Hunters Will Soon Bring Elephant Head Trophies Into U.S.

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) - The Trump Administration plans to remove an Obama-era ban on importing elephant head trophies.

That means big game hunters could soon bring their elephant head trophies into the U.S. if they were killed on legal hunts in Zimbabwe and Zambia.

For decades, African countries have struggled to save elephants. An estimated 30,000 are slaughtered by poachers every year for their ivory tusks.

In the 1970s, Africa had an estimated 1.3 million wild elephants. Now only a half a million remain.
  
But a statement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says legal, well-regulated sport hunting of elephants can help save the animals by giving local communities a financial incentive to protect them.

To read more on this story, click here: Hunters Will Soon Bring Elephant Head Trophies Into U.S.

A Reward Totaling $20,000 is Being Offered for Information Leading to the Arrest of Poacher Responsible for Killing a Federally Protected Gray Wolf

A reward totaling $20,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of a poacher responsible for killing a federally protected gray wolf in south-central Oregon.

OR-28, a 3-year-old female wolf that recently had her first pup, was found dead Oct. 6 in Fremont-Winema National Forest near Summer Lake, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

It's a violation of the federal Endangered Species Act to kill a gray wolf in the western two-thirds of Oregon, punishable by a fine up to $100,000, one year in jail or both.

The incident is being investigated by the Oregon State Police and USFWS. The wolf’s carcass is at the National Forensics Laboratory for a necropsy.

“The illegal killing of wolf OR-28 is heartbreaking," said Amaroq Weiss, west coast wolf organizer for the Center for Biological Diversity. "She was a pioneering animal that was one of the first wolves to make it from northeastern to western Oregon as wolves reestablish territory in lands these majestic animals historically called home.

"OR-28 was also a first-time mother, who leaves behind her mate and single pup to fend for themselves."

The reward, for information leading to the capture of the poacher, comprises $5,000 from USFWS, $10,00 from the Center for Biological Diversity and $5,000 from the Humane Society.

At least five wolves were poached or died under mysterious circumstances in Oregon in 2015 — including OR-22, OR-34, OR-31 and two wolves known as the Sled Springs pair. Around 10 known wolves have been poached in Oregon since 2007.

"We only knew about most of them because the animals had radio collars," said Steve Pedery, conservation director for the environmental group Oregon Wild. "The reward is nice, but the state's track record of actually prosecuting wolf poaching cases is pretty abysmal. I have some hope that USFWS' involvement will mean the prosecution is taken more seriously."

Anyone with information about this case can call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at (503) 682-6131 or Oregon State Police Tip Line at (800) 452-7888. Callers may remain anonymous.

Wolves are protected under the federal ESA in the western two-thirds of Oregon, but were delisted in the eastern third of Oregon. All wolves were removed from the Oregon Endangered Species Act last November.

Meet Ruger, The First Anti-Poaching Dog in Zambia, Where He is Now Responsible for Putting 150 Poachers Out of Business

Ruger, once considered a “bad” dog, is perfect for his job.  Because he had a very rough start in life, he was aggressive and would snap at people, but part of his personality has made him easily trained to become the first anti-poaching dog in Zambia, where he is now responsible for putting 150 poachers out of business.

“Bad dogs have an overwhelming desire to bring you things,” Megan Parker told The Guardian. “Dogs love telling you what they know. They have an inability to quit.

”Parker is the director of research at Working Dogs for Conservation in Montana.  She searches shelters for difficult, “unadoptable” dogs who’d have no problem putting poachers in their place.

Ruger was born on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana.  When he was young, his owner shot his littermates, but he was able to flee.  He wound up in a shelter, where he was noticed by a trainer who told WD4C about him.

At first, Ruger was aggressive, and would bite people.  Parker had a hard time getting him to the vet, and he hated small spaces.  But there was something about him that encouraged her to keep working with him.  However, there was something else that stood in Ruger’s way of becoming an anti-poaching dog at all.

