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Plight of Europe's captive jumbos
This story on BBC details the fact that Elephants kept in captivity at zoos and safari parks live short, stressed and unhealthy lives. Given their social, emotional depth and intelligence, Elephants are not suited to be living life in captivity. The report believes that no zoo or safari park in the UK is capable of providing satisfactory conditions to keep elephants in "good" condition. Consumers need to show the businesses that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated by spending their money elsewhere. One might say there is not one, if any, zoo in the world capable of offering these beings the right environment to thrive as the fact of domination by Man always usurps the elephant's rights.See News Article at BBC |
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The Zimbabwean government is pushing for legal ivory sales. The future does not bode well for the elephant in the next CITES meeting Overrun with Elephants, Zimbabwe Demands Legal Ivory Sales Parts of Article below were taken From one written By Naftali
Mungai of the Environmental News Service The Zimbabwean government has renewed its demand for legal ivory sales following what authorities say is the swelling of its elephant population. After a single permit under
international law issued in 1999, further legal sales are prohibited. Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management acting director (retired) Brigadier E.W. Kanhanga says that the country's wildlife sanctuaries can no
longer hold the elephants which have increasingly become a real danger not only to human beings, but also to the environment and other wild animals. At the moment, Zimbabwe says that it has 84,000 elephants, almost three times
Kenya's elephant population of 30,000. The last elephant census, conducted by the department of national parks and wildlife in conjunction with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) by way of sample aerial strip and block count
techniques, revealed the 84,000 figure. Experts say that Zimbabwe's annual elephant growth rate is five percent - about 4,200 elephants are born every year. However, Douglas-Hamilton speaks for many critics of a legalized ivory
trade when opposes it on the grounds that "corruption has always surrounded the ivory trade" and that permitting legal trade in ivory "will signal to the world that the African elephant is no longer endangered."
"We feel that this will trigger a fatal demand for ivory," Douglas-Hamilton says, "especially in emerging eastern economies, and risk a renewed holocaust." But officials in Harare say the elephants have
become the most dominant threat not only to humans, but also to the environment within and outside the national parks. In the huge Mana Pools National Park, journalists observed that the elephant has virtually destroyed the
vegetation, and all the other animals are now in danger because of lack of food. The park has 3,000 elephants but can sustain only 700. Hwange, Zimbabwe's largest national park, is currently home to 45,000 elephants when it
should hold only 15,000, wildlife officials say. The result has been environmental destruction of such proportion that the lives of other animals such as the black rhino, one of the world's most endangered species, are now under
threat. The government has tried to offer some of the elephants free to facilities the West but so far, there have been no takers. Zimbabwe says it costs about $500,000 to translocate one adult elephant from Hwange to Gonarezhou
national park, 250 kilometres away, costs which the southern African country reeling from an under performing economy and a broke government can ill afford. The southern African countries of Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia that
harvested and sold the so-called "managed ivory" under a one time permit in 1999 believe that they should be allowed to use their natural resources, including elephants, in a sustainable manner. Kenya has been a
prominent critic of the sale of ivory by the three southern African countries and has persistently objected to the reclassification of the African elephant from a highly endangered species to one whose population can be managed and
trade in its body parts allowed. However, Zimbabwe's position is precarious because it is bound by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) regulations that do not permit killing of elephants for the
international ivory market. During the April 2000 CITES meeting at the United Nations Environment Programme head office in Nairobi, CITES continued the total ban on the sale of ivory that has been in place since 1990. The Kenya
Wildlife Society (KWS) was joined by western environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the WWF. The local media lobbied for Kenya's position. South Africa, which also wants to sell some of its ivory stockpile, joined its
neighbours Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe and fought a bruising battle to place the elephant in a category that would allow for the monitored trade in ivory. |
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The Ivory Markets of Africa - Save The Elephants Press Release This special study of the Ivory
Markets of Africa, was commissioned by Save the Elephants, in preparation for the CITES Conference in Nairobi in April 2000. It is one of the most comprehensive study of Ivory Markets ever made and fills in a gap in
monitoring the ivory trade not covered in the last ten years. The consultants have presented a number of significant results: The ivory ban for ten years has kept prices low. All cities except Lagos have
experienced a marked drop in ivory demand since the CITES ban came into effect in 1990. Sales have remained poor in most of the continent.
