Remembering Dian Fossey–Commentary by Captain Paul Watson

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DIAN FOSSEY
January 16th, 1932 – December 26th, 1985

WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET

Commentary by Captain Paul Watson

Twenty-nine year ago today Dian Fossey was murdered at her camp in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. She was 53.

Fossey was one of the foremost primatologists in the world while she was alive and along with Jane Goodall and Birutė Galdikas, the group of the three most prominent prominent researchers on primates (Fossey on gorillas; Goodall on chimpanzees; and Galdikas on orangutans) sent by Louis Leakey to study great apes in their natural environments.

On three occasions, Fossey wrote that she witnessed the aftermath of the capture of infant gorillas at the behest of the park conservators for zoos; since gorillas will fight to the death to protect their young, the kidnappings would often result in up to 10 adult gorillas’ deaths. Through the Digit Fund, Fossey financed patrols to destroy poachers’ traps in the Karisoke study area. In four months in 1979, the Fossey patrol consisting of four African staffers destroyed 987 poachers’ traps in the research area’s vicinity. The official Rwandan national park guards, consisting of 24 staffers, did not eradicate any poachers’ traps during the same period. In the eastern portion of the park, not patrolled by Fossey, poachers virtually eradicated all the park’s elephants for ivory and killed more than a dozen gorillas.
Fossey helped in the arrest of several poachers, some of whom served long prison sentences.
In 1978, Fossey attempted to prevent the export of two young gorillas, Coco and Pucker, from Rwanda to the zoo in Cologne, Germany. During the capture of the infants at the behest of the Cologne Zoo and Rwandan park conservator, 20 adult gorillas had been killed. The infant gorillas were given to Fossey by the park conservator of the Virunga Volcanoes for treatment of injuries suffered during their capture and captivity. With considerable effort, she restored them to some approximation of health. Over Fossey’s objections, the gorillas were shipped to Cologne, where they lived nine years in captivity, both dying in the same month. She viewed the holding of animals in “prison” (zoos) for the entertainment of people as unethical.

The killing of so many of her beloved Mountain Gorillas provoked Fossey to take bolder actions and to speak out loudly to those she knew were compromising with the poachers.
While she was alive Fossey was severely criticized by many for her opposition to poaching. The WWF and National Geographic both cut off her funding because she refused to back off from her outspoken and physical opposition to poaching.

According to Fossey’s own letters, the Rwandan national park system, the World Wildlife Fund, African Wildlife Foundation, Fauna Preservation Society, the Mountain Gorilla Project and some of her former students tried to wrest control of the Karisoke research center from her for the purpose of tourism, by portraying her as unstable. In her last two years, Fossey did not lose a single gorilla to poachers. Meanwhile the Mountain Gorilla Project, which was supposed to patrol the Mount Sabyinyo area, covered up gorilla deaths caused by poaching and diseases transmitted through tourists. Despite this the public contributions for gorilla conservation went to these organizations and not to Fossey, although the public often believed their money would go to Fossey and this belief was encouraged by many of these same groups, some of whom blatantly exploited her name. As others became rich from her work.

Fossey wrote that much of the money collected for Gorillas was instead put into tourism projects and as she put it “to pay the airfare of so-called conservationists who will never go on anti-poaching patrols in their life.” Fossey described the differing two philosophies as her own “active conservation” or the international conservation groups’ “theoretical conservation.”

This kind of corruption and disingenuous “conservation” has grown more and more prominent since her death as conservation has become a profitable business for many groups. In other words there are groups that do, and then, there are groups that do “mail-outs.”

Today poaching continues to eradicate large numbers in Africa and threatens many species with extinction.

The same method used to capture gorillas is now used in Taiji, Japan to capture dolphins with entire pods being wiped out to provide “specimens” for display in dolphinariums.

One of the theoretical conservationists Dian Fossey had in mind would be British writer Tunku Varadarajan who wrote in The Wall Street Journal in 2002 that Fossey was a “colourful, controversial, and a racist alcoholic who regarded her gorillas as better than the African people who lived around them.”

My own thought is that perhaps she did think exactly that, and if she did, it is because the mountain gorillas are indeed better than the African people who live around them. In fact they are better than all of humanity who lay waste to nature, war on each other and wage hatred towards our fellow humans and all other species. As for being an alcoholic, considering the death and misery she witnessed, I can well understand her turning to the bottle for solace.

She was a great woman, an influential scientist and a courageous conservationist who sacrificed her life in the cause for which she fought so long and so valiantly for.

