Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics
They challenge the government to abandon its 25-year bTB eradication policy.
Criminals May Be Using Antiques as a Way to Launder Rhino Horn
Sophisticated criminal networks use every way possible to traffic illegal rhino horn to consumer countries, often routing it through countries in the European Union.
Botswana’s Safari Tourism Industry to Fight Elephant Poaching
Until recently, these forces have combined to stop widespread poaching activity, making Botswana a haven for Africa’s increasingly threatened wildlife.
Conference Focuses Spotlight on the Illegal Wildlife Trade
Participants at the London conference sought to strengthen international partnerships in an effort to tackle the illegal wildlife trade which is worth as much as £17-billion (US$22.5-billion).
The Airline Industry Has the Power to Curb Illegal Wildlife Trafficking
Illegal wildlife trafficking impacts more than 7,000 species of animals and plants. Criminal organizations involved in wildlife trafficking are often directly connected to other trafficking networks, with the profits being used for all manner of illegal activities.
Vietnamese Wildlife Syndicates a Growing Threat to Elephants
While the seizures likely represent a small fraction of the actual volume trafficked, they represent as many as 11,414 dead elephants.
Sniffer Dogs Prove Their Worth in Rhino Poaching Crisis
Network for Animals supports seven of the 54 sniffer dogs that work for the Kruger National Park’s canine unit. The dogs and the brave men who work with them, hunt down poachers in the huge nature reserve, which is larger than the country of Wales.
Tories Expand Cruel and Pointless Badger Cull
It’s clear that neither scientific reasoning nor constant pressure from animal lovers will end the horror of the badger cull. Only a change in government will stop the madness.
Is Zimbabwe Exporting Rhinos to China?
Most recently, it was reported that 31 young elephants captured in the Hwange National Park in January this year, were to be exported – probably to China.
Kudos for Singapore Airlines. It Won’t Transport Lion Bones From South Africa
Our organisation strongly supports the movement by animal rights activists and organisations to shut down this industry that is a stain on South Africa’s reputation as a leader in the conservation of wild animals and natural landscapes.
Elephant Massacre in Botswana
The bodies of 87 elephants, most with their tusks chopped off, were discovered by a non-governmental organisation, Elephants without Borders, which was conducting a routine elephant census along the Botswana border.
Is the Tide Turning for Elephants?
The work done by Network for Animals and its supporters comes at an important time for elephants − a time when the tide appears to be turning against the trade in ivory.
Canned Lion Hunting
This Zapiro cartoon in the Daily Maverick captures the essence of South Africa’s shameful canned lion hunting industry that places cash before conservation.
Legal Challenge to the Controversial Badger Cull
According to the Badger Trust, 30,000 badgers have been killed since 2013 as a result of the Defra’s policy to cull badgers.
A Step Backwards for the American People
We assure our supporters that ASI will continue to push back against laws like this one that lead to untold pain and hardship for wild animals.
Wildlife Crime: Global Seizures and Arrests in Transcontinental Operation
The global law enforcement community is to be congratulated for these significant seizures.
South Africa’s Famed Wildlife Is at Risk
When wildlife becomes a commodity as it has done in South Africa, the welfare of animals becomes secondary.
Australia Seeks to Stop the Trade in Donkeys Before It Starts
The number of donkeys in African countries has thinned dramatically in recent years: Kenya’s donkey population, for example, has fallen by half since 2009, to 900 000.
Pet Shop Sales Ban Could Help to End the Misery of the Illegal Puppy Trade
We would like to see a public education campaign instituted to highlight the serious health implications and terrible cruelty that is associated with puppy farming
Yulin Is the Evil Headquarters of China’s Animal Cruelty
Around ten million dogs and cats are killed and eaten by humans each year in China. Horrifyingly, they actually celebrate this shame at the annual Yulin Lychee and Dog Meat festival.
