#poaching

[reasonsforhope]

"Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo has a lot to celebrate.

The park, which celebrated its 30th anniversary on December 31 of 2023, also shared an exciting conservation milestone: 2023 was the first year without any elephant poaching detected.

“We didn’t detect any elephants killed in the Park this year, a first for the Park since [we] began collecting data. This success comes after nearly a decade of concerted efforts to protect forest elephants from armed poaching in the Park,” Ben Evans, the Park’s management unit director, said in a press release.

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park was developed by the government of Congo in 1993 to maintain biodiversity conservation in the region, and since 2014, has been cared for through a public-private partnership between Congo’s Ministry of Forest Economy and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Pictured: Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. Photo courtesy of Scott Ramsay/Wildlife Conservation Society

Evans credits the ongoing collaboration with this milestone, as the MEF and WCS have helped address escalating threats to wildlife in the region. 

This specifically includes investments in the ranger force, which has increased training and self-defense capabilities, making the force more effective in upholding the law — and the rights of humans and animals.

“Thanks to the strengthening of our anti-poaching teams and new communication technologies, we have been able to reduce poaching considerably,” Max Mviri, a park warden for the Congolese government, said in a video for the Park’s anniversary. 

“Today, we have more than 90 eco-guards, all of whom have received extensive training and undergo refresher courses,” Mviri continued. “What makes a difference is that 90% of our eco-guards come from villages close to the Park. This gives them extra motivation, as they are protecting their forest.”

As other threats such as logging and road infrastructure development impact the area’s wildlife, the Park’s partnerships with local communities and Indigenous populations in the neighboring villages of Bomassa and Makao are increasingly vital.

“We’ve seen great changes, great progress. We’ve seen the abundance of elephants, large mammals in the village,” Gabriel Mobolambi, chief of Bomassa village, said in the same video. “And also on our side, we benefit from conservation.”

Coinciding with the Park’s anniversary is the roll-out of a tourism-focused website, aiming to generate 15% of its revenue from visitors, which contributes significantly to the local economy...

Nouabalé-Ndoki also recently became the world’s first certified Gorilla Friendly National Park, ensuring best practices are in place for all gorilla-related operations, from tourism to research.

But gorillas and elephants — of which there are over 2,000 and 3,000, respectively — aren’t the only species visitors can admire in the 4,334-square-kilometer protected area.

The Park is also home to large populations of mammals such as chimpanzees and bongos, as well as a diverse range of reptiles, birds, and insects. For the flora fans, Nouabalé-Ndoki also boasts a century-old mahogany tree, and a massive forest of large-diameter trees.

Beyond the beauty of the Park, these tourism opportunities pave the way for major developments for local communities.

“The Park has created long-term jobs, which are rare in the region, and has brought substantial benefits to neighboring communities. Tourism is also emerging as a promising avenue for economic growth,” Mobolambi, the chief of Bomassa village, said in a press release.

The Park and its partners also work to provide education, health centers, agricultural opportunities, and access to clean water, as well, helping to create a safe environment for the people who share the land with these protected animals. 

In fact, the Makao and Bomassa health centers receive up to 250 patients a month, and Nouabalé-Ndoki provides continuous access to primary education for nearly 300 students in neighboring villages. 

It is this intersectional approach that maintains a mutual respect between humans and wildlife and encourages the investment in conservation programs, which lead to successes like 2023’s poaching-free milestone...

Evans, of the Park’s management, added in the anniversary video: “Thanks to the trust that has been built up between all those involved in conservation, we know that Nouabalé-Ndoki will remain a crucial refuge for wildlife for the generations to come.”"

-via Good Good Good, February 15, 2024

#conservation #congo #republic of congo #elephant #gorilla #endangered species #biodiversity #conservation news #conservation efforts #indigenous communities #national park #protected areas #poaching #elephant poaching #ecology #biology #environment #environmental news #forests

[botanyshitposts]

ok this sounds insane but in 2018 i went to a few carnivorous plant talks at the botany conference in minnesota. i got caught up in conversation with one of the guys there who was a huge nepenthes guy who told me a story about another collector in the pacific northwest who'd been buying poached plants, like a huge amount, and eventually got staked out by the fish and wildlife service and arrested and had all his plants seized and went to prison for it. idk if i ever talked about this on this blog before-- i know i liveblogged a lot from that conference but cant remember what all i posted-- but ive avoided talking about it since then because i was never able to find like, news articles or anything covering it, but behold.... we now have proof it was real, and im like 80% sure this was this guy he was talking about. the raid happened in 2016 and they'd been staking them out since 2013. he had nearly 400 plants and had been sourcing many of them from poachers in indonesia and borneo.

