2021-03-28 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Tinashe Farawo
ZIMBABWE has a proud history of successful elephant conservation and is one of the key elephant range states and home to the second-largest elephant population after Botswana. The country has an elephant population estimated at 84 000, according to the last census conducted in 2014. ZimParks has been unable to generate enough resources to support its conservation operations.
2020-09-27 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
We are battling an over population of this species, against an ecological carrying capacity of around 15 000 we are talking of between 45 000 and 53 000 between Hwange-Matesti block. For years this has been the problem and the threat now is vegetation which is their food and habitat loss for these and other animals in the park,
2020-09-04 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Freddy Mambara
The mass deaths of elephants in Botswana and Zimbabwe could be the result of a bacteria linked to overpopulation, preliminary investigations show. Botswana has recorded over 400 unexplained elephant deaths over the past month while the figure for Zimbabwe is 22. In both cases, poaching has been ruled out since the carcasses were found with their tusks intact. Poisoning has also been discounted in what has become a multinational investigation that involves researchers from the two affected states...
2020-09-02 - Harare, Zimbabwe. KATE DENNETT
The number of elephant carcasses mysteriously found near a major game park in Zimbabwe has doubled to 22. It is believed that the elephants were killed by a bacterial infection after 11 carcasses were initially discovered on Friday in Pandamasue Forest, between wildlife sanctuary Hwange National Park and Victoria Falls.
2016-11-29 - Mana Pools, Zimbabwe.
A team of veterinarians saved a juvenile bull elephant caught in a poacher´s wire snare with surgery in the field, in Zimbabwe, on November 21. The young animal, named Little Nyakasanga, is seen standing up after undergoing surgery in Mana Pools. The operation was performed by veterinarians from Aware Trust Zimbabwe, a conservation trust.
2016-10-29 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s battle against the ban on ivory trade is not yet over. It might go ahead and sell its ivory in January next year. The country has 90 days to enter a reservation against the decision made under Cites – the international treaty drawn up in 1973 to protect wildlife from exploitation – to ban both international and domestic trade in ivory. Zimbabwe has about 96,000 tonnes of ivory, valued at about $10 billion (Dh36.7bn). It is in desperate need of money...
2016-04-30 - Chiredzi, Zimbabwe.
ABOUT 300 elephants and some lions could be culled — reduced in population through selective slaughter — in the Save Valley Conservancy amid reports that the large number of animals at the conservancy in the South East Lowveld of Zimbabwe is destroying the area’s biodiversity in the wake of the El Nino-induced drought that has hit the country.
2015-11-12 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe´s environment minister on Thursday blamed the poisoning of at least 71 elephants in recent months on disgruntled game rangers and local communities who do not benefit from wildlife revenues. Last week, police arrested three journalists at a weekly newspaper over a story implicating parks rangers, police chiefs and an Asian businessman in the poisoning of the elephants.
2015-11-05 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has earned US$1 million from the sale of 100 elephants to China early this year, state radio reported Thursday.According to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, the baby elephants were sold to the Asian country using guidelines of the International Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species. It said the proceeds from the sale have been channelled towards conservation programmes being undertaken by the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
2015-04-15 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Adam Cruise
Zimbabwe’s elephant population is so large that it has reached double the country’s carrying capacity, claims Zimbabwe’s minister for the environment, water and climate, Saviour Kasukuwere, who believes that his country’s recent capture and selling off young wild elephants, to zoos and private collections to the middle and far-east are necessary in order to control the exploding population. Kasukuwere provided no scientific evidence to support his claims regarding ca...
2015-04-11 - Chipinge, Zimbabwe. Manicaland Correspondent
A CHIPINGE man was trampled to death by an elephant whilst guarding his field, recently. The incident happened at Mahenye village under Chief Garahwa area. Chipinge district police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Blessing Kadzuraumera, confirmed the death of Julius Sithole, 48.
2015-04-02 - Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.
Over the last few months, there have been ongoing and alarming reports about a group of elephant calves held captive in enclosures in the Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe’s flagship wilderness area.Inside sources, people on the ground in the park, have said that these animals were snatched from their wild herds, rounded up in a facility, and are now being readied for export to unconfirmed destinations around the world.
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.
2013-11-01 - 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.
2013-10-25 - 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.
2013-10-24 - 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.
2013-10-17 - 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.
2013-10-15 - 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.
2013-09-08 - 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...
2013-01-13 - 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...
2012-12-20 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
ZIMBABWE is sending baby elephants from its drought-ravaged Hwange region to two Chinese zoos under a covert deal struck by president Robert Mugabe, conservationists warn. Four elephants left Harare late last month for Dubai en route to Beijing after a 12-hour journey by road from Hwange to Harare, said the head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, Johnny Rodrigues. Up to 14 more elephants will leave in January, activists fear.
2012-12-05 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Approximately 190 elephants in Zimbabwe have been listed dead due to water shortage this year, according to wildlife authorities. The country´s Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said that the elephants died during the dry season at the Hwange National Park, the largest in the country. Last year, the park lost 80 elephants and 25 buffaloes as a result of high temperatures and water shortage, it said.
2012-09-16 - Mana Pools, Zimbabwe.