Huntsman Is Found Guilty and Fined
Hunter, George Adams, 66, was fined £1 000 (US$1 430) and ordered to pay costs and damages of £1 030 (US$1 475) when he was convicted and sentenced by the Peterborough Magistrates Court earlier this month for using hounds to kill a fox on 1 January 2016.
Oxford Residents to Say “No” to the Badger Cull
Animal Survival International (formerly Political Animal Lobby) spokesperson, David Barritt, said the organisation agreed absolutely with the Oxfordshire Badger Group and ASI was heartened by the groundswell of support for badgers that is rising across Britain.
ASI and NFA Honor Daphne Sheldrick
“Daphne was a giant among animal lovers,” said David Barritt, NFA campaign director and a spokesperson for ASI. “We honour her life’s work and we pledge to continue doing everything in our power to protect the wild animals and wild places of Africa.”
Hunters Should Stop Using Lead Bullets and Help Save the Vultures
Concern over the threat to scavenging raptors is increasing. Recent research has shown that lead poisoning can have negative effects even if it doesn’t kill the birds.
South Africa’s Shame
In South Africa lion breeding and canned lion hunting are controversial, but legal. There are an estimated 200 farms breeding captive lions and almost 8 000 individual animals are known to be held in cages or confined areas.
Keep African Elephants in the Wild!
Conservationists estimate that almost 100 elephant calves have been exported from Zimbabwe to Chinese zoos since 2012, in spite of growing international condemnation of the practice.
Labour Party Raises Animal Welfare to the Top of the Political Agenda
The Animal Survival International (formerly Political Animal Lobby) has welcomed last month’s launch by the British Labour Party of a draft policy document that promises radical action on animal welfare.
Taiwan Dog Meat Ban Raises Hope Across Asia
A ban on the consumption of dog and cat meat that was implemented by the Republic of China (Taiwan) last year has raised hopes that the brutal dog meat trade might finally be on the wane across Asia.
The Tide Is Turning for Elephants
Exactly a month after China shut down the last of its licensed ivory carving factories and retail outlets, the Hong Kong Legislative Council voted to end the ivory trade in Hong Kong.
Badger Blood Bath Continues as UK Government Reviews Its Policies
When the UK government talks about the badger cull, it uses euphemisms to hide the fact that it is slaughtering badgers at an unprecedented rate.
Boxing Legend Manny Pacquiao to Fight Against the Dog Meat Trade
After two decades of persistent lobbying against the horrific dog meat trade, representatives of the Animal Survival International (formerly Political Animal Lobby) in the Philippines met with boxing legend Manny Pacquiao in the hope that he would throw his considerable weight behind animal welfare campaigns in his country. ASI team members met with Pacquiao on January 17. The boxer is the pride of the Philippines and in 2016 was elected to the country’s senate. He is regularly mentioned as a future candidate for vice president and then president. Pacquiao is an animal lover who during his boxing career, was regularly joined on early morning road training sessions by his dog, Pacman. Pacquiao is vocal in his condemnation of the cruel and illegal practice of horse fighting in his country and ASI is hoping that the Senator will endorse the efforts of ASI’s sister organisation, Network for Animals, which has been at the forefront of putting an end to the killing of dogs for the illegal dog meat trade in the Philippines. While NFA continues to monitor dog meat traders and coordinate raids on slaughter houses and restaurants with the National Meat Inspection Service and local police, ASI lobbies constantly for improved legislation, education and enforcement. “Our team in the Philippines is in talks with Mr. Pacquiao and his staff,” said ASI representative, David Barritt. “Although he rose to fame as a boxer, Mr. Pacquiao is today an influential member of the Senate of the Philippines. We believe that his support for our work would be a telling endorsement and might mean that finally, the people of the Philippines can turn their backs on the dog meat trade and the unimaginable cruelty it engenders.”
National Trust Hunting Ban Defeated by a Whisker
A vote to ban trail hunting on National Trust land was narrowly defeated in October, but anti-hunting campaigners have vowed to continue the fight.
