CONSERVATION NEWS

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Mother Elephant Dies after being shot by unknown shooter. Orphaned baby elephant rejoins herd.

Tragedy strikes south Luangwa, but local agencies work together to deal with the issue.

On July 7th, staff members from our partners at Zikomo Safari were going to gather firewood in the GMA (Game Management Area) and spotted a wounded Mother Elephant and reported it to the Ranger Teams at Miliyote Gate. The Elephant was wounded in the right leg from a large caliber rifle about 10 days prior.

A team was put together with several other agencies, including Nsefu Wildlife Conservation Foundation (Nsefu.org), Conservation South Luangwa (CSL), Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and Zikomo Safari to try and save the elephant, but unfortunately, the Elephant died of its wounds. The team is now in search of who could have done this.

The Mother Elephant had a young calf which is estimated to be 8-10 months old, who stayed by her side after she died. The baby even put a defense of it's mother when the Nsefu.org team tried to approach to ascertain the situation. Eventually the calf joined the herd, protected my the matriarch of the herd. Nsefu.org will try to keep track of the calf, since it was still nursing, to make sure it's on a path to survival.

By law the DNPW had to oversee the removal of the elephants tusks, to keep them out of the ivory market. They will eventually be taken to DNPW for safe keeping until it can be properly disposed of.

Nsefu Wildlife Conservation Foundation is working hard to protect the wildlife in Africa, but we need your help. You're donations help us prevent tragic situations like this and work towards a balance between people and wildlife.

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Nsefu.org Team joins local schools for Eco Game Drive.

Local kids get to see wildlife close up!

The Nsefu team had a wonderful time with school children in the park. This was our second game drive with the kids. There are from three schools in the area, Nsefu Primary, Kawaza Primary and Chitunda Community School. And there were a total of 15 children on the drive.

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Visiting the new Conservation Club at Chulu School

The power of youth coming together for the future!

The Nsefu Team visited the Chulu School to witness the formation of the Chulu School’s Conservation Club. Chulu in the local language means Ant Hill. The students are standing on the Ant Hill that the school was named after.

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Nsefu.org's Sewing Program is making a difference in the Mfuwe community.

Our sewing program is part of our multi-pronged approach at putting an end to poaching.

By empowering local women, we’re working towards self-sustainability.

Nsefu.org’s Sewing Program is beginning to have a real impact on the local Mfuwe Community in Zambia. Local women are now producing products for sale and are on the road to becoming independent, rely less on donations, and are better able to support their families. This creates an environment where poaching will no longer be a necessity for survival.

In the video below, the Nsefu.org Sewing Team was visiting the Baobab Craftshop which is sponsored by Jen and Mike from Marula Lodge.

Your donations helped to get this program off the ground and with your continued support, we hope this grow in to a self-sustaining enterprise.

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Zimbabwe May Withdraw From Endangered-Species Deal to Sell $300 Million of Ivory

Zimbabwe may consider withdrawing from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species 

By Ray Ndlovu

June 10, 2019, 10:56 AM PDT

A Zimbabwe National Parks game ranger holds an elephant ivory tusk in the country's ivory vault in Harare, on June 2, 2016.

A Zimbabwe National Parks game ranger holds an elephant ivory tusk in the country's ivory vault in Harare, on June 2, 2016.

Zimbabwe may consider withdrawing from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species because the organization won’t allow it to sell its ivory stockpile.

The southern African nation with the world second-largest population of elephants has a stockpile of tusks worth an estimated $300 million and needs the revenue, Fulton Mangwanya, director-general of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, told lawmakers in the capital, Harare on Monday.

While CITES has banned international ivory sales to curb poaching, frustration is growing over the fact that “other countries are prescribing how we should handle our animals,” Mangwanya told a parliamentary committee on environment and tourism. Withdrawing from CITES would have the support of neighbors Botswana, Zambia and Namibia, which all have large elephant populations of their own, he said.