This unusual behaviour has rarely been photographed but one lucky early-bird photographer caught three elephant as the sun rose over the UNESCO World Heritage site of Mana Pools. his behaviour, normally attributed to giraffes, has made the Mana Pools elephants famous but it has rarely been seen on camera. The group of elephants was composed of two young bulls called ´askari´, which protect the older bull who teaches them the skills they need to reach the leaves in top of the t...
2012-08-29 - Hwange, Zimbabwe.
Presidential elephants and other wild animals in the Hwange Safari Lodge are likely to die from thirst as most of the drinking pans have run out of water. Wildlife conservationists have accused Hwange Safari lodge management of neglecting the watering pans in the area where the special presidential herd roams.
2012-05-29 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Wildlife authorities say rangers shot dead a poacher in northwestern Zimbabwe and seized 28 elephant tusks from a bush hideout. The National Parks and Wildlife Authority said in a statement Tuesday the poacher, aged about 50, died in an exchange of fire over the weekend in Binga near the border with Zambia.
2012-01-25 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has missed out on accessing money for elephant conservation programmes, due to its non-participation in the recent CITES committee meeting in South Africa. Six African states were allocated money for conservation initiatives at the meeting in December 2011. The CITES fund was launched in August 2011 and has received approximately $250,000 in contributions from Germany, France and the Netherlands.
2011-11-25 - Wankie, Zimbabwe.
Near the waterhole alone, four calves elephants lie dead, while scores of other elephants continue with their struggle to drink, each concentrating on his or her own survival. Close to the drinking hole, a mother elephant battles to resuscitate its dying calf. It uses its foreleg to try and make the baby stand on its feet again but the baby collapses to the ground, headlong.
2011-11-25 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Approximately 200 elephants have died of thirst in Zimbabwe´s Hwange National Park due to searing heat and chronic water shortages, a local conservationist said Thursday. Zimbabwe, which, as a southern hemisphere nation, is currently in the middle of summer, has been experiencing record-high temperatures since October.
2011-11-25 - Tuli, Zimbabwe.
Ling Dobson told the Cape Times that her husband Mike, 67, had been killed at the weekend, in a "once-in-a-lifetime freak accident" on a private game farm belonging to close friends on the Shashe River in the Thuli block region in Northern Botswana. Botswana police confirmed that he had been gored by an elephant tusk "with great force".
2011-11-12 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe has donated three elephants to China in appreciation for that country’s assistance to his wife’s orphanage project. The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force says it does not know where the elephants came from and is concerned that they may not survive the long, traumatic journey to China.
2011-10-01 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Escalating land invasions in Zimbabwe are taking their toll on the country’s already decimated wildlife and a herd of 70 elephants on the Chiredzi River Conservancy (CRC) in the south eastern lowveld, close to Gona re Zhou National Park, is under serious threat. The nucleus of this remarkable herd originated from Gona re Zhou, (place of the elephant) National Park’s conservation programme initiated in 1991/2 when there was an exceptionally severe drought in the lowveld and their elephants we...
2011-09-19 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe´s wildlife authority says poachers have begun poisoning watering holes, killing nine elephants and at least five lions in recent weeks. Spokeswoman Caroline Washaya-Moyo of Zimbabwe´s wildlife department says elephants´ ivory tusks were removed but lions´ heads and skins were left intact.
2011-07-31 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
The Chinese, political decisions and a growing black market are being blamed for the rise in elephant and rhino poaching. Last week 10 people were arrested for poaching and unlawful possession of elephant tusks and rhino horns that they were suspected of selling to buyers from China.
2011-04-21 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Wongai Zhangazha
PRISONERS in the country’s overcrowded jails may soon be fed with elephant meat if a proposal by the Justice and Legal Affairs ministry to curb the shortage of protein in prisons is accepted by government. The ministry is proposing the culling of the “over-populated” elephants and supply the meat to prisons where inmates have had meals without meat for years. The country’s prison dietary requirements are said to be far below international standards and what is required by the law. Inmate...
2011-04-19 - Harrare, Zimbabwe.
Four Harare men were last week arrested at Avondale shopping centre for possession of 15 elephant tusks valued at US$8 500. The four suspected poachers were arrested last week on Thursday following a tip off to the police by the people who suspected the men of possessing weapons. Police spokesperson, Inspector James Sabau said the four, 42-year old George Chatanga, 37-year old Shepherd Naite, 31-year old Farai Dzvairo, all from Chitungwiza, and 47-year old Glen Norah-based Kenneth Sibanda, were ...
2011-03-30 - Binga, Zimbabwe.
PARKS rangers have shot and killed two poachers in Chizarira National Park in Binga. The rangers recovered three .303 rifles, 76 rounds of ammunition, a pair of elephant tusks and fresh elephant meat in the night operation that saw some of the poachers fleeing. Bodies of the unidentified poachers, suspected to have come from the Sinamuchembo communal lands in Gokwe, have since been taken to a mortuary at Binga Rural District Hospital.
