By Rhishja Larson •
November 3, 2009
Tanzania is reportedly preparing to ask CITES to lift the trade ban on elephant ivory, much to the dismay of its EAC neighbors, conservationists, and members of the tourism industry.
In a move that would surely undermine East African conservation efforts, Tanzania has taken up the position that a sanctioned sale of elephant ivory would provide much-needed financial support to the country’s anti-poaching measures.
This comes as a shock to the East African Community (EAC), considering that last year’s sanctioning of a one-off ivory auction is to blame for igniting a scourge of rampant elephant killings throughout Africa - particularly Kenya.
By Rhishja Larson •
October 9, 2009
After a gun battle in Charara National park near Sanyati Gorge, park rangers shot and killed an elephant poacher, arrested three accomplices - and recovered an AK-47 rifle.
While out on patrol, two rangers stationed at Charara Safari Area and Tashinga National Parks came across the carcass of an elephant, who appeared to have been recently killed. As their regular rounds did not turn up any suspects, they decided to wait in ambush near the elephant’s carcass.
By Cate Nelson •
August 5, 2009
In Zambia, the health workers are on strike. That’s not good for the people.
In response, journalist Chansa Kabwela sent two pictures of a woman giving breech birth to women’s rights groups, Zambia’s vice president, and health groups. They were graphic, so much so that Zambia’s The Post decided they were too obscene to publish.
But Kabwela was using these photos as an urgent message: End the strike! The woman had been turned away from two clinics where nurses were on strike, Her breech baby, seen in the photo, suffocated during childbirth. From the BBC:
The pictures are graphic. They show a woman in the process of giving birth to a baby in the breech position - when the baby’s legs come out first.
Its shoulders, legs and arms are visible, but the head has not yet been delivered.
This death apparently occurred outside the main hospital of the capital city, Lusaka. Doctors didn’t reach the laboring woman in time to save the baby.
By Dave Harcourt •
July 30, 2009
Sable Antelope Bull in Kafue, Zambia
The Giant Sable Antelope has been positively sighted for the first time in decades, proving that it is not extinct, while a less threatened species was sold for almost half a million dollars.
The Sable Antelope
The Sable Antelope (Hippotragus niger) is an antelope found in the wooded savannah of East and Southern Africa. They stand from 120 to 140 centimetres (4 to 4½ foot) at the shoulder and weighing between 200 and 270 kilograms (440 and 600 pounds). Males are very distinctively black, with white underbelly, cheeks and chin. They have a shaggy mane and ringed horns which arch backward and are up to more than 1½ metres (5 feet). It is a majestic animal mainly as a result of its striking colour and massive horns.
By Kay Sexton •
March 26, 2009
Today, the upper part of the Zambezi river has pushed past the highest ever recorded water levels. It’s cutting off communities, destroying crops and washing out the networks of small dirt roads that were the only travel system through this remote part of Africa.