In recent years, Zimbabwe has raised money for conservation by selling elephants to China. The size of the population, estimated at 84,000, is twice what can be supported by available food and land, according to the government. Botswana last month lifted a hunting ban on wildlife because it says it has too many elephants, which destroy crops and sometimes kill people.

The last once-off commercial sale of stockpiles of elephant ivory from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe that CITES allowed was completed in 2009. Most of the tusks went to China and Japan.

“Countries like Japan are supporting us, China is dilly-dallying, I’m not quite sure why, but they are the ones that want our ivory,” Mangwanya said.

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Laptops & Tablets for the Chabwera School

We’d like to thank Tellico Village Computer Users Club for their generous donation.

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To say we are proud would be the understatement of the century! Here are our Nsefu Wildlife Board members in Zambia with our school teachers receiving all the wonderful donations of computers and tablets. It is such a big deal they had speeches from the Principal and the children read a conservation speech! YOUR donations truly impact lives. We take things for granted here in the US, but they have little and these things make them so excited. So much so.... they threw an EVENT for these items. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO DONATED...and we can always use more. No one will appreciate it more than the lovely people of Nsefu. THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US AT TEAM NSEFU!

Special thank you to our wonderful friends Tellico Village Computer Users Club and Ben Protas and Danny Donnelly of Five Star Communications for your treasured support!

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Last male Sumatran rhino in Malaysia dies!

The  Sumatran rhino is on the brink of extinction.

One female in Malaysia and about 80 in Indonesia are all that remain of the species.

Story by Jason Bittel / www.nationalgeographic.com

Malaysia’s last male Sumatran rhinoceros, Tam, has died—a serious blow for the critically endangered species, which is already extinct in the country.

Discovered poking around an oil palm plantation in 2008, Tam was captured and transferred to the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in the state of Sabah. Efforts to breed him with two female rhinos—Puntung, captured in 2011, and Iman, captured in 2014—proved unsuccessful.

With Puntung’s euthanization in 2017 due to cancer, Iman is now the nation’s sole remaining member of its species in Malaysia. Due to decades of habitat loss and poaching, fewer than 80 Sumatran rhinos are thought to exist in the wild, most on the nearby island of Sumatra. The rest are scattered across Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo.

Sumatran rhinos are so few, in fact, experts now believe isolation is the single biggest threat to the species’ continued existence. This is because females of this species can develop cysts and fibroids in their reproductive tracts if they go too long without mating. (Such was the cause of Iman’s infertility. Puntung's inability to carry fetuses seemed to stem from injuries sustained from a poacher’s snare and a failed pregnancy in the wild.)

That's why, in 2018, the world’s leading conservation nonprofits, including the National Geographic Society, announced an unprecedented collaboration called the Sumatran Rhino Rescue. The aim? To find and safely capture as many wild rhinos as possible so that they can be brought together for captive breeding. (Read: “The Unprecedented Plan to Save the Sumatran Rhino.")

“Tam's death underscores how critically important the collaborative efforts driving the Sumatran Rhino Rescue project are,” Margaret Kinnaird, wildlife practice leader for WWF International, says in an email.

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Petition: Save the Highly Trafficked, Critically Endangered Pangolins!

Let’s save the Pangolin and other species from extinction.

Image Source : Jiri Prochazka/Shutterstock

Image Source : Jiri Prochazka/Shutterstock

The pangolin is a small mammal about the size of a domesticated cat that looks like the combination between a pinecone and a tiny dragon. They’re cute little creatures and sadly, they’re one of the most trafficked animals in the world. Ten thousand pangolins are illegally trafficked each year, and they are critically endangered.

Their meat is eaten and their hard scales are used in traditional medicine. They’re shy, gentle, nocturnal creatures that curl up into a ball when threatened. They’re so gentle, in fact, that the stress alone from being in captivity kills them.

Image Source : Jiri Prochazka/Shutterstock

Among the most trafficked animals are rhinos and tigers, but pangolins even surpass them. They cost up to $350 per kilo in Vietnamese, and are frozen alive to be traded by the ton covered with frozen fish or snakes for cover.