STE commissioned this report to inform the CITES meeting with objective market information. Crucial decisions will be made at the conference about the future of the elephant. Four southern African countries
have submitted proposals that would allow them to sell ivory. Kenya and India have proposed putting the elephants of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia back on Appendix 1 of the treaty, along with all other elephants, which
would ban all trade in elephant products everywhere. STE takes the view that the relatively low prices in the retail market detected by Martin and Stiles show that the ivory trade ban in place over the last eight nine years
has been for the most part successful. For ten years elephants in Kenya and other countries have enjoyed a much lower rate of poaching largely due to the ivory ban These are our concerns about the CITES meeting. If the
Southern African nations succeed in being granted further rights to trade in ivory a destabilizing signal will be sent to all potential traders. Save the Elephants argues that just as stock markets are influenced by sentiment so is
the ivory trade.. The risk now is that loosening the ivory trade ban will encourage market sentiment and drive up the price of ivory providing an increased incentive for poachers, middlemen and international traders.
In Kenya there are signs that elephant poaching is already showing a significant increase in two key populations in Tsavo and Samburu. A full study on trends in elephant mortality over the last decade in Kenya is in preparation and
will be published by the Kenya Wildlife Service and STE prior to the CITES Conference of the Parties in April, 2000. A four fold increase in ivory siezures in Kenya has been recorded in 1999 compared to previous years.
Simultaneously, the known increase in illegal guns has created a volatile situation for elephants. These conditions hold true for many other range states and increased poaching has been quantified also in Tanzania and
Zimbabwe. If the incentive to poach is restored by expansion of the ivory trade there would likely be another elephant holocaust worse than that of the 70s and 80s, throughout East, West, Central and parts of Southern
Africa as the increase in guns would make it much harder to control. Despite plans to set up a system for monitoring the illegal killing of elephants, approved by the parties at the last CITES conference, a system is not yet in
place. Comprehensive information on changes in elephant poaching trends across Africa and Asia has not been collected. Save the Elephants takes the view that without such a system it would be folly to allow any further
expansion of ivory trade. We recommend that the Southern African proposals should all be rejected. Furthermore on the precautionary principle the safest way of guaranteeing the safety of the African Elephant populations would
be to support the Kenya and India proposal to put all elephants back on Appendix One of the Convention. ****************** |
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Elephant Agony: An Elephant Walked over 60 miles after a land mind shredded its foot (August 21,1999) Thai veterinarians might have to amputate an elephant's leg up to the knee and fit the animal with a prosthesis after he stepped on a land mine in the jungles of neighbouring Myanmar and
walked over 60 miles. Source no longer available. |
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Loki, the Asian elephant, is cruelly treated with beatings and starvation Despite IPAN's help by saving this elephant's life by providing proper food, medicines, treatments, and expert veterinary advice over a 4-month period of intensive care, Loki is almost dead by his captors. He had sustained crippling and life-threatening injuries while being captured by the State Forest Department. But before his treatment had been completed and his wounds had healed, and despite IPAN's work, the local Tamil Nadu State Forest Department authorities decided to stop intensive care, prohibiting IPAN from entering the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary Elephant Camp to care for and feed "Loki". "The worst thing they ever did was to give Loki hope, then take it away", says Deanna, when she was told on Christmas Day that IPAN's help was no longer necessary. His course of antibiotic treatment was prematurely terminated and he was deliberately beaten on his crippled legs and also starved to weaken him in order to facilitate their "training". Appeals to all responsible persons by IPAN to continue the necessary care and also to supervise Loki's treatment and to stop documented beatings that Dr. Mahoney witnessed and recorded, were ignored. Loki's deteriorating condition was further compounded by his being chained to trees in the forest with his two front legs in tight shackles. Before this, he had been unable to walk or bathe or lie down for almost 7 months while captive in a 16' x 16' log crate. |