2011-03-28 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
An American woman has slaughtered an elephant with a bow and arrow... to win a bet. Teressa Groenewald-Hagerman was so proud, she posted pictures on the internet showing her beaming beside her kill in Zimbabwe. The 39-year-old huntress said she crept into a herd of 37 elephants, knelt down, and shot the grand creature from just 12 yards. It staggered 500 yards before it collapsed, then she left it to die overnight. Ms Groenewald-Hagerman is the first woman known to have killed an elephant with a...
2010-10-15 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force has announced the death of South African businessman, Don Hornsby an avid conservationist after an attack by an elephant at Matusadona in Kariba. In a statement released today Johnny Rodrigues, Chairman for Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said ; It is with deep regret that we announce that South African businessman, Don Hornsby was killed by an elephant in Kariba on October 13th 2010.
2010-09-17 - Shangani, Zimbabwe. Isdore Guvamombe
The fire was moving at an estimated speed of 50km per hour and mysteriously cornered and engulfed 20 elephant bulls. One of the elephants died on the spot, while National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority were forced to kill 19 others after observing that they had been burnt beyond treatable levels.
2010-09-07 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Isdore Guvamombe
ZIMBABWE which by 2009 had a teeming elephant population of about 100 000 against a holding capacity of 56 000 has embarked on an expensive aerial large mammals body count in the Zambezi Valley to determine population status and living trends for large mammals.
2010-09-01 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Widespread summer bush fires in Zimbabwe killed 10 people and 10 elephants recently, police said Wednesday. -Within the past two weeks, we have about six people who have perished during veld fires. Ten elephants were burnt to death at Derbyshire Ranch in Shangani in Matabeleland South Province,- police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka said. An environmental agency said the fires, most of them started deliberately, had also destroyed almost a million hectares of land.
2010-05-24 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
About 400 kilogrammes of ivory and rhino horn have been seized from poachers in six southern African countries – including Zimbabwe – under a transboundary operation coordinated by the international police organisation (Interpol), the body announced last week. The France-based organisation said a transnational operation targeting wildlife crime across southern Africa resulted in the location and closure of an illegal ivory factory, the seizure of elephant tasks and rhino horn with a market v...
2010-05-16 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Officials in Zimbabwes National Parks and Wildlife Department have moved to defend President Robert Mugabe from a directive to send a Noahs Ark collection of wild animals to North Korean dictator Kim Jong II as a special gift. Last week it was reported Mugabe ordered that two of every animal species in the Hwange National Park be sent to North Korea.
2010-03-26 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
The 175-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has given Zimbabwe the green light to continue trading in ivory despite attempts by some African countries to have a 20-year moratorium, a government official told ZimOnline on Thursday.
2010-03-16 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
In Zimbabwe the death of a bull elephant is a blessing. Starving villagers are able to use every piece of the elephant for food, including the trunk and ears. Even the bones are used as they are boiled for soup; within 24 hours there is nothing left of what was a 13ft Elephant.
2009-11-16 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
An international crime syndicate is behind an escalation in poaching in Zimbabwe which has slaughtered 65 elephants and 30 rhinos this year, a wildlife official said Monday. "From January to October this year we have lost 65 elephants through poaching," Vitalis Chadenga, operations director of the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority told journalists. "In the same period we have lost 24 black and six white rhinos. It is true that we have witnessed an escalation of poaching nationwide, ...
2009-10-09 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Rhishja Larson
After a gun battle in Charara National park near Sanyati Gorge, park rangers shot and killed an elephant poacher, arrested three accomplices - and recovered an AK-47 rifle. While out on patrol, two rangers stationed at Charara Safari Area and Tashinga National Parks came across the carcass of an elephant, who appeared to have been recently killed. As their regular rounds did not turn up any suspects, they decided to wait in ambush near the elephant’s carcass.
2009-08-15 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Nqobani Ndlovu
A white South African has been arrested in southern Zimbabwe facing charges of illegal poaching that is costing the southern African nation millions of foreign currency in wildlife tourism revenue. Jan Johannes George Roos, the South African, is languishing at Beitbridge prison at a border town separating Zimbabwe and that neighbouring country following his arrest on Wednesday.
2009-08-12 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Chinese authorities have promised death or lengthy jail terms to Zimbabweans caught smuggling ivory and drugs into the country. A notice posted outside the Chinese embassy here reads, “It has been observed that Zimbabweans knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or unwillingly have been involved in trafficking prohibited substances into China. According to Chinese law, illegal buying or selling of, importing and exporting of the following products is a serious offence that attracts a death penalty...
2009-02-23 - Hwange, Zimbabwe. Fortunate Muzarabani
MARAUDING elephants have left a trail of destruction on what promised to be a bumper harvest for villagers in c, it has been learnt. Villagers who spoke to Sunday News last Monday indicated that the worst destruction of crops was witnessed in Bhayebaye, Masuswini, Mlagisa, Somkhaya and other surrounding villages in Ward 4 under Chief Mathupula.
2009-01-18 - , Zimbabwe. Daniel Foggo
BRITISH hunters, including a prominent Harley Street surgeon, have been paying the Zimbabwean authorities thousands of pounds each to take part in a mass elephant cull. They are among groups of hunters who have been permitted to track and kill whole herds, including their calves, before taking photographs of themselves with the carcasses. Rumours that Zimbabwe was culling its population of 80,000-100,000 elephants have been circulating for some time, but definitive proof that foreigners have bee...
