile, Noppakao.
2013-06-26 - Denver, United States.
Billy, a 5-year-old Asian elephant, has safely arrived at Denver Zoo after traveling from Amsterdam. The young bull, the third male elephant in the zoo’s Toyota Elephant Passage exhibit, will support the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan with valuable genetics as he is unrelated to any elephants in the US.
2013-06-26 - Granby, Canada.
The Granby Zoo is very happy to welcome Tutume (pronounced Tootoomay), a 14 year-old African elephant from the Osnabrück Zoo in Germany; this Zoo has relocated its African elephants to start up a new reproduction program involving Asian elephants. The young male, who possesses excellent genetic qualities, is destined for reproduction within the guidelines of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Program.
2013-06-26 - Tallin, Estonia.
Shocking footage of a man dancing on the back of a dying circus elephant has provoked calls for a full investigation into the animal’s tragic demise. The film shows Madi - a 48-year-old Indian elephant - slowly drowning in a river as the circus owner´s brother jumps around on her in a pair of swimming shorts. Horrified witnesses made the 40-minute video when Madi - from Germany´s Universal Circus Renz - was taken to a river to bathe during a tour of Estonia.
2013-06-26 - Portland, United States.
Keele, 60 and that community´s most longtime employee -- he´s been there for one-third of the zoo´s 125 years -- will retire Friday. The man who began his life´s work as a less-than-ambitious 18-year-old cleaning up after rats and armadillos, evolved with his zoo. It embraced changing animal welfare standards and a conservation ethic, while Keele rose to be a respected, no-nonsense leader in one of Portland´s signature institutions, and one of North America´s ...
2013-06-24 - Nevada County, United States.
Truly, we have listened and continue to listen to the feedback – both the opposition of the elephants at the Fair, and to those that support the Board’s decision to invite the elephants to the Fair. To better explain our decision to welcome the elephants to the Nevada County Fair, our decision was based on the following facts
2013-06-23 - Mumbai, India.
An animal lover here Saturday rued the manner in which some prominent animal rights groups were suddenly concerned by the plight of an ailing elephant named Bijlee, and using her to garner publicity. "I request them not to shed crocodile tears for Bijlee, who is in our care and improving with each day of medication, proper diet and lots of love," Animals Matter To Me (AMTM) chief Ganesh Nayak told IANS.
2013-06-22 - Manila, Philippines.
Philippine government workers used a backhoe and an incinerator Friday to crush and burn more than 5 tons of smuggled elephant tusks worth an estimated $10 million in the biggest known destruction of trafficked ivory outside Africa.Ivory can fetch up to $2,000 per kilogram ($910 per pound) on the black market and more than $50,000 for an entire tusk.
2013-06-21 - Tupelo, United States.
A circus elephant is traveling but not yet performing, two months after being injured in a drive-by shooting in Mississippi. Carol, a 39-year-old Asian elephant, spent several weeks recovering at a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus farm in Springfield, Mo. Carol was shot in the shoulder April 9 after performing at BancorpSouth Arena in Tupelo, Miss.
2013-06-15 - New Bedford, United States.
Emily and Ruth, Buttonwood Park Zoo’s beloved elephants, are staying put permanently but they will be the last of their kind to live in the West End wildlife park, Director of Zoologicial Services Keith Lovett said. “Truthfully, we’re struggling to find a facility out there that could provide better care for Ruth and Emily (than us),” Lovett told The Standard-Times editorial board Friday morning.
2013-06-14 - Mossel Bay, South Africa.
Thandora was held in captivity for 23 years before she was released into the wild this year with high hopes that she would adapt to the environment. However, experts from Conservation Global were shocked and distraught to find that she had died. “I am shattered having endured 36 hours of emotional rollercoaster that ended at 05h30 this morning,” Greg Vogt from Conservation Global told News24 after finding the elephant dead.
2013-06-06 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
A Fowlerville native, Ward graduated from Michigan State University’s veterinary school May 3 and was on a plane to Thailand the following Monday to start her new job at Elephant Nature Park. Ward arrived with four trunks of elephant-scaled polyflex bandages from Neogen. A shocking number of elephants — up to 60 percent, Ward said — die during training for the tourist trade.
2013-06-06 - San Diego, United States.
I´ve written about viral diseases such as herpes before. But until this morning I didn´t know that elephants can get it. Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpes Virus is killing baby elephants. A conservation group stopped by the U-T San Diego offices to show off two adorable examples of what they´re trying to save.(Read comments on the page!)
2013-06-06 - Hua Hin, Thailand.
Two men suspected of killing two elephants in Kaeng Krachan National Park were arrested on Thursday, police said. Sanya Tuansap, 37, and his brother, Veerapong, 25, were caught in Hua Hin district, Prachuap Khiri Khan. They face charges of illegally killing the elephants inside the borders of the park in Kaeng Krachan district of Phetchaburi, police said.
2013-06-05 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Does anyone else, apart from Mrs Lek Chailert, believe its enough to "isolate" a TB positive elephant, in a place with a +70 elephants turnover throughout the years, 16 deaths with no public autopsy reports, and apr 100 international visitors daily, included children? ENP has a very intensive physical contact between humans and elephants, including a special kiss-an-elephant event?
2013-06-05 - Mahikeng, South Africa.
The senior officials are facing disciplinary action after being charged with contravening environmental management norms and standards for issuing licenses to hunt four elephants that had calves. The calves were translocated to the Eastern Cape from Sandhurst Safari Lodge on March 13. Two of the adults were subsequently culled by the officials from a helicopter, spokesperson Lesiba Kgwele said.
2013-06-04 - Nairobi, Kenya.
10 officers of the Kenya Wildlife Service, including a senior warden and company commander, in Tsavo have been suspended for working with poaching gangs. TCA Senior Assistant Director Julius Kimani told local media The Standard yesterday, “We have interdicted the officers for engaging in omission and commission of poaching activities. They have secretly been giving information to the poachers making it difficult for KWS to effectively deal with the poaching menace.
2013-06-04 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
A ceremony to hand over a baby tusker gifted by the Government of Myanmar to the Bellanwila Rajamahavihara in Sri Lanka took place Tuesday in the presence of the External Affairs Minister Professor G.L. Peiris. The Minister expressed Sri Lanka´s appreciation to the government of Myanmar for its support.
2013-06-02 - Portland, United States.
The male elephant tested positive for the illness last week. The zoo routinely tests all its elephants for TB by taking an annual trunk culture (collecting fluid from the animal’s trunk and sending it to a certified laboratory for testing) as part of its comprehensive health program and in compliance with U.S. Department of Agriculture standards.
2013-06-02 - Karachi, Pakistan.
A temporary pond has been prepared for bathing elephants and snakes in the Karachi Zoo. This measure has been taken to give some relief to the animals which were suffering due to the hot summer season, Karachi Zoo Administrator, Aqeel Naqvi, said on Monday.
2013-06-02 - Yakutsk, Russian Federation.
Scientists in Siberia say they´ve extracted blood samples from the carcass of a 10,000-year-old woolly mammoth, reviving speculation that a clone of the extinct animal might someday walk the earth, if scientists are able to find living cells. But researchers say the find, which also included well-preserved muscle tissue, must be studied further to know its potential.
2013-06-02 - Stockholm, Sweden.
Despite the recent discovery of a stunningly preserved mammoth, the odds of scientists using it to clone a real-life mammoth anytime soon are still low, experts say. "To clone a mammoth by finding intact cells — and, more importantly, an intact genome — is going to be exceptionally difficult, likely impossible," said Love Dalén, a paleogeneticist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. "Finding this mammoth makes it slightly less impossible."