I have been fortunate to have met Jane Goodall many times and I consider Birute Galdikas a longtime personal friend. I have always regretted that when I was working with elephant conservation work in East Africa that I did not visit Dian in Rwanda. What I do know is that what she did was inspiring. My friend, the late Farley Mowat wrote the book Virunga about Dian Fossey and confided in me many things about her that the public did not know, things about her past that fired the passion in her heart to do what she did and ultimately made her a legend and a symbol of resistance to human corruption and greed.

A few hours before she was murdered she wrote the following words in her journal:

“When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.”

Jon Stewart Gets Serious About Elephants: Boycott Ivory

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As the ivory poaching crisis heightens and the number of elephants in the wild declines, the problem is in need of serious attention. As a result, elephants are the subject of an Oscar-winning director’s new short film — and of “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart. Kathryn Bigelow, director of “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” sat down with Stewart and former national security advisor Juan Zarate, to discuss her new short film on elephant poaching, “Last Days.”

The film comes at a time when elephant poaching is escalating at extreme rates. Over the course of just two years, 100,000 elephants were killed for their tusks — that’s one individual every 15 minutes. And much of the profits from these sales, as Bigelow notes, go directly to terrorist groups.

“There is the sort of terrorism you can do something about, by not buying these little trinkets, by not supporting this trade,” Bigelow told Stewart. “You can actually stop their revenue source.”

See the entire trailer for “Last Days” here

2014 Has Already Set A Record For Rhino Poaching

https://www.thedodo.com/rhino-poaching-south-africa-831606895.html

By Melissa Cronin

Petition: No More Canned Hunts!

South Africa: No More Canned Hunts!

Lions are being trapped and bred for trophy hunting in South Africa. Stop the savagery!

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Sponsored by:The Animal Rescue Site

Canned hunting is a type of hunting in which animals are placed in a confined area, then followed and gunned down by hunters. Also called trophy hunting, canned hunts are popular in South Africa, where lions are often bred for this purpose alone. Hunters come to these “canned” areas and pay large fees to hunt the lions.

With canned hunting, the animal is sure to die since it’s being held in an enclosed area with no chance for escape. It’s a completely unfair and brutal practice, and only exists for the entertainment of morally challenged hunters.

Sign the petition asking the head of the South African Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Peter Thabethe, to put a stop to these cruel canned hunts for good.

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Sign Here  http://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/ars/petition/CannedHunting


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Texas hunting club may cancel endangered rhino hunt

“I’m a hunter,” Knowlton told WFAA. “I want to experience a black rhino. I want to be intimately involved with a black rhino.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-hunting-club-may-cancel-endangered-rhino-hunt/

DALLAS – A Texas hunting club that auctioned off a permit to shoot an endangered black rhinoceros in Africa said it will cancel the hunt if a federal agency denies the winning bidder’s request to bring the dead animal back to the U.S. as a trophy.

Corey Knowlton bid $350,000 at a January auction that the Dallas Safari Club billed as a fundraising effort to save the endangered species. Last spring, he applied for a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that would enable him to import the rhino’s body following the hunt in Namibia. But he’s still waiting to hear back.

The agency is applying extra scrutiny to Knowlton’s request because of the rise in poaching, said spokesman Gavin Shire.

If the permit is denied, the safari club plans to refund Knowlton’s money that was pledged to a rhino conservation fund in the southwestern African country.

“Most people that have an animal mounted, it’s their memory of their experience,” said Ben Carter, the safari club’s executive director. “It’s not always, ‘Look at what I’ve shot.’ When they look at it, they remember everything. That’s what he bid the money on, that opportunity.”

The wildlife agency began taking public comment on the permit application this month and has already heard from many of the groups that fervently opposed the auction.

The safari club has defended the planned hunt, noting that auction proceeds would go to a trust fund administered by the Namibian government to help boost the black rhino population.

The wildlife service expects to make a decision after the public comment period ends Dec. 8, taking into account the state of the herd in Namibia, where 1,800 of the world’s 4,880 black rhinos live. The agency also is examining exactly how the auction funds would be administered.

Last year, the service granted a permit to import a sport-hunted black rhino taken in Namibia in 2009, but increased poaching since then may impact whether any more are approved, said Shire.

Each year, the Namibian government issues five black rhino hunting permits that fund efforts to protect the species. The program includes habitat improvement, hiring game scouts to monitor the rhinos, and removing the animals’ horns to reduce their appeal to poachers.

“The aim is to re-invest these financial resources back to conservation, protected area management and rural community development,” said Kenneth Uiseb, Namibia’s director of wildlife monitoring and research.

But opponents of the auction say the programs are not worthwhile if they entail the killing of any endangered animal.