2009-01-18 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Daniel Foggo
2009-01-10 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
A wildlife campaigner in Zimbabwe says members of the army are being given elephant meat for their rations because of a shortage of beef. A spokesman for the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, Jonny Rodrigues, says army contracts to supply beef have been cancelled, because it is easier and cheaper to provide elephant.
2008-12-18 - Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Nora Schultz
Are elephants the bullies of the national parks? Should they be culled to give other creatures a look-in at the water hole? These are questions that were asked recently when figures showed that, as some elephant populations have increased due to reduced poaching and creation of artificial water holes, other herbivore species have declined. But when Marion Valeix, then at the National Centre for Scientific Research in Beauvoir-sur-Niort, France, set out to discover if the elephants of Hwange Nati...
2008-10-12 - Victoria falls, Zimbabwe. Elephant Experience
Our Sophie gave birth to huge bouncing baby bull, last Thurday 9th October. He is strong healthy and Sophie has plenty of milk. As this is her third calf in semi-captivity. The Bull that mated with her was a wild bull, which had everyone running for two weeks, so its a wild and new bloodline. The trainers have named him JUMBO after the late sweet Sondelani Jumbo.
2008-08-27 - New Ziana, Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said on Sunday it has not yet started implementing any of the 2005 recommendations of the Sadc Taskforce on strategies to control the population of elephants in the region. Director-General Dr Morris Mutsambiwa said the Government had not yet taken a position on any of the four methods that Sadc countries were given the greenlight to adopt in 2005. "Although culling is a recognised method of controlling populations, we have not started impleme...
2008-08-18 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Violet Gonda
Zimbabwe’s once thriving wildlife and tourism industry is under serious threat as authorities continue to kill elephants and other animals at an alarming rate. Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman for the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management has embarked on what they are calling an "Elephant Population Management Programme". But the authorities are deliberately targeting elephants with the largest tusks, which has nothing to do with pop...
2008-04-24 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Lance Guma
The Zimbabwean newspaper claims that Robert Mugabe's regime has illegally sold US$1 million of ivory as part payment for a shipment of ammunition, grenades and mortars from China. The paper claims that Poly Technologies, a state owned arms manufacturer received payment for the arms on the 1st April, when information began filtering through that Zanu PF and Robert Mugabe had lost the elections. The controversial 'An Yue Jiang' ship is said to contain weapons purchased via that deal.
2008-04-23 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe's military junta has illegally sold more than eight tonnes of ivory to China as part payment for a consignment of arms supplies that provoked an international storm this week. Officials sources said stocks of ivory at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management were used to pay for weapons aboard the Chinese ship - 'An Yue Jiang' - that has been turned away from Durban waters but was now heading for the port of Luanda in Angola.
2008-04-20 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
WILD animals are wrecking havoc in some parts of Matebeleland North destroying crops further compounding the food deficit situation in the province. In an interview with Sunday Business on Friday, Matabeleland North’s Agricultural and Technical Services’ provincial officer, Mr Dumisani Nyoni said his department has received reports of elephants and warthogs destroying crops in some districts. “We have received some reports that elephants are destroying some crops in areas such as Hwange an...
2008-04-15 - Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.
Marauding elephants that escaped from the Hwange National Park, an animal sanctuary in rural southwestern Zimbabwe, are destroying any hopes among peasant farmers of a moderately successful harvest. Arid climatic conditions are expected to blight agricultural production in the southwest this year, according to a recent forecast by the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), while Zimbabwe's political and economic turmoil is also affecting both food production and food security. Elephants ...
2008-01-19 - Charara, Zimbabwe. Rebekah Price
Animals and alcohol do not mix. One would think this is a no-brainer. One does not normally drink a six-pack and get on a horse; but, there are those who do. The person is usually hurt and the animal is confused and frustrated. The lives of the person and the horse are placed in imminent danger as the drunk rider tries to exert control over 1200 pounds of sober muscle and brain. Where in our society is this acceptable behavior?
2008-01-12 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Gavin du Venage
ZIMBABWE plans to kill hundreds of elephants and turn them into biltong, a local dried meat snack usually enjoyed with a beer in front of a game of soccer or rugby, officials here have said. "It is in our plans. We plan to start this year," Zimbabwe National Parks director-general Morris Mtsambiwa was quoted as saying in the state-owned Herald newspaper. At least 500 elephants will be shot, skinned and their flesh dried and processed. Biltong is made by cutting raw flesh into thin strips, which ...
2008-01-08 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Tusker, a towering 50-year-old bull elephant who had become a favorite for safari camp visitors, was shot dead after New Year's party-goers provoked the animal into trampling several cars, conservationists said Monday. Tusker was executed Sunday by rangers at the Charara camp on the shores of Lake Kariba, 230 miles northwest of Harare, parks officials and independent Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said. Rangers said that Tusker had become a danger to people and was classified as a "problem ani...
