Trade in elephant ivory has come to an end in the United Kingdom, following the announcement of a near-total ban that’s meant to put a stop to both legal and illegal trafficking in ivory. Britain’s ban, which took immediate effect Monday, covers ivory of any age rather than restricting the…
DNA taken from elephant tusks, and then matched with DNA from other tusk shipments seized in the fight against Africa’s illegal ivory trade, shows patterns that can help to identify those active in wildlife crime. That’s based on results from a team of international scientists who published their work in…
Two people from Democratic Republic of Congo have been arrested in the United States for illegal wildlife trafficking, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Herdade Lokua, 23, and Jospin Mujangi, 31, both of Kinshasa, were arrested last week in Seattle, Washington. They were indicted by a federal grand jury…
Namibia’s government plans to auction off some of the wildlife living in its national parks because of the severe drought affecting the southwest African nation – a drought that has left them without water and vegetation to sustain them. Stanley Simataa, the country’s information minister, made the announcement during a…
Botswana has lifted its ban on elephant hunting, in a controversial decision announced Thursday by environment and wildlife minister Kitso Mokaila. The ruling follows a year-long process in Botswana to evaluate the ban, which was put in place five years ago by former president Ian Khama. He was succeeded in…
An op-ed on maintaining protections against the illegal wildlife trade is getting lots of attention in the United States. It’s not just because of its stance against rollbacks from the President Donald Trump administration or the commitment to work with groups like the Elephant Project – but rather, because of…
Angola’s Ministry of Environment is launching a new wildlife conservation initiative to assess the impact of poaching, and strengthen legal protections and enforcement. Aristófanes Fontes, the director of the National Institute of Biodiversity and Conservation Areas, tells state news agency ANGOP that national training, a licensing program and a law…
There are some major moves afoot in South Africa and Mozambique, as conservationists and researchers try moving elephants to help protect them from ivory poaching and habitat loss. So far this summer, the “Moving Giants” project has relocated four dozen elephants from the Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve (VLNR), a conservation…
A scientific study of ivory traded by dealers across Europe proves that the sales are illegal, according to the activist groups that released the study Tuesday. Avaaz, working with the Elephant Action League, purchased 109 pieces of ivory in 10 countries across Europe in an attempt to demonstrate to European…
The United States has issued an arrest warrant for a South African hunting guide accused of illegally shooting elephants inside Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe and bribing officials to have the ivory released. The U.S. Department of Justice says that 44-year-old Hanno Van Rensburg took an unnamed Colorado resident on…
Environmental and conservationist groups across the globe are mourning the loss of Esmond Bradley Martin, a champion of wildlife protection and leading world expert on the illegal ivory trade who was stabbed to death in Kenya on Sunday. Authorities say the 76-year-old American researcher, a former United Nations special envoy…
Rescue dogs have taken center stage in the fight to protect wildlife from poachers in Zambia. The Working Dogs for Conservation program has trained the dogs to identify everything from wire snare traps, to guns and ammunition used in illegal hunting, to pangolin scales, rhino horn and ivory. “During our work…
Kenyan Tom Lalampaa, the chief program officer at the Northern Rangelands Trust conservancy, will speak Wednesday afternoon at Stanford University as he receives this year’s Stanford Bright Award. Lalampaa was selected for the 2016 award, which is given annually to an otherwise unsung hero for significant contributions to global sustainability….