2013-06-02 - Geneva, Switzerland.
The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) received plans from China, Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Uganda, Tanzania and Viet Nam – identified as primary source, transit and import countries affected by the illegal trade in ivory. The plans – which contain specific activities in the areas of legislation and regulations, national and international enforcement, outreach and public awareness – were requested by ...
2013-05-25 - Toronto, Canada.
The Department of National Defence says it´s still in talks to help move the Toronto Zoo´s three resident elephants to California, but says the animals will have to stay put until the fall. Animal welfare activists had previously said the zoo was in talks to borrow a Canadian Forces plane to transport the pachyderms to an elephant sanctuary in California.
2013-05-18 - Okeechobee, United States.
The family group, consisting of two adult female and two subadult male African elephants, arrived this week and made history as our very first residents. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Elephant Taxon Advisory Group supported the animals’ move to The Center as part of a Species Survival Program (SSP). Previously the four animals lived at an AZA-accredited facility in central Florida.
2013-05-18 - Cochin, India.
The Kerala Forest Department is planning to set up Kerala State Elephant Welfare Board for the well-being of elephants and mahouts. According to the draft proposal, the welfare board will collect Rs.10,000 as annual contribution for an animal from its owners. The department has begun discussions with stakeholders to draw up the structure for the board and its guidelines.
2013-05-17 - Yok Don national park, Vietnam.
A week after first sighting a wild elephant ensnared by two traps – one on its foot and another on its trunk – rescuers were able to retrieve the animal on May 14 from a protected forest in Dak Lak Province. They used tamed elephants to rope the young injured male elephant around its neck and tow to it to station in Yok Don National Park.
2013-05-16 - Chiang Rai, Thailand.
In addition to managing the Elephant Camp, GTAEF and research conducted by Think Elephants International, in his new worldwide conservation role, Roberts’ expertise and enthusiasm will benefit all Anantara properties, as well as guests.
2013-05-14 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Authorities say that two employees of an elephant conservation group in one of Kenya´s most popular wildlife parks have been charged with ivory smuggling. The Amboseli Trust for Elephants confirmed the charges in a statement Monday. The group said it is confident that an investigation will exonerate the two, a mother and a son. Court records showed that the two Kenyans were arrested with six tusks.
2013-05-14 - KANCHANABURI, Thailand.
A mahout was killed by an elephant in Sai Yok district yesterday, police said. The incident took place at Mahawang elephant camp in Moo 6 of tambon Wang Krajae, Sai Yok district police station chief Pol Col Bandit Muangsukham said. Witness Rawee Wongnongphlab, 29, who also works at the camp, told police the elephant, a female called Bua Ngern, became agitated when the mahout, 19-year-old Phech Prueksa, tried to unchain it.
2013-05-11 - Phuket, Thailand. Sert Tongdee
Two young elephants at Phuket camps, Dollar and Namphon, are suspected to have been poached and the legitimacy of another 61 elephants remains in question after raids yesterday. While the animals remain at the camps and further tests are to be undertaken on Phuket elephants, those found to have been poached will be confiscated.
2013-05-11 - KAO LOOK CHANG, Thailand.
The Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand sanctuary covers 25 hectares (61 acres) of jungle near the village of Kao Look Chang. It was launched 12 years ago with only a few dozen animals by Edwin Wiek, a Dutch national who left his job in the fashion industry to dedicate himself to the conservation movement. The sanctuary was raided in February and about 100 animals were seized. Wiek is charged with sheltering wildlife illegally and a verdict is expected next month.
2013-05-10 - Sydney, Australia.
In November 2010, a clinically healthy Asian elephant in an Australian zoo was found to be shedding M. tuberculosis; in September 2011, a sick chimpanzee at the same zoo was diagnosed with tuberculosis caused by an indistinguishable strain of M. tuberculosis. A pathway of transmission between the animals could not be confirmed. Tuberculosis in an elephant can be transmissible to people in close contact and to other animals more remotely. The mechanism for transmission from elephants requires fur...
2013-05-08 - Auckland, New Zealand.
Erin Ivory, (refered to as one of the worlds leading experts on zoo elephants?) suggests that Mila "picked up" Helen Schofield and "squeezzed her a little bit harder because she was upset and tensed" which can result in the incidence" suggesting that Helen Schofield was not purposely killed by the elephant Mila last year?
2013-05-08 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Some sources state that Pat Derbus first elephant died in a barn fire. Other Sources state Neena was in a truck and it was freezing cold and they lit a fire underneath the trailer to warm her up and the trailer caught on fire. On the link below you can ask on PAWS Facebook what happened?
2013-05-07 - Canterbury, New Zealand.
An international conference on conflict between elephants and humans is set to be held in New Zealand for the first time in May. The University of Canterbury (UC) is hosting this year´s south and southeast Asian elephant symposium, the first of its kind here, on May 7-8.
2013-05-07 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
I have documents (download here) stating Pat Derbys poor competence as animal trainer, critizising her total lack of welfare for animals in her posession, as well as privately taking money away from shared bank accounts with other persons os companies.
I found an interesting link on Circus Fans Association of America where you can read, among other things regarding Animal Rights Activists and PAWS: "Derby rarely mentions how in her days as a trainer and operator of a roadside zoo in Buellton , CA, an elephant in her care died in a barn fire." The last line, about Neena surprised me, because for sure, it seems really like Mrs Derby doesnt want to speak about this elephant Neena. Searching through PAWS documents, and googling, it was like Neena...
2013-05-06 - Auckland, New Zealand.
Auckland Councillor Cathy Casey has put a case for getting rid of Burma, the one remaining elephant at Auckland Zoo. While her intent is likely to be honourable, such an attempt to "help" Burma could work very much against her, and paradoxically, as recent research shows, it could also work against conservation efforts.
2013-05-06 - Phang Nga, Thailand.
Officers from the regional Natural Resources and Environment Crime Suppression Division raided seven tour companies in Phang Nga this week following reports that the companies were in possession of illegal elephants. The officers found a total of 40 elephants they suspect of being acquired illegally. Col Watcharin Phusit, who headed the elephant raids in Phuket last year, also led the raids north of Phuket. “We investigated the ATV Tour Company, Pang Kaew elephant camp, Andaman Adventures ...
2013-05-05 - Kaeng Krachan, Thailand.
In early March, Kaeng Krachan National Park chief Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn was outraged to learn of another elephant killing in the area he oversees. A female elephant about 15 years old was discovered close to Krarang 3 Reservoir shot in the head and brutally axed, milk still flowing from her breast. Investigators reasoned that the elephant had a baby with her at the time of the killing.
2013-05-05 - Colchester, United Kingdom.
The Essex Air Ambulance was dispatched to Colchester Zoo, where a 19-year-old woman was reported to be suffering breathing problems. The wide, flat space inside the elephant pen was believed to be the best spot for the aircraft to touch down when it arrived just before 11.30am. It is believed that the four elephants in the enclosure were moved inside their house before the helicopter landed.
2013-05-04 - Cincinnati, United States.
The Cincinnati Zoo´s oldest Asian elephant is celebrating her 40th birthday with a special pachyderm-sized cake and a serenade. My-Thai has been at the zoo since she was 9 months old. She has been a zoo ambassador, marching in Cincinnati Reds´ Opening Day parades and handing out the first pitch to folks on the pitching mound.