2008-01-04 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
It is estimated that there are more than 100,000 elephants in Zimbabwe, a figure three times more than the carrying capacity of the protected areas. The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe plans to produce biltong from elephant meat to sell in retail outlets throughout the country "as part of sustainable utilisation of the animals," the Herald online said. Parks director-general Dr Morris Mtsambiwa said the project began last year after the Ministry of...
2007-12-18 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
There is such an acute food shortage in Zimbabwe that people are resorting to shooting elephants to stave off the hunger. Johnny Rodrigues, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said game poaching had increased in the past three months. A recent report noted that 900 elephant carcasses had been seen from the air over Chisarira Park in the northwestern region of Zimbabwe.
2007-11-18 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Myrtle Ryan and Peta Thornycroft
This week three Zimbabwean elephants proved that rhinos and elephants can form close bonds, and that elephants do mourn. Gruesome pictures flashed around the world this week of the three black rhinos shot by members of the Zimbabwe Army, dressed in camouflage uniforms and carrying AK-47 rifles. Each rhino had had a guard, but they were assaulted during the attack at Imire Safari Ranch in Wedza last week.
2007-10-10 - BERHAMPUR, Zimbabwe.
The elephantine row between Andhra Pradesh and Orissa is close to a solution but authorities hope that a herd of pachyderms which strayed would return to their natural habitat on their own without having to use any force. An action plan to trans-locate the herd finalised by a high-level central expert committee suggested that Andhra Pradesh wait for at least a fortnight before taking any steps to drive away the six wild elephants back to their natural habitat at Lakhary Valley Elephant Reserve i...
2007-09-03 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
THE Parks and Wildlife Management Authority is spending about US$25 000 per month on water game supply for elephants alone at the Hwange National Park as the species' population increases, it has been learnt. Hwange National Park, which is the third biggest in Africa, is the only park in the region providing artificial water supplies. According to experts, neighbouring Botswana does not provide water points at all. In an interview on Friday, Parks director general Dr Morris Mtsambiwa confirmed t...
2007-08-08 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
A stalemate over the reserve price on more than two tonnes of ivory which was supposed to go under the hammer last week resulted in the auction being abandoned after the buyers decided not to take the available stocks. Those at the auction said buyers did not like the high reserve price, a minimum price, set by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. They said up to May the Parks Authority was selling a kilogramme for $225 000 and the price went up to $1 million in June.
2007-08-04 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Representatives of four Southern African countries who were given the nod to conduct a one-off sale of stocked ivory during the 14th Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species conference will next week converge in Pretoria, South Africa, to map modalities on how the sales will be conducted. The countries: Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, won the right to conduct a one-off sale mainly to Japan during the Cites meeting that was held in The Hague, the Netherlands, in June ...
2007-07-12 - Harare, Zimbabwe. ITAI DZAMARA
Three government ministers are involved in the illicit hunting of elephants and dealing in ivory through their concessions, investigations by The Zimbabwean have revealed. Minister of Policy Implementation, Webster Shamu dismissed as untrue allegations that the Hunting Safari he allegedly co-owns with Charles Davy was involved in illicit deals. Another minister, Obert Mpofu, of Industry and International Trade, also said that he wasn't involved in any illicit deals after highly-placed sources al...
2007-06-26 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Tererai Karimakwenda
Over the last few years Robert Mugabe has pursued the so-called Look East policy which increased trade between Zimbabwe and China. It has now been revealed that Interpol and the wildlife watchdog CITES are looking in all directions for evidence of illegal deals between the two countries, which involved tons of ivory and military hardware. According to The Zimbabwean newspaper this week, Zimbabwe has been secretly bartering tons of ivory with China in exchange for rifles, bullets, anti-riot gear ...
2007-05-24 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is considering culling a booming elephant population after a proposal is drawn up by Mali and Kenya that bans ivory trade. Mali and Kenya proposed to lobby for a complete ban on the ivory trade for 20 years at the upcoming Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) summit. "We will be in a dilemma if that proposal by Kenya and Mali goes through," Edward Mbewe, spokesman for the parks and wildlife management authority said on Wednesday.
2007-05-08 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
An elephant trampled a 48-year-old man to death in western Zimbabwe while his wife and son looked on helplessly, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday. The attack occurred on Sunday near Mushumbi Pools in Zimbabwe's wildlife-rich Zambezi Valley, days after a buffalo gored three people to death in the same area. The man, Mendas Muzerengeni, was killed when he and his 17-year-old son tried to scare some elephants away from their fields, police spokesperson Michael Munyikwa was ...
2007-04-19 - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Jaime Ashworth
The Zimbabwe National SPCA is continuing its efforts to gain access to nine elephants being 'trained' by the travel company Shearwater Adventures. The nine are the survivors of a group of 12 captured from herds in the Hwange National Park in November 2006. In a January 2007 press release, Shearwater insisted that the ZNSPCA's claims that the elephants were being mistreated were untrue, claiming that their training methods were 'willing relationship[s] based on mutual trust and respect'.
