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While we’ve seen the headlines of animals reclaiming cities and roaming wild as humans are stuck indoors, COVID-19 lockdowns have not been entirely beneficial for wildlife. In fact, in many regions of the world (like India, Southeast Asia, Africa and South America) poaching has increased. As the Independent explained, “the sudden fall in tourism income […]
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An elite unit of rangers protects the Phundundu Wildlife Area in Zimbabwe — it’s a 115 square mile former trophy hunting area that is home to 11,000 elephants — and it’s the first nature reserve in the world to be managed and protected by only by women. The women rangers – many of whom came from backgrounds of abuse – call themselves the Akashinga, ‘the Brave Ones’ and are changing the face of conservation in Zimbabwe.
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We asked our partner, National Geographic’s Campaign for Nature about a success from this past year for which they’re thankful. They shared with us the story of African Parks which helps to privately manage vast protected areas throughout Africa as a means to save critically endangered wildlife from poaching. The Beginning: Established in 2000, African […]
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By Beth Allgood, U.S. Country Director, International Fund for Animal Welfare The plight of endangered wildlife has been brought sharply into focus in recent months by an alarming report from some of the world’s most renowned scientists warning that nature is in rapid decline globally with the rate of extinction accelerating beyond levels previously imagined. […]
Continue Reading 963 wordsOn Tuesday, the government of Singapore announced it had seized nearly $50 million in ivory tusks and pangolin scales (a record for the nation) found in shipping containers from the Democratic Republic of Congo that supposedly contained timber but instead were filled with 12 tons of pangolin scales and nearly 9 tons of ivory. The illegal wildlife parts were bound for Vietnam, but will now be destroyed so that they will not re-enter the market, the Singapore government announced.
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After a 5-year ban, the government announced recently that elephant hunting is again legal in the southern African nation of Botswana. The former President Ian Khama originally implemented the hunting ban, but it came under scrutiny by Khama’s successor, President Mokgweetsi E.K. Masisi, with the Environment Ministry citing conflicts with humans and an inability to manage increasing elephant populations as the rationale.
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Azzedine is the President and CEO of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, where he leads their efforts to help people and animals thrive together in more than 40 countries around the globe. ODP: IFAW just celebrated its 50th anniversary. What have been the organization’s greatest accomplishments? AD: From humble beginnings 50 years ago, IFAW […]
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