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1. Help people help wildlife - elephants

   Posted on 5:00pm Monday 26th Aug 2019

   Update 2023:  Unfortunately Nikela is no longer running but there are lots of elephant charities you can look to help here.   Here’s a great way to get involved and to help reduce the conflict between elephants and people. Sponsor a bee hive! In fact, you can get your name – or theirs – on a beehive and help save elephants.  For a 29 year old called Moses who was deeply passionate about wildlife conservation and rescuing animals, determined that human-wildlife conflict was the most pressing problem in his home area of Tanzania. Elephants from nearby reserves were entering farmlands and causing considerable damanage, destroying crops.  A solution to the elephants destroying crops was to install 20 bee hive fences along a border next to the Arusha National Park.   Moses founded and sorted out a NGO (Alert for Endangered Wildlife Species or AFeWiS).  Placing bee hives strategically along the perimeters of farmland surprisingly keeps elephants at bay.  Elephants are afraid of bees, you see, Each beehive costs $50. Enter Nikela, run by Margrit and Russ. It’s a small US based non-profit organization. And its mission is to “to help people protecting nature, especially doing wildlife conservation.  Nikela helps those protecting and preserving endangered African wildlife species.” So far they have given over $40,000 to 22 projects in 8 countries in Africa. All to those protecting and preserving endangered African wildlife species, all funded by donations from people all around the world! And they sent Moses $500 to get the bee hives off the ground. And there’s good news about the effectiveness of the project, with examples such as this one. Mr Baraka reported that over 50 elephants from a neighbouring reserve were entering his fields and destroying his food crops. Beehives were mounted – and the number of elephants rapidly dropped to 25.  Within 4 weeks, Mr Baraka was reporting that no elephants had come into his fields, saving his crops.  This means they will have food this season. More farmers are asking for beehive fences now and you can sponsor a beehive to be included in a fence.  In fact, you can also sponsor an entire fence – about 10 beehives make up an effective fence in most cases. Can Bees be the “Peacemakers” and solve human-wildlife conflicts with Elephants? You can dedicate your beehive in honour or in memory of someone. So go ahead, what are you waiting for? Remember, to note the exact spelling of the name you wish to see on the beehive, or beehives. Sponsor a Bee Hive here and you’ll help reduce conflict between people and elephants.   If you’re not sure, take a look at comments from donors – we can all make a difference  Sign up for Nikela’s newsletter

    

2. Crackdown on poaching works for elephants and rhinos in Tanzania

   Posted on 8:00pm Monday 15th Jul 2019

   There’s good news from Tanzania.   Elephant and rhino numbers have started to rebound after the government cracked down on organised criminal networks who were involved in industrial-scale poaching.  These networks were dismantled. You may have heard about a well-known Chinese businesswoman who smuggled the tusks of over 350 elephants to Asia.  The “Ivory Queen” got 15 years in prison as a result. A special task force was launched in 2016 to fight wildlife poaching. Elephant numbers had been 110,000 in 2009 but their numbers tumbled, with conservation groups blaming poaching.   Ivory turned into jewels and ornaments had caused poaching to surge, thanks to a demand from countries such as China and Vietnam.   Tanzania Travel Guide from Lonely Planet However, a presidential statement stated last week that elephant numbers have gone up to 43,330 in 2014 (according to the 2015 census) to over 60,000 at the moment.  Rhinos had gone up from only 15 to 167 in the last 4 years.  This number 15 is at variance with the CITES estimation of 133 in 2015.  Mind you, either way it means the number of rhinos has gone up. It just shows the damage poaching can do to wildlife numbers – and how that damage can be reversed, with real effort.  Tourism is the main source of hard currency for Tanzania. Wildlife safaris, Indian Ocean beaches and Mount Kilimanjaro are its most famous “attractions”. Revenues from it were up from $1.9 billion in 2015 to $2.5 billion in 2018. Tanzania has set aside 32% of its total land area for conservation projects.  I must say this doesn’t sound a very high percentage to me, given the amount of land wildlife used to have, but then if it’s for specific projects maybe that makes it better. Unfortunately, it’s dismissed criticism from environmentalists about a $3 billion hydropower dam project in the famous Selous Game Reserve – which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Still lots of room for improvement, then, Tanzania.

