By Jared Kukura, Wild Things Initiative, 6 December 2020 Once again, a scientific paper is presented in a way to disparage critics of the trophy hunting community despite its shortcomings and potentially contradictory interpretations. The Threat Analysis for More Effective Lion Conservation attempted to provide a framework for defining issues plaguing lions which …
Call for China to Amend its Wildlife Protection Law
Considering how China’s pharmaceutical industry continues to blatantly utilises wildlife (with the support of naïve western investment), the call is long overdue for China (and others) to curtail the commercial exploitation of species such as pangolins, leopards, tiger, bears and elephants…..for ‘cures,’ trinkets and status symbols. 27 non-governmental organisations call …
Captive lion breeding damages SA’s tourism reputation
By Melissa Reitz, Conservation Action Trust, 17 November 2020 Despite overwhelming worldwide opposition, including a parliamentary resolution to close down the captive lion breeding industry, SA’s government is ignoring red flags that the industry is damaging the country’s reputation and deliberating a 2020 annual trade quota for the export of lion bones. The …
“Invest in Nature” – Born Free Foundation Proposal
Born Free Foundation has launched the Global Nature Recovery Investment Initiative (GNRII) – which has resonance in the post COVID-19 world we now inhabit – a global pandemic resulting from the unleashing of a deadly zoonotic disease after man’s exploitation of wildlife. The GNRII focuses attention on bodies, such as …
Safari Club International’s Plan to Colonize Africa’s Hunting Grounds
By Jared Kukura, Wild Things Initiative, 27 October 2020 (Article given in Conservation Action Trust). Also see “How American hunting organizations conduct information warfare on social media,” Jared Kukura, Wild Things Initiative, 29 June 2020 In 1996, Safari Club International and their African Chapter held a series of visits and …
Urgent questions about the welfare of wildlife that Parliament needs to ask
Banner image: An overcrowded camp with lion cubs of the same age. (Photo: Blood Lions) By Don Pinnock, Daily Maverick, 26 August 2020 As Department of Agriculture officials file into a meeting with Parliament’s Environmental Portfolio Committee on Friday (August 28) to explain the animal welfare laws they administer and the implications …
Is Trophy Hunting a Major Threat to Lions?
By Jared Kukura, Wild Things Initiative, 10 August 2020 For more than a decade, we have been told trophy hunting is not a major threat to lions. But is this claim supported by science? Trophy hunting advocates will point to recent reports published by members of WildCRU and the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group stating …
White-tailed Eagle Poisoning – Scotland
Banner image courtesy of Police Scotland who said “As well as being illegal, poisoning is a cruel way to kill a bird. It also puts the lives of other creatures and plants at risk and impacts negatively on our environment” As notified by Wild Justice (28 July 2020), a radio-collared specimen of the UK’s …
Informing The Debate on Trophy Hunting
On the 30 June 2020, Dr Dilys Roe, Chair – IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (SULi) [and Board Member of advocacy group, Resource Africa UK] and Dr Amy Dickman, Director – Ruaha Carnivore Project, University of Oxford, presented to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Shooting and Conservation, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP (‘Benefit …
World Wildlife Crime Report – Trafficking in Protected Species
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has issued a report, “World Wildlife Crime Report – Trafficking in Protected Species” 2020. “Lion, jaguar and leopard body parts are being increasingly sought as substitutes to tiger products by traffickers, a major UN report has found, but demand for ivory …