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7 Stolen Babies were shipped to a life of confinement in Zoos located in Switzerland and Germany (January 15,1999) "Bloody" activists will confronted Basel Zoo officials to protest their importation of three baby elephants who have been the subject of a months-long controversy over their abduction from their families in Botswana and their beatings and leg-shackling at animal dealer Riccardo Ghiazza's facility in Pretoria, South Africa. Members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), covered their hands with red paint to drive home the point that anyone who deals in the violent business of trading wild animals has blood on their hands: A private air carrier flew the babies to Leipzig after huge commercial carriers, including KLM, Lufthansa, Air France, and Swissair, refused the animal dealer's business because of the cruel treatment of the animals. The baby elephants were deprived of food, water and sleep and were beaten by Indonesian mahouts in order to break their spirits so they could be sold to zoos, circuses, and safari parks. The giant retailer Migros paid for the baby elephants as a "gift" to the zoo, which was already under scrutiny by animal protectionists after two of its African elephants died last year. One of the elephants died of complications stemming from a leg injury that resulted from an unexplained "accident" at the zoo. |
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Thai police investigate 8 elephant deaths for possible poisoning BANGKOK, Thailand (October 3, 1998 1:50 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) -- Police are investigating whether the sudden deaths of eight elephants in northern Thailand are linked to a dispute between animal trainers. Saengduen Chailert, the director of the Elephant Nature Park said that some local villagers suspect that the two elephants who died on Wednesday were poisoned by ethnic Karen trainers competing to attract tourists to their jungle tours. Criticizing the authorities for being slow in their investigation, she also noted that six other elephants have died unexpectedly in the past month in Chiang Mai's Mae Taeng district Source Offline |
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Stolen Baby Elephants Need Your Help! (SEE PAGE FOR FULL UPDATE) In August, 30 baby elephants were torn from their families in Botswana by use of helicopters. Until that time, they roamed free by the Limpopo River on Botswana's Northern Tuli Game Reserve. The babies--sold to Riccardo Ghiazza of African Game Services--were shackled by one front and one rear leg, while both front legs are wrapped in a bamboo-constructed figure-eight device. They were held in a warehouse-like building in Pretoria, South Africa, except when they are taken out to be "broken" (still in the figure-eight leg restraint) by Indonesian workers brought into South Africa for that purpose. Zoos and safari parks are said to be purchasing the animals. A judge has temporarily released the sad animals to NSPA due to the cruelty in this case. However, this ruling is currently under review!!! The latest article reported by CNN on November 6, 1988 details the owner Riccardo Ghiazza of the African Game Services claiming that he and his staff are learning and admits a mistake. On the face of it the statement seems all "warm and cozy" but given the fact that elephants have been "humanely" trained for a long time and also he choose to use Indonesian mahouts to beat them into submission, the statement is unacceptable. He knows he is guilty , has admits it, and frankly should pay for the cruelty and suffering he has inflicted on this baby elephants. What he is going to be missing out on if he looses the elephants for his cruelty is $25,000 USD per elephant!!! Click to go to CNNīs article on the Elephant Trainer Ghiazza Click to go to Elehostīs Stolen Babies Page For More Information |
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Circuses.COM: Elephant Attacks This page is updated quite often with information on the latest attacks from elephants in the "entertainment" industry. Please go there to see some of the many incidents and dangers of having elephants in captivity. |
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This appears to be another sad story of an elephant going mad in the conditions of a circus and breaking free from its captors. In this case it happened in Australia and this 34 year old Asian elephant spent the night in the bush before being caught. Apparently, it was a passing train that spooked the elephant. We know better don't we? Maybe. It does not take a genius to realize that most elephants who are treated with compassion and love do not want to run away; they are very social animals who have an incredible memory for the suffering they have endured. The article for obvious reasons lacks any of this information. However, there may be a bright spot in this story. A woman from Australia reports that the elephant appeared on video footage to be quite relieved to be back and greeted a female attendant as well as some other elephants. We never know why this elephant charged off or what life is like for her behind closed doors, but let this article and its sensationalism serve as a reminder of the many sad stories that take place every day with elephants in captivity. Please Click here to go to "About Circuses" for more information on elephants in captivity Click to go to source |
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Buying and Dying Again? The Ivory Trade Reopens This is an very enlightening article by Ian Redmond on the so-called "limited" opening of the ivory trade. Also, it touches on the political situation leading up to the CITES meeting in June 1997 that downlisted the elephant, and speculates on the importance of this change. |
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