“Kill it to save it is not only cruel, it’s not conservation,” said Jeff Flocken, the North American regional director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “If black rhinos and other dwindling species are to have a future, people must be encouraged to value animals for their inherent worth alive, not their price tag when they are dead.”

The safari club has said the hunt will involve one of five black rhinos selected by a committee and approved by the Namibian government. The five are to be older males that can’t reproduce.

Namibia sold another hunting permit for $200,000 directly to Michael Luzich, a Las Vegas investment manager who is also seeking a permit to bring the trophy into the U.S., according to Shire.

But Luzich has received far less scrutiny than Knowlton, who said in January he hired full-time security because he received death threats after his name was leaked on the Internet.

Knowlton lives in Royse City, about 30 miles from Dallas, and leads international hunting trips for a Virginia-based company, The Hunting Consortium. He has killed more than 120 species, including the so-called big five in Africa – a lion, a leopard, an elephant, a Cape buffalo and a rhinoceros, according to the company’s website.

He did not return messages left by The Associated Press for this story, but told Dallas television station WFAA in January that he believed the hunt would be managed well.

“I’m a hunter,” Knowlton told WFAA. “I want to experience a black rhino. I want to be intimately involved with a black rhino.”

Ban Endangered African Animal Trophy Imports From Namibia & SA.

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Director_Robert_G_Dreher_USFWS_Ban_Endangered_African_Animal_Trophy_Imports_From_Namibia/?pv=29

Imports From Namibia & SA.

Director : Daniel M. Ashe: USFWS.
: Ban Endangered African Animal Trophy Imports From Namibia & SA.
100,000
20,130

20,130 signers. Let’s reach 100,000

Why this is important to me

STOP COREY KNOWLTON. HE HAS BEEN GRANTED PERMISSION FROM NAMIBIA (MET) AND THE WORLD WILDLIFE FUND ; Chris Weaver SA /Namibia (WWF)’S TROPHY HUNTING PROJECTS and ICUN: Mike Knight’s HUNTING RECOMMENDATIONS / The Lead Professional working with the Namibia Black Rhino Conservation

THE USA ; FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE (USFWS) DECISION IS NOW PENDING, TO IMPORT THE BLACK RHINO.

THERE ARE between 1,700 /50 LEFT IN NAMIBIA, THE HUNT IS IMMINENT IF WE DONT BLOCK THE TROPHY IMPORTS!!! . YOU SEE NO IMPORT LICENCES INTO THE USA GRANTED , NO HUNTING PERMITS ISSUED !!!

The USFWS Hunting Permit Applications have been announced for 2 Black Rhinos , for 2 Americans including CK , to import BR trophies into the USA. This petition needs a lot of support to make a difference, ideally we need to reach close to a 100,000 signatures before the end of the month, TO TELL USFWS THAT WE OBJECT TO CRITICALLY ENDANGERED ANIMALS TROPHY IMPORTS INTO THE USA FROM AFRICA , can you make this happen ? CAN WE REACH THIS GOAL ?

‘The Namibia wildlife is at risk of going extinct because the animal populations are very low and vulnerable because the WWF are ‘cooking the books’ to allow Trophy Hunting to continue from the most fragile wildlife populations on earth, in Namibia.

The WWF should be protecting the animals , however, they are openly lying about populations to keep a Trophy Hunting stance as they control funding streams from USAID; to ALL the African countries from the USA Congress , who is lobbied by the USA Pro-Hunting Lobby Groups to maintain Trophy Hunting, from almost extinct animals .

The African people are powerless to stop their wildlife being massacred into extinction.

We urge the USFWS to consider their decision and listen to the world instead of the voice of a few and protect Africa through your laws and policies .

Save the last of the Black Rhinos and the Desert Elephants from American Trophies Hunter’s Greed and Vanity . We need the animals alive in healthy in family groups, or we will loose them forever’

COREY KNOWLTON’S Dallas Safari Club AUCTION PURCHASE

THE BLACK RHNIO , Between 1,700/50 IN NAMIBIA, TAG WAS BOUGHT IN JANUARY 2014, SINCE THEN IT HAS CAUSED A GLOBAL OUTCRY. THE WORLD IS HORRIFIED !! THE DEAL WAS DONE AT DALLAS SAFARI CLUB

COREY KNOWLTON, HAS MASSACRED 120 RARE ANIMALS IN THE WORLD IN THE LAST 10 YEARS , AND HE PAID $350.000 FOR THE RIGHTS TO KILL A CRITICALLY ENDANGERED BLACK RHINO, ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION.