A pangolin conservation program and rehab in Vietnam cares for pangolins in an effort to conserve the species. They feed them and take extreme measures to keep germs away from them as well as foods that may cause them digestive issues since they can die so easily.

They give them tests to see if they can be released into the wild. However, even they do not have much knowledge on pangolins since these little mammals are mostly unknown. Because of this, they can go extinct before most people even know about their existence.

Although trafficking pangolins is mostly illegal, it’s still done in Vietnam and China. If you want the authorities in these countries to better enforce the laws that are meant to protect pangolins, sign this petition!

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Botswana Lifts 5-Year Ban on Hunting Elephants!

This decision goes against what Nsefu.org stands for.

Botswana, home to one third of Africa's elephants, announced Wednesday that it was lifting its ban on the hunting of the large mammals.

"The Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism wishes to inform the public that following extensive consultations with all stakeholders, the Government of Botswana has taken a decision to lift the hunting suspension," the government announced in a press release shared on social media.

Botswana had banned elephant hunting in 2014 under the leadership of conservation-minded President Ian Khama, who opposed trophy hunting and also introduced a shoot-to-kill policy against poachers, The New York Times reported. But his successor, President Mokgweetsi E.K. Masisi, convened a committee to reassess the ban after winning election in 2018.

The announcement prompted an outcry from conservationists and wildlife lovers around the world.

"The whole world is turning away from hunting. It is increasingly seen as an archaic practice. This is very, very damaging to the image of Botswana as a global leader in elephant conservation," Kenyan-based expert and activist Dr. Paula Kahumbu said, as The Guardian reported.

Celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres and Kristin Davis also spoke out against lifting the ban, according to The New York Times.

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May 23rd is World Turtle Day® 2019

Turtles, along with Elephants, Rhinos and more need our protection!

American Tortoise Rescue launched World Turtle Day to increase respect and knowledge for the world’s oldest creatures. These gentle animals have been around for 200 million years, yet they are rapidly disappearing as a result of smuggling, the exotic food industry, habitat destruction, global warming and the cruel pet trade. It is a very sad time for turtles and tortoises of the world.  (See slide show here.)
 
Biologists and other experts predict the disappearance of turtles and tortoises within the next 50 years. Adults and children can do a few small things that can help save turtles and tortoises for future generations.

  • Never buy a turtle or tortoise from a pet shop as it increases demand from the wild.

  • Never remove turtles or tortoises from the wild unless they are sick or injured. 

  • If a tortoise is crossing a busy highway, pick it up and send it in the same direction it was going – if you try to make it go back, it will turn right around again (but be safe yourself!). 

  • Write letters to legislators asking them to keep sensitive habitat preserved or closed to off road vehicles and to prevent offshore drilling that can lead to endangered sea turtle deaths.

  • Report cruelty or illegal sales of turtles and tortoises to your local animal control shelter.

  • Report tiny turtles less than four inches sold at pet stores and street vendors or used as prizes at carnivals and other events. Their sale has been illegal since 1974.

 
ATR’s ultimate goal is to stop the illegal trade in turtles and tortoises around the world. The first priority here in the U.S. is to ask pet stores and reptile shows to stop the sale of hatchling tortoises and turtles without proper information for the buyer. For example, many people buy sulcata tortoises as an impulse buy because they are so adorable when they are tiny. The breeders and pet stores frequently do not tell the buyers that this tortoise can grow to 100 pounds or more and needs constant heat throughout the year since they do not hibernate.
 
ATR also educates people and schools about the real risk of contracting salmonella from water turtles. Wash hands thoroughly every time you touch a turtle or its water, and do not bring turtles into schools or homes where children are under the age of 12.
 