2013-05-03 - Calgary, Canada.
More than 30 years ago in a Sri Lankan jungle, then-Calgary Zoo veterinarian Darrel Florence fashioned a homemade device from a 7Up container and a garden hose, then used it to feed formula milk to three 200-pound infants.Florence, a zoo vet from 1975-1980, says to relocate the aged animals now to a new place is too stressful and not in the elephants’ best interest.
2013-05-03 - Washington, United States.
The zoo announced Friday that Bozie, a 37-year-old Asian elephant, will join three others in Washington. In March, a 46-year-old elephant named Judy died at the Baton Rouge Zoo, leaving Bozie alone. Bozie is considered beyond her reproductive years. Once she arrives, she will be quarantined for 30 days.
2013-04-29 - Bangkok, Thailand.
They are undertaking the search in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province after a photographer had reported seeing one in a herd on April 10. Theerapat Prayurasiddhi, deputy chief of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said cameras will be installed along elephant trails inside the park to help in the search. Officials would also send camera-mounted UAVs into the forest. "If it is a white elephant, we will consider how to deal with it," he said.
2013-04-29 - Ruskin, United States.
As elephant herds with circuses grew larger, Craven is credited as being the innovator of the pyramid type elephant act in America introducing long mounts on bull tubs etc. The first being with Howes Great London and later improved versions with the Forepaugh Show and Cooper & Bailey. He later became a successful Animal Dealer and the owner of a large ranch near Dallas, Texas where he died Jan. 16, 1890.
2013-04-28 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The Wildlife and Nature Protection Society of Sri Lanka organized a lecture on April 19, regarding a survey of elephants of Sri Lanka. Dr Charles Santiapillai and S Wijeyamohan addressed the audience.The survey was carried out by the Department of Wildlife Conservation on August 11, 12 and 13, 2011. The lecture highlighted the nature of the survey, and stressed on the difference between a survey and a census.
2013-04-28 - Iringa, Tanzania.
Five elephants have been killed by people believed to be poachers at Lunda area, about 1.5 kilometres from Ruaha National Park in Iringa Region. Speaking with The Citizen on Sunday Friday, chairman of an NGO dealing with wildlife issues in the area, Mbomipa, Mr Philipo Mkumbata, said he was aware of the incident. Mr Mkumbata said that incidents of jumbo poaching had been on the rise in the recent months in many parts of the region, calling for concerted efforts to curb the problem.
2013-04-28 - Colorado Springs, United States.
Encounter Africa is the result of the zoo’s largest capital campaign, a two-year effort that raised $13.5 million through foundation and individual gifts, including $42,000 from zoo staff. The zoo is one of only a handful nationwide that don’t receive support from tax dollars.
2013-04-28 - PHETCHABURI, Thailand.
A hunt is on for a possible white elephant in Kaeng Krachan National Park, with a reward of 5 million baht being offered to hunters who can capture the elephant – if it exists. The sighting of the white elephant was reported by Apichart Puangnoi, a photographer who visited Krarang Sam reservoir in tambon Pa Teng on April 10, where a pregnant elephant was found dead the day before. Mr Apichart spotted the calf from still photos of an elephant herd he took and then reported the sighting to ...
2013-04-27 - Maun, Botswana.
Sandi, 45, with her American-born husband Doug, 58, has dedicated her life to raising three orphaned elephants, Jabu, Thembi and Morula, who now live deep in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. When the couple married in the late 1990s, they chose not to have children, because not only do they believe there are enough in the world, but because they committed themselves to the three pachyderms whose families were slaughtered in culling operations in the Kruger National Park and Zimbabwe.
2013-04-27 - Maputu, Mozambique.
Mozambique´s elephant population risks being obliterated within a decade unless tight anti-poaching measures are introduced, conservationists have warned. The alarming scale of the poaching problem has become increasingly apparent, with an aerial survey of the north of the country in 2011 tallying 2,667 elephant carcasses in the vast Niassa reserve alone.
2013-04-27 - Durban, South Africa.
The IFP calls on Government to urgently erect border fencing and deploy armed forces between Mozambique and Kruger National Park. IFP Spokesperson on Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mrs. Connie Zikalala MP, said, "Government should do everything in their power to protect our wildlife and heritage. Before we know it thousands of elephants will also be killed this year by poachers who want their ivory tusks. Government must treat this matter as critical and urgently deploy resources to combat s...
2013-04-27 - Zakouma National Park, Chad.
In an isolated wilderness in Chad, a war is being fought to save central Africa´s decimated elephant herds from gangs of ivory poachers. The frontline is the southern Zakouma National Park: a 3,000-square-kilometre (1,900-square-mile) sanctuary that has lost 90 percent of its elephants in the last 10 years.
Walking in the footsteps of African elephant bull Jabu made us feel more closely connected to elephants than ever before. Working together with Sanctuary Retreats, Living With Elephants gave us the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend time with a trio of orphaned elephants in the Okavango Delta. Despite their large size, elephants walk through the Botswanan bush with a soft tread, intelligent animals that are both strong and gentle.
2013-04-27 - Mandalay, Myanmar.
In 1920, a young Cornishman, James Howard Williams, arrived here to take up a post with Bombay Burma. His remarkable Boy’s Own adventures in the jungles of Burma are brilliantly captured in his memoir, Elephant Bill. It includes a nail-biting account of him leading the exodus of elephants and refugees across the mountains to India in 1942 as the Japanese advanced across the Chindwin. His elephant companies then returned to pave the way, literally, for Allied tanks, armoured cars and soldi...
2013-04-26 - Tsavo, Kenya.
This is a latent viral disease of elephants caused by Herpes virus and is known to cause deaths only in Asian Elephants. The disease in African Elephants manifests as self limiting nodular lesions in young elephants trunk and face and are rarely fatal. The viruses are intranulclear and have affinity for endothelial cells. Several Elephants were sampled and blood, tissues from nodular lesions taken and will be tested at our new molecular lab in Nairobi. A total of 15 Elephants were sampled making...
2013-04-26 - Baltimore, United States. Gary S. Hayward, Johns Hopkins University
As a discoverer of elephant endotheliotropic herpes viruses and the developer of diagnostic DNA fingerprint tests used to confirm suspected cases worldwide, I can attest that much of what has been written in the popular press recently about EEHV is wrong or misleading.
2013-04-26 - Bangkok, Thailand.
Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasob Suraswadi has been instructed by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to visit Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi Province, following reported sightings of a white elephant in the area, it could not be confirmed for the moment whether the elephant calf in the news was a white elephant until all the traits have been confirmed by experts.
2013-04-26 - Toronto, Canada.
WWF and WCS have received alarming reports from their field operations that elephants are being slaughtered in the violence-ridden Central African Republic (CAR), where new powers in place struggle to gain control over the situation. The conservation organizations are issuing today a joint call for immediate action.
2013-04-26 - Amboseli, Kenya.
The five-day exercise, which started on Monday (April 23, 2013) is a collaboration between the two countries and their agencies; Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), Wildlife Division of Tanzania and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), together with affiliated Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) like African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Amboseli Trust for Elephants, School of Field studies Tanzania, Honey Guide foundation among others.
2013-04-26 - Mossel Bay, South Africa.
After months of preparation and rehabilitation, Thandora, the 27-year-old elephant from Bloemfontein zoo has been released into Gondwana Game Reserve. She has been physically and mentally prepared for a number of months, while living in a boma in the bush, she took her first steps in the wild on Monday. We take a look at how she’s been doing.