UK Plans to Ban Ivory Trade to End ‘Shame’ of Elephant Poaching
The Animal Survival International (formerly Political Animal Lobby) welcomes consultation by UK environment secretary to ban sales of all ivory goods, regardless of age and origin By Sue Cullinan The UK government has bowed to pressure from wildlife campaigners and says it will ban ivory sales, depending on the results of a consultation launched in October 2017. The international trade in ivory has been illegal since 1990 but UK law currently allows trade in ‘antiques’ carved before 1947, or items worked before 1990 that have government certification. In September 2016, then-environment secretary Andrea Leadsom pledged to ban the sale of items carved before 1990, but no progress was made on implementation. The new consultation, promulgated by her successor Michael Gove, will apply to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland − but the department of the environment says it “welcomes responses from organisations and people based outside of the UK.” The decline in the elephant population fuelled by poaching for ivory shames our generation,” said Gove. “The need for radical and robust action to protect one of the world’s most iconic and treasured species is beyond dispute. Ivory should never be seen as a commodity for financial gain or a status symbol – so we want to ban its sale. These plans will put the UK front and centre of global efforts to end the insidious trade in ivory.” The UK is the biggest exporter of legal ivory in the world and eliminating the trade will help “prevent illegal ivory being laundered by criminals”, says the report, which outlines plans for a 12 week consultation until Dec 29, 2017. It says the proposed ban will cover ivory items of all provenance and all ages. The Animal Survival International (formerly Political Animal Lobby) has welcomed the news, but urged the UK government not to delay. According to records from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), not only did the UK export more ivory than anyone else to smuggling hubs for “blood ivory” such as Hong Kong and China, but it also sold on 370% more ivory than the next highest exporter, the USA. It is estimated that 36,000 elephants are killed each year − roughly one every 15 minutes, with an average of more than 50 elephants killed by poachers every day. Between 2007 and 2014, the population of African elephants plummeted by a third, leading to warnings that the entire species could become extinct. Elephants are often defined as a “keystone” species, says the Gove report, meaning that they affect an entire ecosystem. “If keystone species become extinct, this would likely lead to an irreparable change to their environment.” Their decline would also deprive some of the poorest countries in the world of their natural resources. This could affect economic growth and sustainable development as wild elephants generate tourism revenue and also bring in funding for wider conservation projects. The report says that illegal wildlife trade has become a transnational organised enterprise, estimated to be worth up to £17-billion a year. The latest UK pronouncement represents a U-turn and took campaigners by surprise, because in 2015, the Conservatives had pledged to ban ivory but removed this promise from their manifesto for the June 2017 general election. Gove’s report says the government is proposing a TOTAL ban on UK sales of ivory, and the import and export of ivory for sale to and from the UK, “where such sales could contribute either directly or indirectly to ivory poaching”, with some narrowly defined exemptions. These are: Allowing the continued sale of musical instruments which contain ivory Allowing the continued sale of items which contain a small percentage of ivory, and where the ivory is integral to the item (a “de minimis” exemption) Allowing the continued sale of items which are of significant artistic, cultural and historic value Allowing the continued sale of ivory to museums, and between museums The illicit ivory trade, and the weight of ivory involved, is said to be three times greater now than in 1998. The trade is controlled by rules set by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and its rules are implemented in the UK through the Animal Plant and Health Agency (APHA. By comparison, the US has imposed 100-year ban, with a “de minimis” exemption for items containing less than 200g ivory or musical instruments. China has also announced its intention to ban all ivory trade by the end of 2017, but it may continue to allow the transport, gifting and display of ivory, and the auction of ivory “relics”. France is proposing a ban on post-1947 items totally or partly composed of ivory, with exemption for some musical instruments and items containing less than 200g. The UK, meanwhile, is the largest importer and exporter of art and antiques in Europe and a global centre for trade in art and antiques. But “the British public also donates generously to wildlife conservation charities,” says Gove’s report, “with the 10-highest earning wildlife and conservation charities in the UK raising £329 million in June 2017.” “Closing the legal ivory market in the UK will end opportunities for criminals to use it to launder recently poached ivory by passing it off as antique,” says the report, adding that the proposed measures will affect fewer than 5,000 UK businesses in the art and antiques sector. The consultation is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications and enquiries are invited at consultation.coordinator@defra.gsi.gov.uk; www.gov.uk/defra