Some of the highlights to make World Turtle Day special, include:  

  • Everyone can join the party at home, at a pub or at work! ATR created a World Turtle Day Party Pack that can be accessed for free here http://bit.ly/1YwebJR  

  • Like the World Turtle Day page on Facebook and join thousands of fans who are enjoying selfies, baking and other contests and prizes in honor of World Turtle Day.

  • Follow @WorldTurtleDay on Twitter where last year it trended at the top when thousands of people tweeted #worldturtleday to spread the good word about turtles.

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Sick slaughter of 2,000 hippos as Zambia accused of cashing in on cull!

Hippos are under increasing threat from poaching, wildlife trade and sport hunting, and there are only approximately 130,000 wild hippos remaining.

EXCLUSIVE: Locals say the hippo population in Zambia's Luangwa Valley is under threat with claims government 'cull' is actually a trophy hunting package deal money-spinner.

Story by Rhian Lubin / www.mirror.co.uk

An unidentified hunter poses with a felled hippo in Zambia

An unidentified hunter poses with a felled hippo in Zambia

Deep in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, pods of hippos are happily grunting at one another, the sound echoing across the river.

But soon, the Luangwa waters may run red with their blood – after the government announced 2,000 of them will be culled.

And trophy hunting operators look set to cash in, charging bloodthirsty tourists to help with the state-sanctioned slaughter.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove is said to be considering a ban on the import of trophies from “canned” lion hunting, where the animals are confined for a greater kill chance.

It is believed he will then look at banning imports of other hunting trophies.

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Ranger Report - Q1 2019

With your support, Nsefu.org is making a difference in Zambia.

Rifles and Snares taken from poachers that will no longer kill wildlife!

Rifles and Snares taken from poachers that will no longer kill wildlife!

We had 27 arrested in which…

  • 7 from Kakumbi Village.

  • 7 from Nsefu Village.

  • 6 from Mnkhaya.

  • 3 from Jumbe.

  • 2 from Msoro.

  • 2 from National Park.

As it stands…

  • 7 are Pending in Court.

  • 2 have been Acquitted.

  • 18 Convicted.

Recovered Items…

  • 14.2 kg of Ivory.

  • 47 kg of Buffalo Meat.

  • 1.5 kg of Puku Fresh Meat.

  • 2 full Carcasses of Dried Impala Meat.

  • 182 kg Fresh Hippo Meat.

  • 5 Homemade Shotgun.

  • 1 Muzzle Loading Gun.

  • 1 Greener Shotgun.

  • 21 Shells (Ammunition).

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Nsefu.org joins The Global March for Elephants & Rhinos with events in Zambia, San Diego & Honolulu

Nsefu.org shows its support for Elephants, Rhinos and other endangered species.

Nsefu.org in Honolulu

Nsefu.org in Honolulu

The Nsefu Wildlife Conservation Foundation (Nsefu.org) joined forces with the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos with events taking place in Zambia and San Diego on Saturday, May4th. Joining us for the event in San Diego was Elephanatics, Arte for Elephants, Sea Shepherd San Diego, and Lions, Tigers and Bears. Also, the Nsefu.org team in Honolulu held a march on Friday, April 26th.

A message from The Global March for Elephants and Rhinos…

“We’re building a movement on behalf of Earth’s last wild elephants and rhinos. Our signature event is the global march, when people around the world unite with one voice to raise awareness, generate global media attention on the crisis, and demand governments take action to stop the poaching of elephants and rhinos and protect our endangered wildlife.”


The Zambian Global March for Elephants & Rhinos

The Global March for Elephants & Rhinos in San Diego

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What young Zambians have to say about making farming more attractive

Agriculture is best suited to provide a great many jobs…

File 20190416 147499 q95twj.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1
Young people view agriculture more positively than often assumed. Shutterstock
Thomas Daum, University of Hohenheim

Africa has the youngest population of any continent – 60% are under age 25. While this has evoked both hope and fear, it is clear that jobs are needed for the 12 million people entering the workforce every year.