2007-04-17 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
The Southern African Development Community's (SADC) parks authorities are to meet to discuss a proposed ban on international trade in ivory. Parks and wildlife management authority heads from the region will meet in Botswana from Wednesday to Friday, to discuss Kenya's proposals for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
2007-04-06 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
THE Parks and Wildlife Management Authority this week lifted the temporary suspension on ivory sales and sold a tonne worth $225 million on Monday. The ban, effected last year, was meant to scrutinise operations of ivory dealers ahead of an inspection by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
2007-03-27 - Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
Two British tourists killed by a charging elephant in western Zimbabwe have been named. They were Veronica Parker and her 10-year-old daughter Charlotte, the British Foreign Office said. In Zimbabwe, the state Herald newspaper had incorrectly reported the family name as Poker. The 47-year-old woman's husband escaped unhurt, the Herald reported. Local tour guide Andy Privella, who had fired a shot at the elephant, is in hospital with serious injuries. He was believed to have wounded the elephant ...
2007-03-27 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe plans to cull its growing elephant population to limit damage to the environment and reduce conflict with humans, state media said on Tuesday. The reports came after a rampaging elephant trampled to death a British woman and her 10-year-old daughter on Saturday in the Hwange national part in northwest Zimbabwe.
2007-03-26 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Two British tourists were killed and another seriously injured by a rampaging elephant in Zimbabwes Hwange National Park, reports said Monday. The attack by the elephant on the group of tourists happened Saturday while they were on safari in the park with a tour guide, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported. The injured person was taken to hospital in Zimbabwes southern city of Bulawayo, the paper said.
2007-03-22 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
ZIMBABWE is sitting on more than 12 tonnes of ivory running into several billions of dollars, The Herald Business gathered this week. This follows the suspension of ivory trade in July last year by the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority pending the establishment of a monitoring system to oversee trade in the commodity.
2007-03-21 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries in the region whose elephant population is ballooning to unsustainable levels, owing to its sound wildlife management and conservation policies. This has presented headaches to the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, which has to juggle the numbers of jumbos against the damage to the environment. Zimbabwe should be allowed to cull its elephants to manageable levels and sell the ivory under strictly monitored supervised programmes.
2007-03-19 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
KENYA and Mali have published proposals for a ban on ivory trade in Zimbabwe, which they are expected to present at this year's Cites meeting in The Netherlands in June. The proposal, besides being selective and hard against Zimbabwe solely, also states that South Africa, Botswana and Namibia should stop trading in ivory but that hunters in those three countries should be allowed to take their trophies.
2007-03-15 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
OVER 110 000 elephants now inhabit Zimbabwe and the number is growing 5 percent annually although there is space and food for only 47 000. The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority did an elephant survey late last year at a cost of US$105 000. The money provided by the World Wildlife Fund. Up to 90 000 elephants were counted outside Gonarezhou National Park and it was established that the park held more than 20 000, said Parks spokesperson Retired Major Edward Mbewe yesterday. This led to the ...
2007-03-11 - Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. Eleanor Momberg
Zimbabwe's national parks and wildlife management authority is killing elephants near Lake Kariba to feed to crocodiles at a parks-owned commercial crocodile farm. Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), says the guardians of Zimbabwe's national parks have entered the lucrative crocodile breeding business and have allocated 50 to 100 elephants a year to feed the crocodiles. "They have shot three already. We are looking into allegations that other crocodile ...
2007-02-18 - Kariba, Zimbabwe. Johnny Rodrigues, Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force
We have just received a very sad report from a gentleman named Dave who resides in the UK. In October last year, Dave came to Zimbabwe to do a walk through the bush from Kariba to Binga. On the Eastern shoreline of the Sengwa basin, Dave came across 2 baby elephants that appeared to have been abandoned. One was very thin but alive and the other had been speared and butchered to death.
2007-01-09 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has launched a massive security operation in its key nature reserves after poachers killed 17 elephants and two rare black rhinos during the holiday season, said state radio on Tuesday. The country's security forces and extra rangers have teamed up in a joint operation dubbed Operation Stronghold in the wildlife-rich northern Zambezi Valley and in the Hwange and Chizarira national parks, said the report.
2007-01-06 - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. topi lyambila
Last week we carried a report from the National Council of SPCAs saying wild elephants in Zimbabwe are being captured and exploited for commercial purposes. Shearwater Adventures have denied the allegations and here appended is their response;
2006-12-19 - Chirundu, Zimbabwe. Jani Meyer
Zimbawean elephants are under threat - not only from poachers, but also from game rangers who "execute" rogue animals. In the past few weeks at least two animals were shot dead, in full view of visitors, by National Park staff at Chirundu in the Zambezi Valley.
2006-12-14 - SANYATI, Zimbabwe. Wallace Mawire
Villagers in some parts of Sanyati District are living in fear of elephants. Villagers interviewed said elephants, which probably escaped from nearby game reserves, posed a danger to their lives. Two women from Dubugwani said nearby game reserves were not fenced. A young man from Chenjiri said he saw a herd of elephants in the area recently.
2006-11-24 - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Johnny Rodrigues, Chairman for Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force
The news of the capture of 12 juvenile elephants by Shearwater Adventures from Hwange National Park is fairly widespread by now. I have just returned from a 3 week trip and was given the distressing information while I was out of the country. I released the story to the media while I was away and now that I am back, I would like to state that the ZCTF is disgusted and disappointed that this cruel practice has been allowed to take place.