remember folks: poaching happens with plants too! it's a huge problem not only in carnvirous plants (nepenthes especially, which this piece is dedicated to talking about) but also in native plant populations in the US, including native carnivorous plant populations (north and south carolina's venus fly traps, california's darlingtonia, and sarracenia from the east coast), native orchids (historically one of the most poached categories), desert plants/cacti/succulents, and slow-growing woody ornamentals (cycads, for example). never buy bare-root plants off ebay or facebook! your best bet is local nurseries (which usually purchase farm-raised plants that do well in a wide range of conditions, and as a result have a healthy population in the wild) or specialty greenhouses (more expensive, but at least in the case of carnivorous plants offer young plants bred from established adult plants in-house, raised in captivity).

#super sad piece fellas like this shit guts me i cant even stress it enough #stories about nepenthes poaching hit different #there are hundreds of species #some are really common and widespread all over indonesia/china/japan/oceania #and some are like. super hyperadapted to one specific ridge on one specific mountain #theyre still being recorded and stuff because theyve speciated so much #so youll have a plant that has like. a max of 15 adults in the population at any given time. literally a nightmare scenario #AND theyre diaceous (there are male plants and female plants). doesnt seem like a problem until you think about the population dynamics #there not only has to be two plants but the plants have to be a male and a female #and people living there have reason to take them. like the poacher interviewed in this article does it to supplement his income #from working at a horrifying rubber production ordeal to feed his wife and kids #and he says everyone in his village does the same for the same reasons #nightmare!! nightmare!! nightmare horrible nightmare world!!! horrible fucking nightmare!!!! #nepenethes #carnivorous plants #poaching #conservation

[rebeccathenaturalist]

This is a long read, but a good one, well-written. It's an excellent overview not just of the headline--the murder of game warden Guy Bradley--but the surrounding circumstances including the demand for bird feathers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

It surprises a lot of people in my birdwatching classes when I tell them that the possession of most native bird feathers is against federal law. "But it's just a feather I found on the ground!" I'm well aware of that, and the vast majority of people who pick up a molted feather would never do harm to a bird to get more of them. It's almost impossible to differentiate between a natural molt, and a feather torn from a poached bird, though, so the law bans them across the board.

After reading the article, this may make more sense to you. Think of the avarice of the plume hunters who went into the wetlands and forests and gunned down thousands of birds in a day, just for the feathers. They continued even after it became illegal, simply to fill the demand for feathers--or wings, or entire taxidermied birds--for hats. Couldn't you imagine such a person removing the feathers from the carcasses of birds they'd shot, and then claiming they were simply very good at finding molts?

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 protects almost all native wild birds in the United States; you can find the list of of protected species at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/07/31/2023-15551/general-provisions-revised-list-of-migratory-birds. There's also a list of (mostly non-native) birds that are not covered under the MBTA at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/04/16/2020-06782/list-of-bird-species-to-which-the-migratory-bird-treaty-act-does-not-apply.

#birds #birding #birdwatching #birdblr #feathers #plume hunting #poaching #wildlife #animals #environmentalism #conservation #endangered species #animal welfare #Vulture Culture #hunting #history #American history #nature #ecology #environment

[probablyasocialecologist]

The global illegal wildlife trade is largely facilitated by organised criminal networks. For instance, pangolins are poached extensively in Asia and Africa to meet the demand arising from China. Research shows many other endangered species from the Global South end up reaching the Global North. For example, a recent study found that there were at least 292 seizures of illegally traded tiger parts at United States ports between 2003-2012; the majority of them from the wild in Asian countries where tigers still roam free. The over 6,000 wildlife seizures reported by European Union member states in 2018 represent 16,740 specimens of species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and mostly originated from the developing world. Clearly, local harvesters in poor countries are not the ones organising complex transnational operations to transport wildlife parts across international boundaries. The international kingpins and an extensive network of smugglers run this nexus. If the aim is to break this cycle of crime, it is these networks that need to be disrupted; it is the consumers they feed who need to be penalised.

#wildlife #wildlife crime #conservation #poaching

[isthedogawolfdog]

Here is the statement and a link to where you can report.

There is very little information I can find, though I did find an article that may be related that I’ll add later.

Edit: other article wasn’t related, just a different wolf killing in Wisconsin :(

#wolves #wolf #poaching #poachers #articles #I’m sad

[enriquemzn262]

Anti-poaching rangers should be viewed at the same level as firefighters or doctors.

