The conservation world is mourning the loss of renowned rhino horn and elephant ivory trade investigator Esmond Bradley Martin, who was found dead Sunday at his home in Nairobi‚ Kenya. The 75-year-old U.S. citizen had a stab wound in the neck. His wife, Chryssee Martin, reported the death. Kenyan Interior Ministry spokesman Mwneda Njoka told […]
The Trump administration has agreed to allow the remains of elephants killed in Zimbabwe and Zambia to be brought back to the U.S., a reversal of an Obama-era ban. In 2014, the President Obama’s administration banned the imports of elephant trophies to protect the species. “Additional killing of elephants in these countries, even if legal, […]
By Joe McCarthy The marshy expanses of the Everglades in Southern Florida contain hundreds of species of animals, including flamingos, alligators and manatees. Clusters of mangroves span its coastline, acting as ecosystem hubs, and if you take a boat through the region, you’ll see countless plants that are native to the area. But the Everglades, […]
At the Tikki Hywood Trust in Harare, Zimbabwe, a group of charity workers known as the “Pangolin Men” dedicate their lives to saving a prehistoric-looking animal from an increasing threat of extinction. The pangolin is the only mammal in the world with scales. Sadly, it’s this unique feature that gives the pangolin the unfortunate title […]
By William H. Funk Proposed funding cuts to environmental programs in President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget have drawn anxious attention from around the world. But while the biggest numbers deal with rolling back the Obama administration’s climate change initiatives, more subtle withdrawals of federal support from lesser known international programs threaten the continued existence of […]
Today is International Snow Leopard Day, a global observance commemorating the signing of the Bishkek Declaration on the conservation of snow leopards in 2013. The snow leopard has been listed on the IUCN Red List as “Endangered” since 1986, although it recently had its threat status downgraded to “Vulnerable.” Despite this shift, snow leopards remain […]
Africa loses an average of three rhinos a day to the ongoing poaching crisis and the illegal rhino horn trade. In 2016 alone, 1,054 rhinos were reported killed in South Africa, representing a loss in rhinos of approximately six percent. That’s close to the birth rate, meaning the population remains perilously close to the tipping […]
By Rina Herzl Picture an animal enrobed in a fiery, jigsaw-patterned coat. A creature of such majestic height that it towers amongst the trees. As your eyes make their way up its long neck that appears to defy gravity, you find crowned atop its head two Seussian, horn-like protrusions framing dark, curious eyes fanned by […]
A baby rhino spotted alongside its mother in Manas National Park, located in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, is an encouraging new sign that the rhino population in the protected area is on the upswing. The mother, named Jamuna, was rescued as a calf from Kaziranga National Park, located about 200 miles east of […]