2006-11-12 - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Mike Cadman
During the capture operation in the 14 000 square kilometre Hwange National Park, game-capture specialists working for Victoria Falls-based tourism operator Shearwater Adventures isolated 12 elephants from family groups, darted the animals and removed them to holding bomas to be trained for use in captivity.
2006-10-18 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwean security forces have seized ivory from suspected Zambian poachers who killed eleven elephants in northern Zimbabwe, a newspaper reported Wednesday. Two of the suspected poachers were arrested in the Chizarira National Park, and a rifle and 22 tusks of ivory worth 54 million Zimbabwe dollars (216,000 US dollars) were confiscated, said the state-controlled Herald.
2006-10-18 - HARARE, Zimbabwe. ANGUS SHAW
The economic chaos engulfing Zimbabwe is decimating the country's once teeming wildlife, according to a conservation group, poorly trained rangers cruelly kill the animals they are meant to protect. In one case, rangers pumped at least 40 bullets into an elephant suspected of encroaching on a settlement in remote northwestern Zimbabwe, said the independent Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force in a report released Tuesday.
2006-10-10 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Kudzanayi Shumba
Precious Nyoni, 35, resident of the Gokwe district in southwest Zimbabwe, surveys his garden. The vegetable and sugarcane stalks are flattened, and half-eaten crops lie all around. This was his only livelihood, and in one night, it is all gone. "They are too many and I believe they should be reduced through a culling exercise. Just recently, elephants destroyed 50 hectares of maize crop belonging to some villagers. It means that all of us need food assistance even before we have harvested," Nyon...
2006-09-28 - Hwange, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's wildlife continues to suffer terrible atrocities. Snaring is reported to be rife, with the country's larger, stronger animals (such as the elephant) sometimes managing to break free of these deadly wire traps, and later seen with hideous wire injuries. Conservationists do what they can, destroying snares, immobilising and treating suffering animals, arresting poachers and pushing for harsher penalties for their criminal acts.
2006-09-08 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
One of Southern Africa's most noted conservationists, Clem Coetzee, died after suffering a heart attack at his farm in southern Zimbabwe, family members and friends said on Thursday. He was 67. Coetzee developed methods to move elephants in family groups by darting them with sedatives from a helicopter and lifting them via heavy-duty rubber conveyor belts into truck containers or freight train cars, where they were revived and fed and given water for journeys of hundreds of kilometres.
2006-07-24 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has suspended the sale of its stockpile of nine tonnes of ivory to dealers for as long as no proper monitoring system has been put in place, officials said on Monday. The halt in ivory trade on the southern African countrys local market will remain in place until a committee finishes drafting a working document to be used as a guide, based on international regulations, said National Parks spokesperson Edward Mbewe.
2006-05-20 - Beitbridge, Zimbabwe.
Police in Beitbridge have arrested two South African immigration officials and a Zimbabwean for attempting to smuggle 100 pieces of ivory and 400 bricks of cigarettes worth several billions of dollars. A South African Home Affairs Ministry official truck was used to smuggle the contraband. Following interception of the truck, the police arrested two South African immigration officers and a Zimbabwean for allegedly conniving to smuggle the contraband through Beitbridge using the official truck.
2005-12-27 - Hwange, Zimbabwe.
Life-giving rains have brought temporary relief to the thirst-crazed animals of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe after a fierce drought which left the park littered with shrunken, rotting corpses. Pinetown conservationist John Davison, who has just returned from the park, said many dams and water pans were full to the brim again after nearly 230 mm of rain fell in less than a month.
2005-12-14 - HARARE, Zimbabwe.
Crocodiles dragged away and ate 13 people -- including children -- in the first 10 months of 2005, elephants charged and trampled 12 others, including some villagers trying to protect their crops from the giant herbivores, according to the Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources, known as Campfire, in its annual report.
2005-10-31 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwean authorities are considering moving elephants from the country's overburdened national parks to Namibia after at least 50 pachyderms starved to death, a state daily reported on Monday. Some 50 elephants died in separate incidents in the famous Hwange national park in Zimbabwe's dry southwestern region, prompting senior government officials to visit the area to investigate the cause of the deaths.
2005-09-16 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
Elephants and buffaloes are dying of starvation in a wildlife-rich area of western Zimbabwe, the state-controlled Herald reported on Friday. The paper said at least four elephant calves and several buffaloes have died recently in the Matetsi area near Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe's prime tourist resort. "I am aware that several buffaloes were reported dead in the last three weeks," Minister of Tourism Francis Nhema was quoted as saying.
Zimbabwe is about to import four endangered Siberian tigers from China for captive breeding, officials say. Zimbabwe Tourism Minister Francis Nhema told the Herald newspaper China had received zebras, elephants and impala as part of an "exchange programme". Correspondents say the move shows President Mugabe is wooing China. He is trying to strengthen ties with the Asian giant as his country is increasingly isolated in the world because of a poor human rights record.