COREY KNOWLTON IS KILLING A BLACK RHINO FOR A HUNTING TV CHANNEL IN AMERICA, FOR ENTERTAINMENT !! WE THINK THIS IS IMMORAL, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE POACHERS ARE SLAUGHTERING THEM TOO !!! !!! !!!

Ten Hunting permits to kill BR’s are issued every year for Trophies from Namibia and South Africa because of ‘ICUN: Mike Knight’s HUNTING RECOMMENDATIONS / The Lead Professional working with the Namibia Black Rhino Conservation / Hunting Projects is getting funding from the WWF’s International Charity Funding Purse and he is also working with Corey Knowlton’s purchase .


Even though the Black Rhino Species is under attack from poachers and going extinct and classed as Critically Endangered, CITIES have allowed TEN animals to be massacred for Trophies every year because of the WWF and ICUN: Mike Knight’s corruption . We want to challenge this rule and over turn it so that the Black Rhinos are protected , by blocking USA Trophy Imports .
When the Namibian Government issued 5 permits a year for Trophy Hunting, they believed themselves invincible to Rhino Poaching. Now poaching has started and many Rhinos have already been killed this year in Namibia and the BR population is rapidly declining . http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3713688.stm

There are less than 1,700/50 Black Rhinos left in Namibia’. In the 1970’s there were 65, 000 in Africa , now there are 4/5, 000 Black Rhinos in the world. In Namibia there are now less than 1,000 Black Rhinos in protected areas an estimated 700/50 which, are Free Range. So once the poachers start seriously targeting Namibia (it has already started) , at the rate of the South African incidents, they will wipe out the total Namibian population of Black Rhinos in less than two years. NOT ONE MORE CAN BE AFFORDED TO BE HUNTED!


No one can see the benefit of more critically endangered animals being killed, and WWF and DSC have been so successful fabricating lies they have ensured TEN Critically Endangered Black Rhino Animal Trophies every year, are officially killed and this has been granted by CITIES, based on no factual evidence from the actual African people who this affects directly:

Resolution Conf. 13.5 (Rev. CoP14)
Establishment of export quotas for black rhinoceros hunting trophies
“THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION
APPROVES
“the establishment of an annual export quota of five hunting trophies of adult male black rhinoceros from South Africa and five from Namibia:
AGREES that hunting trophies of the black rhinoceros are defined as the horns or any other durable part of the body, mounted or loose and that all parts to be exported should be individually marked with reference to the country of origin, species, quota number and year of export”: Please read more on the Link: “
http://www.cites.org/eng/res/13/13-05R14C15.php


PLEASE READ THE WORDS OF THE ACTUAL PEOPLE FIGHTING POACHERS AND TAKING BULLETS TO SAVE THEIR WILDLIFE :-
‘OPEN LETTER TO COREY KNOWLTON’: Founder, Walk With Rangers; Quote:

“In forty years of close association with black rhinoceros, I have NEVER known of a free ranging wild old male past his breeding period targeting, and killing, rhino females and calves but, rather, the odd fights have only, in my own experience, occurred amongst breeding competing males, as is common in other species.
In Africa old age is respected: by extension, it is un-African and basically unethical not to allow an old male that sired many calves a peaceful retirement, in the same way as breeding bulls in the cattle world are put out to pasture, not sent to the butcher, once they stop being productive.

Sir, I have struggled to understand why SCI and DSC continue to put prices on the heads of our wildlife. It is laughable that they even think they have any right. The wildlife of a nation remains the sovereign property of its people. Would this not mean then, sir, that privatizing such public property would, in fact, be a gross violation of the rights of the African people? I will let you ponder over that for a while. We are in the wake of a crisis that has gripped our region. Poachers have decimated our herds, and Africa is no longer teeming with wildlife. You kind sir, have been duped into believing that your hunt will aid conservation in Africa.
It will not. Aside from gaining Namibia huge disrepute, it will go against the very fibre of what we are trying so hard to achieve – the protection and true management of our last wild things. It is also imperative to note here that local African communities do not eat rhino meat.”
Read more : Twitter: @raabiahawa
http://africageographic.com/blog/kenyan-rangers-moving-letter-to-american-rhino-hunter/#sthash.scgQxpuT.dpuf
http://africageographic.com/blog/kenyan-rangers-moving-letter-to-american-rhino-hunter/

THE NAMIBIAN WILDLIFE IS UNDER THREAT FROM CORRUPTION !!

The natural world is under attack like never before the ecosystem and food chain is breaking down in Africa and the African Tribes and animals affected, need protection . This is NOT SUSTAINABLE HUNTING !!