2013-04-26 - Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
The man tasked with saving Tanzania’s elephants is Khamis Suedi Kagasheki, minister for natural resources and tourism. Kagasheki, a former intelligence officer, is trying hard to beat the poachers, but is up against a government cabal unwilling to give up illegal profits.
2013-04-26 - Thrissur, India.
Thousands of people witnessed the annual Elephant Festival held here over the weekend. The troupe of drummers, roaring crowd, and the decorated elephants, which carried the deities from different temples on their back added to the grandeur of the parade. The festival parade culminated in the grounds of Vadakkunnathan Temple.The festival is celebrated annually in the month of Medam (mid April and May first) as per the Malayalam calendar.
2013-04-26 - Baton Rouge, United States.
Judy, the Asian elephant that died recently at Baton Rouge Zoo, died from chronic gastrointestinal irritation, a side effect from arthritis treatment, according to the animal’s necropsy results. “When dealing with an illness, one must use extreme caution when prescribing a treatment due to possible undesirable side effects. Through consultation with various zoo veterinarians, we used 12 different drugs to treat Judy,†zoo veterinarian Gordon Pirie said in a news release Friday...
2013-04-23 - San Antonio, United States.
Zoo leaders met Tuesday to decide Luckys fate in the wake of last month´s death of Boo, the zoo´s other Asian elephant. Zoo director Steve McCusker met with elephant staff and other managers and opted to keep Lucky as a sole elephant, said zoo spokeswoman Debbie Rios-Vanskike.“We´re not even going to attempt to move her anywhere or bring in another elephant at this time,†Vanskike said.
2013-04-23 - Knoxville, United States.
Whether an organization permits free or protected contact training of elephants, operant conditioning through positive reinforcement can still serve as the basis for behavioral training. I asked my colleague, Jim Naelitz, the Curator of Elephants at the Knoxville Zoo to weigh in on the topic and answer some questions.
2013-04-21 - Trichur, India.
The main features of the pooram (festival) are decorated elephants with their nettipattam (decorative golden headdress), beautifuliy crafted kolam, decorative bells and ornaments etc. Add to this is the panchavadyam, the rhythmic beating of the drum, and what would be a cacophony otherwise is turned into an organized but spontaneous symphony.
2013-04-21 - Dak Lak, Vietnam.
A group of students from the Ho Chi Minh City College of Culture and Arts recently had a frightening experience in Dak Lak Province when a tamed elephant at a tourist spot suddenly rushed at them. The pachyderm, Y Mol, only backed off after its mahout, Y Suong, jabbed it repeatedly on the head with a spur. But Suong said the big animal was not attacking the students.
2013-04-21 - Bangkok, Thailand.
A Laotian-Vietnamese wildlife trafficker and influential local people are believed to be behind the slaying of wild elephants in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi. Elephant expert Dulasit Snidwongs na Ayutthaya said the alleged Laotian wildlife trafficker who has Vietnamese nationality was Roi or Doi Jantawongsa. She, and influential people, including a Thai policeman and his Vietnamese wife, who live in the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum, worked together and were allegedly involve...
2013-04-20 - Wayanad, India. Zachariah A, Zong JC, Long SY, Latimer EM, Heaggans SY, Richman LK, Hayward GS. Source Department of Forests and Wildlife, Government of Kerala, Sultan Battery, Wayanad, India.
These results argue against the previous suggestions that this is just a disease of captive elephants and that the EEHV1 virus has crossed recently from African elephant (Loxodonta africana) hosts to Asian elephants. Instead, both the virus and the disease are evidently widespread in Asia and, despite the disease severity, Asian elephants appear to be the ancient endogenous hosts of both EEHV1A and EEHV1B.
2013-04-20 - Lusaka, Zambia.
A baby elephant who was almost hacked to death by ivory poachers is walking again thanks to an ingenious new boot and lots of TLC. The 17-month-old calf called Suni was found in Zambia almost a year ago dragging herself along by her front legs, weak and dehydrated, after suffering severe axe wounds.
2013-04-20 - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
After three months, officials still don´t know for certain what killed at least 14 Bornean elephants (Elephas maximus borneensis) in the Malaysian state of Sabah. However tests do indicate that the herd perished from a "caustic intoxicant," possibly ingested accidentally or just as easily intentionally poisoned. A distinct subspecies, Bornean elephants are the world´s smallest with a population that has fallen to around 2,000 on the island.
It was heart-wrenching looking at the picture of an elephant calf forlornly tugging at its dead mother last January at Gunung Rara. The elephant calf, who has since been given the name Kejora (after the plantation where it was found) and nicknamed Joe by his caretakers, is healthy and well – all thanks to the love and care of staff and namely one special person, his preferred caretaker, Augustine David. “Joe is active and naughty, just like any other child,†said Augustine, wh...
2013-04-20 - Pattay, Thailand.
On Thursday Morning two male elephants fought to the death at a popular Elephant Park in Na-Jomtien as workers and tourists looked on, powerless to stop the two large mammals who were reportedly fighting over a female elephant who was ready to mate. The fight was between a 30 year old elephant named as “Pai Noiâ€, who had been purchased from a park in Surin Province for the purpose of mating with the female elephant at the Khao Chi Chan Elephant Park in Na-Jomtien, and “Pai Somb...
2013-04-20 - Auckland, New Zealand.
Auckland coroner Sarn Herdson on Thursday delivered her findings into the death of Franklin Zoo and Wildlife Sanctuary´s Helen Schofield at the Tuakau zoo, south of Auckland, in April last year. Dr Schofield, 42, the zoo´s operator, director, vet and elephant programme manager, was killed by 3.7-tonne African elephant Mila when she tried to comfort the ex-circus animal. Witnesses said Mila probably got a shock from an electric fence and Dr Schofield had gone in to try to calm it down...
2013-04-20 - Nairobi, Kenya.
An abandoned baby elephant whose mother was killed by ivory poachers has been saved after an animal rescue worker spotted it from an aeroplane. Tundani, a baby male calf, was seen trudging through the vast Kenyan savannah earlier this month. Alone in the wild and still dependent on its mother’s milk, it had no chance of survival. But since being found and taken in by a Nairobi orphanage, Tundani has been rehabilitated and grown in strength.
2013-04-17 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
The owner of an elephant park in South Africa says one of his handlers was trampled to death while taking elephants out for exercise. Craig Saunders, owner of the Elephant Sanctuary near Hartbeespoort Dam, west of Pretoria, said the accident happened on Monday. Saunders says the handler slipped off the back of an elephant that was engaging in "boisterous behavior" with another elephant. He says the handler ended up in the midst of the altercation, which happened during an early morning exercise ...
2013-04-17 - Calgary, Canada.
The Calgary Zoo is close to finding a new home for its three female elephants. After reviewing nine possible locations, the zoo said it is now completing on-site visits for about half of the facilities and will make the decision public in four to six weeks. “We are identifying the best possible place for them with the best possible timeline, keeping in mind the elephants’ needs,” said general curator Jamie Dorgan, who declined to divulge the locations of the facilities except to say they a...
2013-04-17 - CISARUA, Indonesia.
A baby Sumatran elephant peeps out timidly from between the legs of its mother at an Indonesian zoo, where her birth has given a boost to the critically endangered animal. Kartini, named after the country´s most celebrated feminist, Raden Ajeng Kartini, was born on Friday under a captive breeding programme and is in good health. The 105 kilogram (231 pound) elephant was born just south of the capital Jakarta, but the animal is native to Sumatra island, where its population has halved in on...