“Early on in his training, Meg was under pressure from her colleagues to decide if Ruger would make the cut,” said Pete Coppolillo, executive director at WD4C. “If a dog doesn’t work out, we make sure they have a forever home. We all wondered if Meg should start finding a place for Ruger, who was losing his sight.

”But she knew that Ruger had the drive necessary to make the cut.

“These dogs have an unrelenting drive,” she said. “For a dog that doesn’t stop, you can train that dog to bring you things.”

Parker was eventually able to match up Ruger with the Delta Team scouts, a law enforcement unit operated by the South Luangwa Conservation Society and the Zambia Wildlife Authority.  The scouts had little experience with dogs, and were leery of the idea that a dog could help.

Ruger proved his worth at his first day on the job.  Roadblocks were set up to search vehicles for illegal paraphernalia.

“It takes humans an hour or more to search a car,” said Coppolillo, “whereas it takes dogs three to four minutes.”

Ruger sat down and glared at one of the passing cars.

“That’s his alert [signal],” Coppolillo continued.

Several pieces of luggage were inside the vehicle, and the scouts who searched them came up empty-handed.  But Ruger kept his eye on one bag, which contained a matchbox in a plastic bag.  Inside of it was a primer cap, which ignites gunpowder in the illegal muzzle loaders that poachers rely on.

“At that moment, everyone believed that Ruger knew what he was doing,” said Coppolillo. “They learned to think of Ruger as a colleague.”

Now he’s been a valuable team member for a year and a half.

“He’s a hero who’s responsible for dozens of arrests and has convinced many skeptics of his detection skills,” Coppolillo noted.

Some people likened his skills to witchcraft, but at a courthouse demonstration, a scout hid a piece of ivory and Ruger found it in only a couple minutes.  And his deteriorating vision hasn’t impaired him one bit.

“His skills have sharpened.  He’s working with a few younger dogs, who are somewhat goofy and get distracted like most puppies do,” Coppolillo said. “Ruger remains focused despite many distractions, such as having wild animals close by. Baboons are the worst. His lack of eyesight works in his favor because he almost entirely focuses on his sense of smell.

”Because the work is very dangerous, Ruger does not have to work every day, and Godfrey, a scout, rewards him with games of tug-of-war when he nabs someone.

“Poachers are well-armed and well-trained,” Coppolillo said. “African elephants don’t live throughout the continent. Poachers kill elephants where they reside and smuggle them to places where they don’t live to throw law enforcement off their tracks.

”Though it is illegal to hunt within South Luangwa National Park’s boundaries, poachers do it anyway, and over the years, many scouts have colluded with them.  Good scouts are hard to come by, and in Africa, it’s even more difficult to find dogs like Ruger.

“Good dog selection is absolutely essential,” Coppolillo said. “Village dogs simply don’t have the drive to do this kind of work. There are only a handful of suitable and reputable kennels in Africa. Most are focused on selling security and military dogs, so they’re not as well socialized as a conservation dog needs to be. Plus, they generally sell those dogs for much more than what it would cost us to source a dog in the US.

”Parker will continue her dedicated work of finding suitable American shelter dogs to send to Africa to keep saving the lives of countless elephants.

Across the Nation, a Small Army of Animal Dummies Have Been Deployed to Catch People Who Hunt in the Wrong Place

Two men in Maryland recently achieved Internet infamy when they were temporarily banned from hunting after they’d used crossbows to shoot a deer on state land.

Or so they thought.

The men had actually fallen prey to the ruse of a state-owned robotic deer, one of a growing number of remote-controlled decoys being used by American wildlife law enforcement to stop poachers. Across the nation, a small army of deer, elk, bear, turkey, fox and wolf dummies has been deployed to catch people who hunt in the wrong place, in the wrong season or otherwise illegally.