Agriculture is best suited to provide a great many jobs as it can absorb much labour, and because prospering farms trigger employment opportunities in the rest of the economy. But agriculture is often unattractive for the youth.

To lure young people into farming, policymakers and development actors emphasise the need for modern technology, including agricultural mechanisation. But surprisingly little is known about the opinion of young people in rural areas. Few have asked them what farming and rural areas need to look like to be more attractive.

I conducted a study in Zambia and asked people in rural areas aged between 12 and 20 what would make farming attractive for them. I used two research methods to explore their aspirations and perceptions: interviews as well as drawing exercises.

The results show that young people find more positive aspects in agriculture than often assumed and that the attractiveness of farming doesn’t only hinge on modern technologies. While some technologies are needed, having diverse and sustainable farms, a healthy environment and an attractive rural life is equally important.

The ideal farm. Provided by author

The findings

Most of the people interviewed for the study were proud of the fact that they came from farming families that owned land and worked close to the nature. Ruth (15) expanded on this and said:

We do not pay for maize, land, water and fruits such as mangoes. We have nutritious food.

The respondents also commented on the attractiveness of the rural space. Asked where they want to live in the future, rural or urban, 53% preferred rural areas, because of their freedom and social networks.

In contrast, urban life was often perceived as bad, characterised by road accidents, pollution, Satanism, thieves and drunkards. According to Talunsa (15) people are “poisoned by alcohol and fight”.

Many also found farming unattractive, citing drudgery and weather dependence as reasons. They said they would rather aim for jobs with a regular salary such as teachers. Lozi (16) said:

I want to work with the government. Then I’ll get paid monthly.

Around half of the respondents preferred a future in urban areas rather than in rural areas. These respondents were “pulled” away from rural areas because they were attracted by the perceived positive sides of urban areas. But they were also “pushed” away from rural areas which they associate with a lot of challenges. These included the high labour burden and risks associated with farming. This is what some of the respondents said about these “push” factors:

In the village, we always eat the same, beans and nshima, and we need to work hard.“ (Elina, 16)

In the village, you can be bewitched over small disputes and the fields are very small. I prefer to live in town.” (Jakob, 15).

It’s important to note that the decision to reside either in a rural or urban area was rarely perceived as a lifetime decision. Respondents highlighted that one could work in town after harvest or for some years after school to save some money before returning to the village.

Some of my friends want to go to town but others want to stay. Of the ones who went, many came back after some years. (Alik, 14)

I want to raise some money in town but then I want to move back to my village. I will bring a tractor with me and cultivate a lot of land. (Raimond, 17)

Making farming attractive

So what does farming need to look like to be attractive?

The young people provided some direction on what they thought would make rural spaces more attractive.

The most important factors were:

  • Modern technologies such as tractors and digital tools. But these shouldn’t be over emphasised. Low-tech solutions shouldn’t be neglected.

  • Non-material factors. Making agriculture attractive requires de-risking agriculture and promoting sustainable and diverse farms. These were clearly depicted in the drawings I’d asked the respondents to sketch of their ideal farm. The drawings typically showed highly diverse farms with trees, vegetables, fruits and animals.

  • Ensure healthy landscapes. Having a sustainable, pollution free environment was commonly mentioned as a key advantage of rural over urban life.

  • Rural areas must be developed in ways that go beyond just infrastructure. Social life and networks, which are still an asset in villages compared to cities, were also cited as important. This included networks of neighbours, relatives and friend and the communal celebration of traditions.

What next

Policymakers often highlight the need for modern technologies – including information, communication and technology – when discussing rural development.

But the young respondents I spoke to emphasised more low-tech solutions such as increasing farm diversity, having water wells and using draught animals, which is already an advantage over manual labour.

This suggests that policymakers and development practitioners need to pay more attention to the actual aspirations of young people in rural areas to avoid well-intended but misguided policies. In addition, the findings suggest that there is a need for several policies to reflect several types of young people in rural areas.The Conversation

Thomas Daum, Agricultural Economist, University of Hohenheim

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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