2013-04-16 - Trivandrum, India.
After manual labourers, it is now the turn of captive elephants to have a long lunch break and siesta in order to spare them of toiling under scorching heat which Kerala is currently experiencing. The state Wildlife Department has banned parading of jumbos during festivals between 11 AM to 3.30 PM to protect them from the heat wave conditions.
2013-04-15 - Skukuza, South Africa.
Two Chinese tourists were injured when their vehicle was overturned by an elephant on the H1-7 tar road between Shingwedzi and Punda Maria in the Kruger National Park around 06:30 on Monday morning. The driver sustained serious injuries and was taken to Clinix Phalaborwa Private Hospital after being assisted by a local doctor and paramedics on the scene. The passenger only sustained minor injuries.
2013-04-15 - Udhagamandalam, India.
An eight-year-old male elephant was today electrocuted after it came into contact with an electric fence in a farm in Allurvayal, about 80 kms from here. Two people, including the farm owner, have been arrested in this connection, forest department sources said. They said the post-mortem report revealed that the elephant was electrocuted inside the farm and that its carcass was dragged outside and dumped near the fence.
2013-04-15 - Athagarh, India.
The Athagarh Wildlife Division on Sunday sealed Hardev Steel Factory, a sponge iron plant in the area, after a pregnant elephant was electrocuted on its premises. About 40-year-old female elephant strayed from its herd and walked into the steel unit late on Saturday and came in contact with a live electricity line used by the plant officials. After receiving electric shock, the jumbo meandered off about 100 metres and collapsed. It was found dead by the locals in the morning.
2013-04-11 - New York, United States. pseudocode
Authorities say the two owners of a Hudson Valley auction house have been charged with breaking state law by trying to sell stools made from elephant feet. The owners, 60-year-old Mary Jo Garlo and 70-year-old Peter Francese, were charged with illegal commercialization of wildlife.
2013-04-11 - Tupelo, United States.
Dr. Schmitt, one of five veterinarians who cares for the organization´s animals, has worked with pachyderms for decades. He said Carol, the 39-year-old Asian elephant struck by a bullet Tuesday morning, has been alert and active since the injury. "My estimation would be that she should be back to full recovery in six to eight weeks," Dr. Schmitt added.
2013-04-10 - Tupelo, United States.
Tupelo police are investigating a shooting involving an elephant with the Ringling Bro´s and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The shooting took place around 2:00 a-m at the BancorpSouth Arena. Police tell WTVA that a vehicle drove by the arena and fired at the animal.A veterinarian that travels with the circus, and is an elephant specialist is flying to Tupelo later today. The elephant is alert and moving around. The animal is expected to make a full recovery.
m US-Bundesstaat Mississippi ist ein Elefant verletzt worden. Jemand hat auf das Tier geschossen. Der Elefant stand auf dem Zirkusgelände in der Stadt Tupelo, als er in der Schulter getroffen wurde. Das Tier gehört dem "Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus".
2013-04-10 - Pinnawala, Sri Lanka.
A New Year oil anointing ceremony will be held at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on April 15 at 6.42 a.m. to anoint oil on nearly 100 elephants maintained at the facility. Sabargamuwa Chief Minister Maheepala Herath and Kanaka Herath will be chief guests. The Rambakenpura Surya Mangalyaya to mark Sinhala and Hindu New Year will follow at the near-by Bathambure playground.
2013-04-09 - Thattekkadu, India.
Forest department officials rescued a baby elephant, less than a year-and-a-half-old, from a 15-foot open well into which it fell during a nightly raid by a herd of elephants on a homestead in the Urulanthanni division of Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekkadu, on Sunday night.
2013-04-09 - Jalpaiguri, India.
An elephant was beheaded and its tusks were stolen by suspected poachers from neighbouring Assam at Buxa reserve forest in Jalpaiguri district, officials said today. "The carcass of the elephant without its tusks was found on Saturday at Dakshin Raidak area in the forest and it is the handiwork of poachers coming from Assam," Chief Wildlife Warden Nabin Chandra Bahuguna told reporters here.
2013-04-08 - Jaipur, India.
In the past two years, nine elephants have died in the Amber region. This year, two elephants have died so far. Lack of financial aid from the government, elephant owners alleged, is one of the main reasons for the deaths. Most of these elephants are used in riding, a major attraction among tourists.
2013-04-04 - Quang Binh, Vietnam.
An elephant believed to be the last one in the wilds of the north-central province of Quang Binh has been found dead with its head, legs and skin removed in a local forest. It quoted local people as saying that the forest had been home to two adult elephants – one male and one female. But, two years ago the male animal was poached for it tusks, so it was suspected that the newly-discovered carcass belonged to the female.
2013-04-03 - Lyon, France.
They once faced imminent death but have now been offered princely accommodation - two French zoo elephants who had been ordered put down are moving to a ranch belonging to Monaco´s ruling Grimaldi family. Baby, 42, and Nepal, 43, had faced an execution order since last year over a suspected tuberculosis infection deemed a threat to the health of other animals and visitors to the Tete d´Or zoo in the southeastern city of Lyon.
2013-03-26 - Jaipur, India.
The popular elephant festival this year will be celebrated with traditional gaiety at Rambagh Polo Ground on March 26 from 4 pm to 7 pm. The event is being organized by the Rajasthan tourism, district administration, Jaipur Municipal Corporation and Elephants Owners Development Society.
2013-03-25 - New York, United States.
Animal rights and environmental extremism pose a significant domestic terror threat. To date, extremists have been responsible for more than 1,800 criminal acts and more than $110 million in damages. Currently, we are investigating approximately 170 such extremist incidents across the country.
2013-03-25 - Wallingford, United States.
The circus brought 13 elephants to Wallingford that summer, but left with only a dozen. On July 1, the Meriden Record reported that the circus left at 5 a.m. on June 30, “but ‘Miss India,’ a 2,600-pound cow elephant, didn’t know it. She died several hours earlier.” According to the article, Miss India was 25 years old, the youngest and most pleasant-tempered of the “40 tons of elephants in the show.” It was believed she died of a heart attack at about 2:30 a.m. on June 30.
2013-03-25 - San Antonio, United States.
When Lucky arrived at the San Antonio Zoo, John F. Kennedy was president. Fifty-one years later, the female Asian elephant still is there, having lived at the facility through the moon landings, the Reagan and the Clinton years and the new millennium. Following the death last week of her fifth and latest enclosure-mate, Boo, zoo leaders are discussing the future of their elephant exhibit and about where Lucky will live out her days.
2013-03-25 - Phetchaburi, Thailand.
Provincial Police Region 7 officers backed by special units of the Royal Thai Army have seized a large quantity of hunting weapons as the investigation continues into the killing of a female elephant with a calf in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi. A 375-strong force drawn from the police and the army launched raids on Monday morning in four tambons in Hua Hin district, Prachuap Khiri Khan province, and Kaeng Krachan district, Phetchaburi province, Pol Lt Gen Harnpol Nitwibul, commiss...
2013-03-25 - Ea Sup, Vietnam.
The dead body of a wild elephant in a state of decay and stinking, was detected on the bank of the Ea Sup Thuong Lake in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, which is known as the land of elephants in Vietnam, on March 18. Mr. Huynh Trung Lan - Director of the Dak Lak Center for Elephant Conservation – said on March 20 that the Center coordinated with the authorities of Ea Sup District to destroy the body of the elephant, which is about 3 months old. The dead elephant was discovered on M...