Here’s how it works: Officers truck a robo-animal out into the wild and stage it in an area where they’ve been tipped off about illegal hunting. Then the officers sit out of sight – in a truck, or maybe crouching in bushes – and use a remote to move the animal’s head, tail or legs.

Think you know enough? Skip down to a quiz to find out whether you can spot a robo-animal.

Demand for the decoys is huge, said Jim Reed of the Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust, which donates them to anti-poaching agencies. Game wardens are chronically underfunded, he said, and robo-wildlife is pricey: A deer costs about $2,000; a black bear, up to $5,000. Wardens also are busy – the Humane Society says hunters kill at least as many animals illegally as legally.

The decoys look so alive because, well, they once were, said Brian Wolslegel, owner of the Wisconsin-based Custom Robotic Wildlife. Wolslegel — who does not hunt but instead raises deer in his backyard – makes the dummies out of hides acquired legally from hunters, game wardens or online. (You, too, can purchase a bear hide at taxidermy.net.)

Each year he sells as many as 100 whitetail deer, by far his most popular item. Officers, he said, tell him they make as much as $30,000 in fines off each fake animal.

“To have a poacher, a wild animal and a law enforcement officer at the same scene, it’s like winning the lottery,” he said. And then if the poacher is caught, “the animal already died in the process.”

Robo-wildlife, it turns out, are pretty hard to kill. If a bullet busts the motor, it’s replaceable, Wolslegel said. And most have a Styrofoam core, so a high-powered rifle shot passes through “with minimal damage,” Reed said. In fact, he said, some of the most realistic-looking decoys have been shot 100 times or more.

“The typical deer in the forest is not going to appear well-groomed. It may have a little mud stuck on its back, some hairs ruffled from the wind,” Reed said. The best decoys, he said, “get well-seasoned.”

Think you’re more observant than a poacher? Take this quiz to find out if you can tell a robo-animal from a live animal.

Researchers Witnessed a Couple of Four-Year-Old Gorillas Working Together Dismantling Poachers’ Traps

Not long after a poacher’s trap killed a young mountain gorilla in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, researchers actually witnessed a couple of four-year-old gorillas working together to take apart other traps in the area. Large gorillas are able to use their strength to do this, but the younger ones aren’t.

“This is absolutely the first time that we’ve seen juveniles doing that . . . I don’t know of any other reports in the world of juveniles destroying snares. We are the largest database and observer of wild gorillas . . . so I would be very surprised if somebody else has seen that.” – Veronica Vecellio from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s Karisoke Research Centre in Rwanda

It’s sad to think that thousands of snares are set up in these areas, leaving many animals to be caught and left to die.

As Science Alert Points Out:

While adult gorillas are large and strong enough to extract themselves, young gorillas often are not, and if they don’t die from being stuck in the trap, they run a very real risk of dying from injuries sustained during their escape, such as dislocated bones and gangrenous cuts.

Here is the brief version of how the events unfolded from National Geographic:

On Tuesday tracker John Ndayambaje spotted a trap very close to the Kuryama gorilla clan. He moved in to deactivate the snare, but a silverback named Vubu grunted, cautioning Ndayambaje to stay away, Vecellio said.

Suddenly two juveniles—Rwema, a male; and Dukore, a female; both about four years old—ran toward the trap.

As Ndayambaje and a few tourists watched, Rwema jumped on the bent tree branch and broke it, while Dukore freed the noose.

The pair then spied another snare nearby—one the tracker himself had missed—and raced for it. Joined by a third gorilla, a teenager named Tetero, Rwema and Dukore destroyed that trap as well.

Humans have strayed far from the teachings of our ancestors. We once knew the importance of preserving and respecting all living things on this planet. Now, with the rise of today’s consumerist culture, we focus instead on acquiring material possessions, only to discard them and acquire even more, newer versions of these possessions. Worse still, much of what we purchase today has its roots in child labor and animal cruelty/suffering, and all of this is done for the sake of economic growth and globalization.