    

3. New partnership to curb elephant poaching in Kenya

   Posted on 8:00pm Wednesday 20th Feb 2019

   The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has partnered with the TUI Care Foundation to prevent the poaching of elephants and stop human-elephant conflict in the Tsavo conservation area in Kenya. TenBoma is IFAW’s innovative wildlife security initiative.  It means that government and community rangers are trained to better predict and respond to threats and protect the animals and local communities. In short, the tenBoma approach combines tradition – taking traditional knowledge from communities – with modernity – incorporating this knowledge into modern methods and technology. The support from the TUI Care Foundation has enabled IFAW to provide urgently needed equipment to community rangers.  This equipment includes items such as mobile devices, cameras and boots.  These items enable the rangers to gather information on potential threats to wildlife and people. Technology, systematic data processing systems and intelligence will enable the two organisations to implement the initiative. Rangers have communications and mobility equipment such as GPS, smartphones and radios so that they can respond more quickly and effectively to intercept poachers.   These also enable the rangers to get to areas where elephants are raiding crops and so coming into conflict with people. The Tsavo Conservation Area is one of Kenya's most visited tourism destinations.  IFAW say about 12,850 elephants live there, and amongst them are at least 11 of the world’s remaining big tuskers.  They are all facing a threat from poachers who want their ivory and from human-elephant conflict. Find out more

    

4. African Wildlife Foundation gives $25 million to help wildlife and wildlife habitats in Africa

   Posted on 8:00pm Tuesday 13th Nov 2018

   The African Wildlife Foundation will invest $25 million over the next 4 years to support the work being done by local communities and African governments to protect wild lands and wildlife in Africa. The pledge was made at the recent Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) conference in London.  AWF’s President Kaddu Sebunya said that poaching and illegal trade in wildlife poses an acute threat to Africa’s rich heritage of natural wealth. Kaddu says that there is some recovery and stabilization of some vital wildlife populations.   AFW has invested $13.1 million to tackle the illegal wildlife trade in Africa and also a further $5.5 million with public-sector partners.   The total of $18.6 million has been used to: Support anti-poaching efforts on the ground Strengthen prosecutorial and judiciary processes Put sniffer dogs in critical transit points Campaign to stop demand in Asia As a result: 10 out of the 14 populations of elephants the funding has been targeting are increasing or are stable. All rhino populations and 7 out of 9 carnivore populations that AWF supports are increasing or are stable Prosecutors are building stronger case;  judges are delivery stronger sentences for wildlife crimes Sniffer dogs have made over 250 finds And now this most recent pledge will support programmes putting the priorities in place that came out of the London IWT conference: To build African leadership and ownership of the illegal wildlife trade in Africa Protect habitats and key populations of rhinos, elephants, great apes, large carnivores and giraffes Enhance detection of wildlife crimes and strengthen the ability to prosecute and judge, putting criminals behind bars. The belief is that Africa must own and drive the illegal wildlife trade work.  The London conference will help strengthen partnerships across borders to fight the illegal wildlife trade in an effective way. Four key elements are crucial to give Africa’s wildlife a chance, according to AWF Chief Scientist and VP of Species Protection, Dr Philip Muruthi, and they are: Keep wildlife safe from poachers Make wildlife products difficult to move around Actively involve key local players Dampen the demand for wildlife products Visit the African Wildlife Foundation

5. More elephant news...the TN Government is ordered to crack down on elephant corridor encroachment

   Posted on 8:00am Sunday 15th Jul 2018

   The Supreme Court has ordered the TN (State of Tamil Nadu’s) government to track  down on elephant corridor encroachment. There are 400 resorts that are violating the corridor territory and elephant deaths in the state have gone up.  One report in The Times of India says elephant deaths in the state doubled from 61 in 2015-2016 to 125 over the past year. There’s been a long battle between conservationists and resrots owners in Tamil Nadu at the confluence of the Western and Eastern Ghats. Back in 2011, the Madras High Court ordered the creation of an elephant corridor.  Resort owners were to hand over or leave their lands falling within the corridor area. It also mandated that no new development activity was to occur in the area.  Private landowners quickly applied for and got a stay on the order a few months later. During the north east monsoons, the elephants move from Bandipur in Karnataka to Kerala and Tamil Nadu.  In the south west monsoons, they do the opposite journey. Lawyer and conservationist Elephant G Rajendran, said that the elephants’ abode is the forest where it has the food it needs.  They move along their traditional path.  This used to be rich forestry cover but private resorts have chosen to operate there, so the elephants are losing their path Wildlife corridors are vital to wildlife because they enable the animals to get from one essential piece of habitat to another so it is really important they are connected.  Source:  The News Minute