2013-03-25 - Shanghai, China.
On Wednesday, customs officials said two airline passengers were arrested at Pudong International airport for attempting to smuggle rhinoceros horn and ivory items worth over 5 million yuan ($805,000) into Shanghai, according to the Shanghai Daily. A press release from Shanghai Customs said that the two passengers were carrying 11 rhinoceros horn products and over 30 items made of ivory, Global Times reports.
2013-03-24 - Washington, United States.
Elephants use their trunks not only to reach food but also to sniff and touch it. With their unparalleled sense of smell, the animals know exactly what they are going for. Vision is secondary. But as soon as an elephant picks up a stick, its nasal passages are blocked. Even when the stick is close to the food, it impedes feeling and smelling. It is like sending a blindfolded child on an Easter egg hunt. What sort of experiment, then, would do justice to the animal´s special anatomy and abi...
2013-03-23 - Washington, United States.
A 1930s-era elephant house built with individual stalls that drew a rebuke in 2006 from an animal rights group has been transformed into a wide-open new elephant community center with a soft sand floor and wading pool at the Smithsonian´s National Zoo. On Saturday, the zoo will open its new "Elephant Trails" area to the public, following a $56 million overhaul completed over the last seven years. It´s a major expansion, more than tripling the living and socializing space for the zoo&...
2013-03-22 - Kruger national park, South Africa. Ron Thomson
The truth of the matter is that we have been trying to carry too many elephants for far too long in practically every national park in Africa - for the purpose of satisfying the needs of tourism; and for satisfying the emotional and irrational needs of urban people world-wide. For this we have the animal rights brigade to thank! The reality of the matter is that wildlife management authorities throughout Africa have been criminally guilty of neglecting our wildlife management priorities for more...
2013-03-22 - Maryland, United States.
Samson, the young male elephant who was diagnosed with a deadly virus at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore late last month, has continued to recover in recent days and has "turned a very positive corner" in his treatment, according to zoo officials. "His energy levels are very close to normal again, he´s much brighter and a lot of his symptoms have either gone away or are nearly gone," Michael McClure, general curator for the zoo´s animal department, said Thursday.
2013-03-22 - Pattaya, Thailand.
Of the 28 elephants that wander the Pattaya Elephant Village, only one greets tourists and poses with pictures. And that great mammal is mastered by the area’s most-revered mahout. Ya Sukhree of Surin and his 16-year-old cow Birdy took center stage at the camp’s Thai Elephant Day ceremonies March 13.
2013-03-19 - Winston, United States.
Wildlife Safari keepers presented the animal park’s newest resident by coaxing out the 35-year-old African elephant with food. Tava moved to the animal park late last month from Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif. She joins the park’s two other African elephants, George, 32, and Alice, 43.
2013-03-19 - San Diego, United States.
While the OC and LA County fairs banned elephant rides, the 22nd District Agricultural Association Board of Directors of the Del Mar Fairgrounds maintained it´s 2011 decision to renew a contract with an elephant ride company. "The documented history with all of the animal care and regulatory agencies that license and inspect us, including USDA/Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, is evidence of outstanding care and treatment of our elephants," stated the email. "We are happy to give...
2013-03-19 - , Chad.
Poachers in Chad have slaughtered 86 elephants, including 33 pregnant females, in less than a week. The elephants were killed close to the Chad border with Cameroon and their ivory hacked out. It is the worst killing spree of elephants since early 2012 when poachers from Chad and Sudan killed as many as many as 650 elephants in a matter of weeks in Cameroon´s Bouba Ndjida National Park.
2013-03-19 - Pinnawala, Sri Lanka.
The Pinnawala Zoological Gardens, being constructed in close proximity to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, is being readied for an end 2013 opening. An extent of 44 acres has been set apart for the zoo, the first phase of which is to be completed and opened during the course of this year, at a cost of Rs 577 million. Already, the inner road systems, employees´ quarters, a public restaurant and provision of water and electricity facilities have been completed.
2013-03-14 - Melbourne, Australia.
More than 4,000 Victorians voted in the Herald Sun´s naming competition and Sanook, which means fun-loving and cheerful, was the overwhelming favourite, ahead of Seri and Chaiya. Thai consulate general Simon Wallace said the elephant keepers supplied attributes that best described Sanook and Thai words were shortlisted from their suggestions.
2013-03-14 - Thrissur, India.
Ramachandran, which stands 3.17m tall and fondly called Raman, was released by the Perumbavoor first class judicial magistrate court last week in a case related to the death of three women after he ran amok at a temple festival in Perumbavoor on January 27.
2013-03-14 - Minkebe, Gabon.
Increasing rates of poaching have caused the population of African forest elephants to decrease by 62 percent over the last 10 years, according to a study released March 4 by researchers at the Wildlife Conservation Society. The study found that packs of the animals that used to roam together in the thousands have been reduced to small pockets of a few hundred. In Minkébé National Park in Gabon, at least half of its elephant population, nearly 11,000 animals, has been killed over the past 8 ye...
2013-03-12 - Fellsmere, United States. John Lehnhardt
February was a big month for The National Elephant Center. We have reached a major milestone and continue to look ahead to a promising future with the first elephants arriving this spring. Crews have finished the first phase of construction, which saw the completion of a large barn with paddocks, a keeper work center for three large interconnected pastures providing the elephants with more than 20 acres to roam.
2013-03-12 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species or Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was organized to limit exploitation of international trade of wild animals and plants. Their latest meeting is currently underway in Bangkok, Thailand and two PLOS ONE papers provided evidence to support the enhanced protection of two threatened species – African forest elephants and oceanic whitetip sharks.
2013-03-12 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Elephant Trade Information System official Tom Milliken told the annual Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) conference in Bangkok, Thailand, that Kenya, Thailand, Uganda, Tanzania, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and China had been identified as major players in the trade.
2013-03-11 - Pinnawala, Sri Lanka.
Zoological Director Anura de Silva said that the income earned from the Pinnawala Orphanage last year was 483 million rupees. He pointed that out of this amount the sum earned from foreign tourists alone was in the region of 455 million rupees. This is a record income earned when compare with the figures in the year 2011.
2013-03-11 - Bangkok, Thailand.
The world´s top officials on illegal ivory trading say Thailand and other "gang of eight" countries must stop the business within a year or suffer severe trade sanctions. British newspaper the Guardian quoted the officials as identifying the other countries involved as source nations Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, "enabling" countries Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and destination countries Thailand and China. Tom de Meulenaer, a senior Cites official at the body´s conferen...
2013-03-11 - Niabi, United States.
Many animal-loving Quad-City children donated their savings, raised money at school or opted to forgo birthday gifts in the name of Niabi Zoo’s campaign to raise money for a larger home for elephants Sophie and Babe. Those contributions helped pay for an expanded elephant yard that is three times larger than the one the two Asian elephants have occupied for years. The larger enclosure does not satisfy size requirements by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, but it gets Niabi closer to a pos...
2013-03-11 - Chukha, Bhutan.
In what could be the first ever case to be recorded in the world, a transient solitary Asiatic elephant has been confirmed to have ascended and scaled a snow-covered mountain at an elevation of 3419 masl at Shougay La in Chukha. A team comprising of officials from Wildlife Conservation Division (WCD) and Gedu Forest Division, Chukha under Department of Forests and Park Services (DoFPS) validated the presence through evidences such as traces of dung, foot print in the snow, feeding sign and inter...
2013-03-11 - San Antonio, United States.