As a result, as studies have recently shown, the Earth has entered into a mass extinction phase. Vertebrates are disappearing at a rate 114 times faster than normal. These include mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and there are several reasons for this decline. For example, an acre of land is cleared every second to graze animals and grow their food crops, resulting in the loss of over one hundred plant, animal, and insect species. Climate change, pollution, and deforestation seem to be the main culprits.

At the rate we are going, it seems unlikely that humans will be able to survive on this planet as close as one hundred years from now.

This entire experience, however, has served us in a way like no other. More and more people are starting to become aware of what is really happening on this planet and are starting to feel the urge to change. This is a good sign, and something that’s desperately needed at this time. I personally feel that our planet is actually shifting itself in the right direction, but it seems likely that it will be a challenging, if worthwhile, process for us all.

Lioness Made Famous in BBC’s Long-Running Big Cat Diary Documentary Series Has Been Poisoned

Members of Kenya’s Marsh lion pride, made famous in BBC’s long-running Big Cat Diary documentary series, have reportedly been poisoned after eating a cow carcass in the Masai Mara Reserve.

So far, two lions have died—a lioness named Bibi and an unidentified lion, which was found in the field dead, fed on by scavengers. Another female named Sienna has been missing since Governor’s Camp manager Patrick Reynolds discovered the animals acting strange Sunday morning.

On Tuesday, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust posted on its Facebook page that an autopsy of Bibi found that traces of an insecticide had been used to poison the pride. The wildlife trust’s mobile veterinary unit is treating five other lions in the pride with antidotes for the poison, and reported that six white vultures were found dead near the location of the poisoned cow carcass.

The rest of the 13-member lion pride has been accounted for and remains under 24-hour watch by veterinarians and park rangers, according to Paula Kahumbu of the conservation group Wildlife Direct.

  

While it remains unclear who is responsible for the attacks, cattle herders who allow their cows to graze on grasses in the Masai Mara reserve are suspects. Lions can prey on the cows the herders bring on the land, and conflicts are becoming more frequent. A 2009 study in the Journal of Zoology found that illegal cattle grazing on protected land in Kenya’s Mara region has increased more than 1,100 percent since 1970.

On Tuesday, Kenyan Wildlife Service officials charged two men with poisoning the lions. If convicted, the men could face up to $200,000 in fines or life in jail.

“Kenya has never before charged a person with poisoning wildlife even though it is a frequent crime that is devastating populations of vultures lions and other predators,” Kahumbu said in a statement. “This is sending a shock wave of fear through the criminal networks.”

Conservationist and certified wildlife veterinarian Hayley Adams said the poisoning of the famous Marsh lion pride will help raise awareness of long-standing conflict issues between humans and Africa’s wildlife that’s been quietly escalating in recent years.

“Pastoralists have been retaliating with spears against lions that predate on their livestock, and now there have been growing instances of poisoning as it becomes easier to access,” said Adams, who has been working in East Africa for more than 20 years. “The problem will most likely get worse before it gets better.”

And when poachers or ranchers use poison, it affects more than just the animal they are targeting, it can affect an ecosystem. Animals not targeted, such as the vultures in this case, can end up dead.

Adams’ foundation works with local communities on health issues and also with wildlife conservation efforts.

“The educational angle we can take is getting the communities to understand that poisoning the animals can end up hurting themselves,” Adams said. “It can get in other species, which hurts ecotourism in the region, and it can get in the water supply.”

One option Masai Mara Reserve officials could look into to reduce lion-cow conflict would be to allow herders to graze cattle in the preserve during daylight hours, and ban cattle grazing at night. That system has been beneficial in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area, south of the Masai Mara, to limit herders’ run-ins with lions.

“The way it is now, herders are bringing their cattle there under cover of night, when lions are more likely to hunt, because it’s illegal,” Adams said. “It’s a difficult situation, both for the lions, and the communities.”

  

                                                 Bibi with her lion cubs