#africa #poaching #rangers

[socialjusticeinamerica]

#Protected species #poaching #bald eagles #golden eagles

[endlingmusings]

[ Several captive Southern white rhinoceroses. ]

“John Hume, the owner of the world’s largest private rhino herd, is auctioning off his rhino farm, the starting bid being US$10 million. The question is, what are Hume’s rhinos really worth?

In recent weeks there have been quite a few emotional appeals from John Hume and his supporters to ‘see the value’ in what is being offered. I get that many people believe that this is John Hume’s life’s work, but the US$150 million the one-time billionaire reportedly spent on this enterprise is, in business terms, the project’s sunk cost. It is a business risk he chose to take, as he farmed rhinos with a view to selling the horn.

When he started, over a decade ago, the international sale of rhino horn was already banned and the domestic trade was banned in South Africa for a number of years until John Hume and Johan Kruger launched legal action, saying it is their constitutional right to sell rhino horn. Izak du Toit, the lawyer who represented the rhino owners to overturn the domestic trade ban, and who appears to be Hume’s legal representative in the current auction, said at the time, [If the domestic trade ban was overturned] “We would sell [rhino horn] to the poachers to prevent them from killing rhinos,”.

With all the effort to overturn rhino horn trade sanctions, both domestically and international, there was always an inherent risk in Hume’s strategy that the trade ban would remain, and he accepted this risk as legalising the trade in rhino horn was the only way to recuperate his investment. Hume has said that his 10-tonne of stockpile of rhino horns is negotiable as part of the current auction, adding that it is worth more than US$500 million on the black market. A curious message to give out.

The fact that there is still a ban on the international trade of rhino horn doesn’t change the lack of trying by Hume and other South African private rhino owners. Over the years they put forward models for a ‘regulated’, international legal trade in rhino horn. The business plans have loopholes big enough for a Mack truck to drive through and, in all this time, they have never invested in a consumer analysis. The pro-trade supporters have previously stated that, “What they [rhino horns] are used for is hardly relevant. The fact is that people are willing to pay.”. Even now, after more than a decade of pushing to legalise the international trade, the response to the FAQ page question, “Does anyone know what the demand for rhino horn is?” is, “There is no reliable data on the size of the market. The best way to determine the characteristics of a market is to engage in legal trade.”. Mmm, quite a risky approach if your goal is to save rhinos from poaching.

At least now they acknowledge that an international trade won’t stop rhino poaching, the response to the FAQ page question, “Doesn’t the market value ‘wild’ horn more than harvested?” is, “Possibly, yes. If there is a preference for ‘wild’ or whole horn, this will be reflected in the price buyers are willing to pay.”. A far cry from their earlier, evidence free, assertions that the supply from the privately owned rhinos in South Africa could satisfy demand in Viet Nam and China and that consumers would be willing to substitute farmed horn for horn from wild rhinos.

Legalising the trade in ivory for two massive one-off sales did not stop elephant poaching, it made it worse. There is every reason to believe the same would happen with rhino horn – as soon as you can legalise advertise you can create new demand; something else they have never been willing to factor into their pro-trade push. Further, those who can afford genuine rhino horn will pay for a ‘wild’ product. Consumers have been known to ask for the tail/ears of the rhino to be presented with the horn to show it was killed in the process and the horn didn’t come from a stockpile.

This rhino sale mess is a perfect demonstration of the misguided obsession with the commercialisation of wild species. John Hume and the other private rhino owners managed to overturn the ban on domestic trade in South Africa, but that did not create a market for a product nobody needs. Hume’s rhino horn auction in 2017 was a flop, as was his later attempt to launch a cryptocurrency backed by rhino horn.

John Hume’s 2,000 rhinos and his reported 10 tonne stockpile of rhino horn have zero commercial value as long as the international trade remains closed. Reinstating the South African domestic trade in rhino horn was seen a precursor to overturning the international trade ban, providing hope for the pro-trade rhino owners. The result was they were happy to devalue rhino horn from a poaching perspective but they have never wanted to devalue horn from a consumer perspective, as they didn’t want to undermine the potential for future profits.”

- Excerpt from “What Are John Hume’s Rhinos Really Worth?” by Lynn Johnson.

#Conservation #Poaching #Southern white rhinoceros #Southern white rhino #Mammal #NT #Article #Text #Photo #Live specimen #Captive #Upload

[liquoricebxxxh]

Mind you, this is literally describing Beyoncé…

#like lol?? 😭 #twitter #beyoncé #azealia banks #poaching #aaliyah #kelis #amerie #brandy #ciara #jennifer hudson #kelly rowland #keri hilson #rihanna #sevyn streeter #normani #chlöe #chloe bailey #tyla #keyshia cole

[one-time-i-dreamt]

The toys from Toy Story were fighting against Gordon Ramsay in the wintery woods, and he was a sniper-rifle-carrying poacher.