The San Antonio Zoo says Boo, its female Asian elephant, has died. The zoo euthanized her Sunday because of a debilitating weakness. Boo was 59 years old. The Zoo’s senior veterinarian Dr. Rob Coke and his staff performed several tests to determine the cause of Boo’s declining health. The zoo says in a press release that specific blood tests revealed abnormal white blood cells indicative of lymphoma or blood cancer.
2013-03-07 - Rayong, Thailand.
At 5:30 p.m., a report of an elephant killing a Thai female tourist was received by Pol. Lt. Capt. Thawatch Norsingha, Muangrayong police station, Rayong. Rescuers from Sawangpornkusol foundation Rayong reported that a 2-year-old elephant went insane and used its tusk to gore a Thai tourist on Maerampung beach. The victim was severely injured and died in Rayong hospital. Police officers arriving at the scene found the elephant, named Plai Boonchoo, 2 years old, was being chained on his front leg...
2013-03-07 - Washington, United States. Patti Strand
Animal rights tactics are specifically designed to give the animal rightists the opportunity and freedom to express lies, while preventing others from speaking the truth. They are designed to intimidate non-believers into fear-based tolerance of the cult of animal rights, thereby enabling the movement to amass ever-greater political and financial clout.
2013-03-06 - Higashiyama, Japan.
Two Sri Lankan elephants in Higashiyama zoo in Nagoya, Japan delivered a female baby elephant on Tuesday 29th January, being the first Asian elephant to be born at the Higashiyama zoo and the 6th Asian elephant to be born in Japan. At present there are 73 Asian elephants at 37 facilities in Japan. Of these, 8 elephants are from Sri Lanka.
2013-03-06 - Bloemfontein, South Africa.
After 23 years in captivity, an elephant at the Bloemfontein Zoo will soon be released back into the wild. Zoo officials decided to free 27-year-old Thandora after the death of her companion. She will soon be joining a herd of elephants in the Gondwana Game Reserve in the Western Cape.
2013-02-24 - Phoenix, United States.
Elephant Care Conference Tusks & Feet, Husbandry & Health Hosted by the Phoenix Zoo Featured Speakers: Dr. Murray Fowler, Alan Roocroft- Elephant Consultant, Dr. Dave Fagan- Dental Specialist Topics to be covered: Husbandry and Medical Access to Captive Elephants, Restraint in Protected Contact, The Importance of Radiographs and Radiograph Techniques, General Elephant Foot Anatomy, Habitat Design That Supports Elephant Foot Health, Elephant Foot Care Tools and Other Equipment, Elephant Foot Care...
2013-02-24 - Portland, United States.
Mike Keele, one of the nation´s leading experts on Asian elephants, this week told co-workers he plans to retire in June after 42 years at the Oregon Zoo. Keele, 59, started at the zoo in 1971. He was 18 and fresh out of Southeast Portland´s Marshall High School.
2013-02-24 - Apopa, El Salvador.
At least 12 fossil fragments, including some from a mastodon, have been discovered at a new paleontological site in El Salvador. “We dug down to the fossil-bearing strata…we have now reached some materials of great importance to paleontology,” the head of the expedition, paleontologist Daniel Aguilar, told Efe. Found up to now at the new site, where excavations began on Monday, are “12 fossil deposits,” he said.
2013-02-24 - Phuket, Thailand.
Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) officers, non-governmental organizations and legal wildlife and fauna traders attended a one day meeting in Phuket as part of the 16th Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) being held in Thailand. Members of the meeting expressed their gratitude for the honor of holding the event in Thailand, as the Kingdom attempts to buff its tarnished reputation for being an international tran...
2013-02-24 - Amboseli, Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has fitted six elephants with GPS satellite collars at the Amboseli at a cost of Sh8.8 million. The collars will monitor the animals’ movement and data used to map out migratory routes, critical corridors and seasonal variations for habitat use. Besides assisting scientists and conservation experts establish the extent and how elephants use the Amboseli landscape, the collars will also enable KWS design management intervention measures for conflict mitigation a...
2013-02-23 - Hohenwald, United States.
An inspection held in late January identified concerns by the USDA in the areas of The Sanctuary’s staffing, training and our health care delivery, which resulted in 2 citations by the USDA. Due to lack of sufficient number of trained employees, several elephants are not yet trained in procedures necessary for completion of routine husbandry tasks such as routine foot care, entering chute or allowing blood collection. (USDA 1/31/13 Inspection Report)
2013-02-23 - San Diego, United States.
This position requires extensive working experience with mammal care and management. An example of experience would be a minimum of fifteen years. Experience with mammal protected contact management, operant training and conditioning is required.Selected candidate must also have experience managing animal care personnel. An example of experience would be at least seven years.
2013-02-21 - Longleat, United Kingdom.
A planning application has been submitted to build a multi-million pound elephant sanctuary in Wiltshire. The 24 acre (10 hectare) enclosure at Longleat Safari Park is planned to house four elephants, including a rescued former circus elephant. The facility will include a heated elephant house and an outdoor space with sand pits and an ´elephant spa´.
2013-02-17 - Galt, United States.
Diagnosed with throat cancer in July of 2010, she fought her way through radiation and chemotherapy and continued to deal with side effects from treatment, including anemia. In early fall of last year came the news that cancer had returned.
2013-02-17 - San Jose, United States.
After two longtime Bay Area animal rights activists sued Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for allegedly harassing them as they tried to videotape the backstage treatment of animals, the federal jury hearing the case began deliberations in San Jose on Valentine´s Day afternoon. And it was soon clear that the jurors didn´t buy what activists Deniz Bolbol and Joseph Patrick Cuviello were selling.
2013-02-14 - Budapest, Hungary.
After 52 years, an elephant baby was born at the Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden. The baby was born on Thursday morning, February 14. The baby and mother are hermetically closed off from the outside world. The public may not view them yet, and only designated keepers and veterinarians may enter the Elephant House.
2013-02-09 - Portland, United States.
The Oregon Zoo now has the legal rights to elephants Lily and Tusko after buying them from Have Trunk Will Travel, the zoo announced Friday morning. The zoo purchased Tusko and Lily for $400,000, thus voiding its loan agreement with the California-based company, said Kim Smith, the zoo’s director. Tusko was on a breeding loan since 2005 and sired elephants Lily and Samudra.
2013-01-23 - Cambridge, United Kingdom. V. OBANDA, J. POGHON, M. YONGO, I. MULEI (Cambridge University Press)
In this paper we report the first case of fatal TB in an African elephant in the wild. The infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis was confirmed by post-mortem and histological examinations of a female sub-adult elephant aged >12 years that died in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya, while under treatment.
2013-01-16 - Indianapolis, United States.
Staffers are busy assembling 300 bones of "Fred the Mastodon." Chief Curator Ronald Richards says they believe the bones are about 13,000 years old. Richards says they´ve spent months building a steel frame upon which to mount the bones. However, he says the bones themselves are authentic. Richards says more mastodon discoveries have been found in the Indiana area than any other state. He says the exhibit will be about nine feet high and 20 feet long.
2013-01-16 - Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia agreed on Monday to collaborate on molecular genetics-based research projects to conserve the Sumatran elephant, which has been listed as a critically endangered species. The DNA-based test can estimate the population of the Sumatran elephant and determine the distribution of the species.
2013-01-16 - Sydney, Australia.
AN investigation by Taronga Zoo found that they were not at fault over an elephant attack in which one of their keepers was injured last year. Lucy Melo, 40, spent days in intensive care at Royal North Shore Hospital after the October 19 incident, in which two-year-old Asian elephant calf Pathi Harn pinned her against a bollard.