2005-08-31 - HARARE, Zimbabwe. (Reuters)
Zimbabwe, home to thousands of elephants, has banned safari hunting in the western districts of Dete and Hwange to protect a "presidential" elephant herd, the official Herald newspaper said on Wednesday. "We have banned hunting activities in those areas where we find the presidential herd of elephants for sanity and order to prevail," the paper quoted Tourism and Environment Minister Francis Nhema as saying.
2005-08-16 - Kariba, Zimbabwe.
Marauding elephants have destroyed homes and sent residents fleeing in the Zimbabwean resort town of Kariba, a state daily reported yesterday. "A herd of stray elephants wreaked havoc in Kariba where it destroyed homes and forced a number of Nyamhunga township residents and others on the outskirts of Charara National Park to flee," the Herald newspaper said. The newspaper quoted a resident who said six "violent" elephants had been spotted on the rampage in the area bordering Zambia, trampling ve...
2005-08-05 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Bjorn Carey
A little bit of spicy chili peppers is all African farmers need to keep hungry elephants from stealing crops. By planting a few rows of chili peppers around the perimeter of their crops, farmers have created a buffer zone that's spicy enough to keep elephants, buffalo and other hungry mammals away. "Chili peppers are unpalatable to crop-raiding mammals, so they give farmers an economically feasible means of minimizing damage to their investments," said Loki Osborn, project director for the Eleph...
2005-05-03 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
THE National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority yesterday said it is inviting new and old farmers to purchase wild elephants in a move aimed at decongesting elephant-concentrated areas. An official from the authority said the move was also aimed at encouraging new farmers to venture into wildlife production.The elephants are not for export but for wildlife farming by local farmers. The elephants have become heavily concentrated in Matabeleland region, and ecologists have recommended that th...
2005-04-30 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Basildon Peta
Fresh from his disputed victory in Zimbabwe’s parliamentary elections, President Robert Mugabe has turned his sights on the country’s wildlife reserves in a bid to feed thousands of malnourished villagers. Zimbabwe’s national parks have been ordered to work with rural district councils to begin the wholesale slaughter of big game. National park rangers said they had already shot 10 elephants in the past week. The meat was barbecued at festivities to mark 25 years of independence. Four of t...
2005-04-24 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Mike Cadman, Sunday Independent (SA)
A least nine elephants were shot, four by Zimbabwean National Parks scouts, and used as meat for celebrations to mark the 25th year of Zimbabwe's independence. A least nine elephants were shot, four by Zimbabwean National Parks scouts, and used as meat for celebrations to mark the 25th year of Zimbabwe's independence, according to conservationists. Four elephants, part of a herd which is accustomed to people and easy to approach, were shot in full view of tourists close to the Bumi Hills Hotel, ...
2005-04-22 - HARARE, Zimbabwe. JANE FIELDS
FACED with worsening food shortages, president Robert Mugabe’s officials have resorted to killing elephants to pacify hungry Zimbabweans, it was claimed yesterday. Game rangers near the western resort town of Kariba were told to kill at least four elephants ahead of celebrations to mark Zimbabwe’s 25th anniversary of independence this week, said Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF).
2005-03-27 - HARARE, Zimbabwe. Xinhuanet
Residents in Hwange, some 800 km west of Zimbabwean capital Harare, are having sleepless nights following the invasion of the town by stray elephants that are destroying property and fruit trees, according to Sunday News. The elephants are running away from the nearby national park in search of drinking water. It is believed that green trees are now scarce in the parks and the jumbos were being attracted to the residential areas by green mango trees.
2005-03-23 - Hwange, Zimbabwe. Christopher Munnion
Horrified tourists have fled from Hwange national park, Zimbabwe's largest game reserve, after witnessing the "wholesale slaughter" of animals, part of what conservation groups fear is an officially sanctioned poaching ring. A collection of elephant tusks ‘Indications are that the country's game is being plundered’ Operation Nyama, or "Operation Meat", is ostensibly a campaign to feed starving villagers in northern Matabeleland. But indep...
2004-12-29 - Harare, Zimbabwe. UPI
Zimbabwe's wildlife management authority plans to cull some elephants to control the jumbo population. The authority says the problem has caused serious damage to the biodiversity, driving other smaller animal species to extinction, the Harare Chronicle reported.
2004-11-04 - Kariba, Zimbabwe.
I have recently returned from a trip to Kariba where I saw several elephants that had been unfortunate enough to wander into wire snares in Bumi Hills and Mapongola Hills. With the decline of the economy, more and more snares are being laid to capture animals for food and poaching is on the increase because the locals are starving and will do anything to obtain food. The snares are probably not intended for the elephants but they are causing great suffering and painful lingering deaths amongst t...
2004-09-15 - Harare, Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe's cronies have apparently inflated Zimbabwe's elephant population to dupe the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (Cites) into allowing Harare to continue trading in ivory.
2002-11-04 - Harare, Zimbabwe. Born Free Foundation
The Born Free Foundation, one of the UK's leading wildlife charities, has shocking new evidence that poaching in parts of Africa is soaring, fuelled by the sale of ivory trinkets to French and other tourists. According to The Daily News (Harare June 17, 2002), the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management claims that, 'between 2000 and April this year (2002)…. 92 elephants had died either as a result of poaching, natural mortality, intraspecific fights or some unknown...
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