Showing posts with label Zambia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zambia. Show all posts
Saturday, February 17, 2018
The Deserts of Namibia: Life and Photography on Nature's Terms
Photographing wildlife in Namibia isn’t easy. It’s fraught with challenges, hardships, setbacks and stress. But the southern African nation’s peaceful landscapes, majestic animals and kindhearted people always make it worth the trouble. A recent two-week trip to Namibia, my third, was plagued by an unending series of mishaps, but it left me with a mountain’s worth of memories and thousands of photographs. When things weren’t going well, I couldn’t help but think of how much easier life is back home in New York. Now that I’ve returned, I can’t help but think about the photographic opportunities that abound in the harsh but beautiful deserts of Namibia.
Among the nations of sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia is visited less often by Americans than countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania. Namibians are more accustomed to travelers from Germany, France, Britain or Belgium and were slightly surprised to learn I had come from the United States. But they always greeted me warmly.
The nation is bordered by Angola to the north, South Africa to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and Botswana to the east. A panhandle in the country’s northeastern corner, called the Caprivi Strip, stretches toward Zambia and Zimbabwe.
To read more on this story, click here: The Deserts of Namibia: Life and Photography on Nature's Terms
FOLLOW US!
The Deserts of Namibia: Life and Photography on Nature's Terms
Photographing wildlife in Namibia isn’t easy. It’s fraught with challenges, hardships, setbacks and stress. But the southern African nation’s peaceful landscapes, majestic animals and kindhearted people always make it worth the trouble. A recent two-week trip to Namibia, my third, was plagued by an unending series of mishaps, but it left me with a mountain’s worth of memories and thousands of photographs. When things weren’t going well, I couldn’t help but think of how much easier life is back home in New York. Now that I’ve returned, I can’t help but think about the photographic opportunities that abound in the harsh but beautiful deserts of Namibia.
Among the nations of sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia is visited less often by Americans than countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania. Namibians are more accustomed to travelers from Germany, France, Britain or Belgium and were slightly surprised to learn I had come from the United States. But they always greeted me warmly.
The nation is bordered by Angola to the north, South Africa to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and Botswana to the east. A panhandle in the country’s northeastern corner, called the Caprivi Strip, stretches toward Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Deserts of Namibia: Life and Photography on Nature's Terms
FOLLOW US!
Friday, November 17, 2017
Ellen DeGeneres Launches Campaign to Save Elephants After Trump Ends Trophy Ban
Trump’s overturning of the Obama administration ban on elephant trophies in Zimbabwe and Zambia being imported into America sparked outrage from animal rights activists.
Ellen used her talk show yesterday to proclaim her love for elephants and detail her shock at the Trump’s administration’s decision. She said: ‘I love elephants. And if you take the time to learn about elephants, you would love them too.’
To read more on this story, click here: Ellen DeGeneres Launches Campaign to Save Elephants After Trump Ends Trophy Ban
FOLLOW US!
Facing Public Outrage, Trump Puts Elephant Trophy Decision ‘On Hold’
WASHINGTON — In the face of widespread public backlash, President Donald Trump announced late Friday that he has suspended his decision to reverse an Obama-era ban on the importation of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia.
“Put big game trophy decision on hold until such time as I review all conservation facts,” he posted to Twitter. He adding that the issue has been “under study for years” but that he would soon provide an update.
As HuffPost reported Wednesday, the administration decided to lift the ban after determining that sport hunting in those African countries will help conserve the species, a spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed.
To read more on this story, click here: Facing Public Outrage, Trump Puts Elephant Trophy Decision ‘On Hold’
FOLLOW US!
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.
FOLLOW US!
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
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.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Brave Baby Elephant Survives 14-Lion Attack
The video was captured (and narrated) by journalist Jesse Nash, Long Island University art professor Dan Christoffel, naturalist Steve Baker, and Australian TV star Nina Karnikowski, who were all on a safari when they witnessed the scene, according to the New York Post.
The elephant, nicknamed Hercules by the safari guides, has since been reunited with his family.
FOLLOW US!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)