2013-01-13 - Coimbatore, India.
After completing their 48-day rejuvenation camp, 35 elephants from different temples and Mutts started their return journey today from Thekkampatti near Mettupalayam in the district. The elephant camp was organized by the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department.
2013-01-13 - Fellsmere, United States.
On schedule and under budget. That´s the word on the first phase of construction on the National Elephant Center being developed about 3 miles north of downtown Fellsmere. Located on a 225-acre site, the National Elephant Center is a collaboration of 73 accredited zoos and will provide a place for aging elephants and transient elephants being relocated between zoos. The first of up to nine elephants that could be served during the first phase of the project could arrive in the spring. When...
2013-01-13 - , India.
Elephants in areas with high rail traffic will be tagged electronically under a pilot project to protect them from trains, Minister for Environment & Forests Jayanti Natarajan has said. A tag would help forest officials keep track of an elephant’s movements and give them time to alert railway officials. A speeding driver usually has little time to react after he realises an elephant is on the tracks ahead.
2013-01-13 - Paris, France.
French President François Hollande said Wednesday he would not intervene to spare two zoo elephants diagnosed with tuberculosis. The decision by Lyon authorities to put down the two pachyderms has caused an outcry among animal rights activists.
2013-01-13 - Amboseli, Kenya.
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’S new wildlife series, Africa, has amazed viewers with its revealing insights into the continent’s animals. But this week’s episode sparked a storm when it showed the painful, lingering death of a baby elephant. Viewers demanded to know why the BBC crew didn’t step in and save the creature. Here, the series producer explains why that wasn’t possible.
2013-01-13 - Geneva, Switzerland.
Swiss border police made an unusual find when they searched a train in Basel at the weekend: an elephant tusk meticulously hidden in a Frenchman’s bag, police said on Wednesday. The man, only identified as a 40-year-old French national based in Italy, had tried to smuggle the tusk into Switzerland on a train from Frankfurt to Zurich on Sunday, border police said in a statement.
2013-01-13 - Lilongwe, Malawi.
Two Chinese national haves been arrested at Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) in Lilongwe for attempting to smuggle foreign currency and ivory, Malawi Police said on Wednesday. Police Spokesperson Rhoda Manjolo identified the two Chinese nationals as Bing Tang and MShinxin Wang. The two, who were working as engineers on the recently inaugurated Karonga/Chitipa road, had close to US$100,000 and MK130, 00, according to police.
2013-01-13 - Jhargram, India.
An elephant calf which was spotted at areas adjacent to Hatiatara forest near Jhargram was brought to the mini zoo here by forest officials. Divisional forest officer A P Singh said it was probably left behind by a herd which was seen in the area recently. Officials of Kalaikunda, Hijri and Belda under Kharagpur forest division brought the 2-year-old elephant calf to Jhargram mini zoo last evening, he said.
2013-01-13 - Pinnawala, Sri Lanka.
The blind elephant ´ Pinnawala Raja´ who was ill for a long time passed away yesterday at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage,reports said. He went blind following an attack by a hunter at Galenbindunuwewa and was taken to Pinnawala, treated for injuries and cured. Claimed to be 70 years at the time of death.
2013-01-13 - Beijing, China.
They say that the 4 elephants arrived at the end of November 2012. Two went to Taiyuan Zoo, one of which has subsequently died. The other two reportedly went to Xinjiang Tianshan Safari Park. There are apparently still another 14 elephants waiting to be exported and we have to try and stop this from happening
2013-01-13 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
The international body responsible for issuing trade permits for endangered species (CITES), has been strongly criticized for allowing the sale of four, wild caught, baby elephants from Zimbabwe to zoos in China, after one of them died from the trauma. CITES went against its own regulations, which prohibit licensing the sale of endangered species for commercial purposes, by issuing permits for the wild caught baby elephants to be flown to two zoos in mainland China in November, 2012. The wildlif...
2013-01-12 - Wraxall, United Kingdom.
At 20 acres, the attraction´s new �1.2m elephant enclosure � Elephant Eden � will be the largest of its kind in Europe, but the international reputation of the zoo is hanging on its ability to make this particular Eden blossom. Zoo owner Anthony Bush knows all too well that any new elephant enclosure would always be mired in controversy.
2013-01-11 - Geneva, Switzerland.
The Secretariat has corresponded with the CITES Management Authorities of Zimbabwe and China to ascertain the particular circumstances surrounding this trade and whether the procedures set out under Article IV of the Convention and Resolutions Conf. 10.21 and 11.20 were followed. This communication with the relevant Management Authorities is ongoing.
2013-01-10 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan police and wildlife service rangers have shot dead two poachers who had killed four elephants, authorities say, days after the slaughter of 12 animals sparked national outrage. "A team of rangers from the anti-poaching unit (of KWS) and police shot the two poachers and eight tusks were recovered," Isiolo police commander Daniel Kamanga told Reuters. They also recovered rifles and ammunition.
2013-01-09 - Tsavo, Kenya.
Kenyan park rangers are hunting for a gang of poachers who they say killed eleven elephants and hacked off their tusks, the latest large slaughter of the animals to be reported amid insatiable global demand for ivory. The family of elephants were killed on Saturday in Tsavo East National Park in southern Kenya, according to a statement Monday from the Kenya Wildlife Service. The animals´ carcasses all had bullet wounds and their tusks had been chopped off, the agency said.
2013-01-09 - ROURKELA, India.
Wildlife experts on Monday tranquilized the rogue tusker, which had wrecked havoc in the region and killed at least six persons in the last 12 days, in Sundargarh district. The tusker has been tied to a tree in the forest. Its tusks have been trimmed, as a preventive measure.
2013-01-09 - TAMPA, United States.
The African elephant birth is the second in the zoo´s history, and the first born in Tampa from the rescued herd. The newborn, sired by Sdudla, a Swaziland bull, is significant to the population because the calf introduces new DNA into the gene pool of elephants managed in North America, which averages three or four births each year.
2013-01-08 - Vienna, United States.
The ASPCA sued Ringling Brothers, but ended up paying the circus $9.3 million to help cover its legal bills. Tom Rider, the star witness for the plaintiffs, proved to be problematic. Even though he referred to the elephants as his “girls†and claimed to have a “personal†and “emotional†attachment to them on par with the one he had for his two daughters and his grandson, he was unable to identify the elephants in videotaped footage.
2013-01-07 - Paris, France.
Former French model and actress Brigitte Bardot is taking her animal activism to the next level by threatening to leave her home country and seek citizenship in Russia if two sick circus elephants are euthanized. According to the Huffington Post, France is scheduling to kill two 42-year-old elephants, named Baby and Nepal, who are suffering from tuberculosis at a Lyon zoo. Well, Bardot is not pleased.
2013-01-07 - New Delhi, India.
The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) is planning to tell the Railway Board to ensure that trains slow down sufficiently in elephant corridors. This comes in the wake of Coromondel Express mowing down five elephants and a calf at Ganjam district on December 30 night. The train was running at 110 kmph when the accident happened.
2013-01-01 - Bhubaneshwar, India.
A passenger train has ploughed into and killed five elephants of a herd crossing railroad tracks in eastern India. RN Mohapatra, a railways spokesman, said the train struck the animals early on Sunday, in the Rambha forest area, about 110 miles south of Bhubaneshwar, the capital of the state of Orissa.