UK Expands the Kill Zone for Badgers
In spite of a lack of convincing evidence that its policies are helping to eradicate a strain of tuberculosis that strikes cattle, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced in September that it would allocate an additional 11 licenses to kill badgers in parts of Devon, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset and Cheshire. This is in addition to the DEFRA re-launching its Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme, which was suspended for two years following a global vaccine shortage. Vaccination of badgers will begin again in 2018. England has the highest incidence of Bovine TB in Europe and in 2016 slaughtered 29,000 cattle in an effort to control the disease. Badgers are known to carry bovine TB, but the shooting of as many as 33,841 badgers across England over the coming year, is unlikely to have any impact on the spread of the disease, according to scientists at the Zoological Society of London. They say that, according to an eight-year experiment that began in 1998, badger culling is a double-edged sword. When it is done effectively, it can reduce bovine TB inside a control zone, but the incidence of the disease is likely to increase up to two kilometers outside a zone. This is because shooting and trapping traumatized badgers and disrupts their social groups, leading them to flee the control zone and spread the disease. Tim Coulson, a zoologist at the University of Oxford, participated in the independent expert panel that oversaw the experiment. He calls the expanded cull “contrary to scientific understanding.” The trial culls showed the difficulty of achieving the necessary 70% reduction in badger population needed to reduce the risk of spreading disease to cattle. “My interpretation of this policy is that the government thinks it is better to be seen to be doing something, rather than to do nothing at all—even if it risks making the problem worse.” An ASI spokesperson agreed, saying the organization is appalled that the DEFRA is flouting scientific advice to continue its senseless slaughter of badgers. “ASI is opposed to Britain’s badger cull on the grounds that it is cruel and unnecessary. The organization will continue to lobby the Conservative government to end its ludicrous badger killing policies,” said the spokesman.
More Than 500 South African Rhinos Were Killed for Their Horns in the First Six Months of 2017
More than 500 South African rhinos were killed for their horns in the first six months of this year – that’s nearly three rhinos a day. Official government statistics show that at least 529 rhinos were killed nationwide between January and the end of June in 2017. Should this killing rate continue unchecked, the final death toll for the year is expected to reach over 1,050 rhinos – almost identical to last year. Moreover, elephant poaching is an increasing problem. Thirty elephants were killed in South Africa’s Kruger National Park in the first six months of 2017. In spite of this, South Africa’s Environment Minister, Edna Molewa, says the situation is improving. She announced that poaching is down in South Africa’s famed Kruger Park, where the Animal Survival International (formerly Political Animal Lobby)’s (ASI) sister organisation Network for Animals assists with canine anti-poaching units. However, poaching is up in other parts of South Africa, notably in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Minister Molewa acknowledges that more needs to be done. “It is clear that more resources are required to address this challenge that we are experiencing in terms of both rhino and elephant poaching,” she said. ASI representative, David Barritt, said anti-poaching efforts in the Kruger National Park were becoming more efficient. “The canine anti-poaching units that NFA assists to track poachers and sniff out weapons, do superb work and have significantly helped reduce poaching,” he said. But he cautioned that the situation remains critical. “South Africa is the last stand for rhinos and elephants,” he said. “If the battle is lost in South Africa then there is no hope at all. The South African government seems to finally realise that the survival of these species depends on their actions and there are positive things happening, but the scale of the problem is so huge that much more needs to be done.”