#dream #toy story #gordon ramsay #poaching #violence tw #fighting #animal harm tw #guns tw #sniper #gun #gun mention #gun violence

[bears-wolves-dragons]

Massive poached buck, still had canine teeth too. Probably a mule deer.

#vulture culture #bones #skull #poaching

[reasonsforhope]

“In May 2021, a new Chief Minister of the Indian state of Assam set out to thoroughly put an end to poaching in the state’s protected areas.

Now 20 months later, the forestry and police departments of the state have reported that 2022 saw no rhinos lost to poaching, the first time that’s happened since 1977.

Located on the borders of [Tibet] to the north and Myanmar to the east, Assam is one of the richest biodiversity zones in the world and contains Kaziranga, Manas, and Orang national parks as well as Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary.

[The Indian state of Assam is hope to approximately 85% of the world’s population of the Indian rhinoceros.]

Together these four protected areas make up most of the one-horned rhinoceros’ range in the country, and of the 2,895 rhinos in the state, nearly all of that number can be found inside them.

Chief Minister Sarma put together a special anti-poaching task force led by Special Director General of Police G. P. Singh. The task force created a database of past incidents of rhino poaching with details of when, how, and where they took place. Convicted poachers had their phones monitored, and local fishermen and villagers were brought on as informants.

When the work came to inside the park, the rhinos were treated like presidents. Sophisticated police commando teams patrolled the parks with night vision equipment and drones, and the number of teams increased on full moon nights.

When flooding in Kaziranga drove the rhinos to higher ground during the 2022 monsoon season, the teams stayed in the field 24-7 until the animals could disperse again after the waters receded.

“If we continue with this pressure, rhino poaching will stop completely,” Singh told the Hindustan Times. “For this, the cost to poachers has to be higher than the profit they earn.”

A colleague notes that the coordination has become so thorough that poacher arrest rates are now being measured weekly, rather than monthly as before.

It’s this kind of devotion that has seen the numbers of one-horned rhinos climb from just around 100 individuals in 1910, to almost 3,000 today.”

-via Good News Network, 1/26/23

#rhino #rhinoceros #poaching #conservation #endangered species #india #assam #protected areas #good news #hope

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Finding a motive: The researchers looked at more than 10,000 elephant killings across 30 countries in Africa. Now their data proves a longtime theory: Poaching is driven by need rather than greed. “When we are looking to protect wildlife, we can't do that without thinking about the well-being of people,” Timothy Kuiper, a co-author of the study, tells us. (Pictured above, an African elephant grazes in a field in a reserve in Kenya.)

PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID CHANCELLOR, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

#david chancellor #photographer #national geographic #elephant #mammal #animal #wildlife #poaching #african elephant #kenya #animal reserve #nature

[funnywildlife]

Happy #RhinoFriday Let us stop this madness at all costs. #SaveTheRhinos Please Protect Rhinos from Extinction by supporting conservation bodies of your choice. Join us over by supporting veterinary wildlife charity @savingthesurvivors who treat victims of poaching & unfortunate circumstances as well provide proactive life saving measures. Donate from $5, save posts, share their amazing work to your story & buy T-shirts from Wildography store (link in bio). https://www.savingthesurvivors.org/donate/ https://wildography.myshopify.com/ Photo by conservation #wildographer @phillip.wessels #Wildography #antipoaching #conservation #wildlife #africa #wildlifeconservation #rhino #poaching #endangeredspecies #savingthesurvivors #stoppoaching #wildlifephotography #safari #southafrica #rhinoconservation #rhinos #counterpoaching #wildlifecrime #stoprhinopoaching #rhinopoaching (at Somewhere in Africa) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce6OD7jLsWJ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#rhinofriday #savetherhinos #wildographer #wildography #antipoaching #conservation #wildlife #africa #wildlifeconservation #rhino #poaching #endangeredspecies #savingthesurvivors #stoppoaching #wildlifephotography #safari #southafrica #rhinoconservation #rhinos #counterpoaching #wildlifecrime #stoprhinopoaching #rhinopoaching

[wachinyeya]

#good news #uk #animals #trophy hunting #poaching #laws #nature #environmentalism #conservation

[aquitainequeen]

In May 2021, a new Chief Minister of the Indian state of Assam set out to thoroughly put an end to poaching in the state’s protected areas.

Now 20 months later, the forestry and police departments of the state have reported that 2022 saw no rhinos lost to poaching, the first time that’s happened since 1977.

Read more...

#rhinos #conservation #poaching #good news #oh brave new world #assam