PLEASE STOP THE USA TROPHY HUNTERS IN NAMIBIA FROM KILLING THE LAST OF THE DESERT ELEPHANTS. THERE ARE ONLY an estimated 70 BREEDING ADULTS LEFT , LESS THAN 10 BREEDING MALES , OF THE VERY UNIQUE DESERT ADAPTED ELEPHANTS , THEIR NUMBERS ARE ON THE DECLINE , AND THEY ARE DOWN TO ‘EXTINCTION STATUS’ AGAIN, THEIR EXISTENCE IS THREATENED THEY ARE ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION .

Please watch the Youtube link : ‘ Elephants in the Namibian desert – Wild Africa – BBC 2009 ‘; this is independent evidence stating that there are ‘100 or so Desert Dwelling Elephants; being supported by the Desert ” . The Namibia Ministry has just announced there are 20,000 backed by WWF . The relentless massacring is destroying the African Ecosystem and the Tribal People’s Food Chain. ; this is being done by the Media Invisible Wealthiest White People, and the most Powerful People in the world !!!!

WWF and the Namibian Government are claiming that the Unique Adapted Desert Dwelling Elephants do not exist, and there are 750 of them in the Namib Desert, which, is incorrect. Please read the following:

‘ Namibia Refuses to Cancel Desert Elephant Hunt After Protests’
Quote: “The elephants, which live in the Kunene region, are one of only two groups adapted to desert existence with the other being in Mali. They numbered about 750 in 2012, according to the WWF, an environmental group.”
http://www.noanimalpoaching.org/animal-poaching-news-2014/namibia-refuses-to-cancel-desert-elephant-hunt-after-protests

THE WEALTHIEST PEOPLE ARE MASSACRING ALONGSIDE THE POACHERS ! They are wiping out the last of the African animals unchallenged for hundreds of thousands of Dollars each, paying for Unsustainable Hunting in under -developed countries where populations of animals are being exaggerated by the WWF who are informing CITIES and USFWS, as they keep the doors open for Trophy Hunting to continue from almost extinct populations of animals , that , are being wiped out by poachers .

The truth is known and been written over 10years ago by a British MP and this evidence has been disregarded and the USFWS have continued to import Trophies and trade with corruption sending African wildlife in to total extinction…

THIS DELIBERATE EXTINCTION HAPPENING TO THE AFRICA WILDLIFE DONE BY THE USA CITIZENS IS OUTRAGEOUS !!

‘The Myth of Trophy Hunting as Conservation. A League Against Cruel Sports submission to Environment Minister, Elliott Morley MP
December 2004’
Quote: –
“A smokescreen for corruption and poaching

“With their financial and political might of the USA, this formidably powerful clique of hunters is shamelessly promoting hunting as a form of conservation. Many poor governments are easily won over because it offers such easy money – the bulk of which goes straight into their pockets. “

Click to access The_%20Myth_of_Trophy_Hunting_as_Conservation.pdf

This exploiting of the African countries; is directly affecting the poorest people in the world, who are victim to it ; as their animals are being massacred off this planet into extinction forever in one generation ; for ornaments, for TV Hunting Channels Entertainment and Mono-Culture Agriculture , which means 400,000 acres plus lands of one crop in a plantation . Which , means land is being Grabbed by USA Corporations for Food Globalisation, Food production .

No people and no wildlife can be tolerated on the plantations , so the land Giants are being massacred into extinction in the wild to allow this bio-diversity backed 100% by WWF , so that African Animals will only exist in Canned Hunting parks and farms in a small number in the future .

THE UNIQUE ADAPTED DESERT DWELLING ELEPHANTS ARE NOT LARGE ENOUGH IN THIER POPULATION TO CULL !!

35,000 AFRICAN ELEPHANTS WERE MASSACRED BY POACHERS LAST YEAR ALONE. THE ANIMALS ARE GOING EXTINCT ; MORE THAN THE WHOLE DESERT POPULATION OF ELEPHANTS ARE KILLED EVERY DAY, IN AFRICA.
Director : Daniel M. Ashe: USFWS
Please Ban Imports from Namibia into the USA of ALL Critically Endangered African Animals IMMEDIATELY !

The Desert Elephants population in 20 years has risen from 52 members to less than 100( they are rapidly declining) . Namibia’s Desert-Dwelling Elephants are one of only 2 populations of Elephants in Africa living in a desert environment (the other is in Mali).

The majority of the world population does not think massacring endangered animals is appropriate whilst , the poaching of the African Animals is out of control in Africa , and allowing imports of African Animals dead or alive by the USFWS shows a lack of respect and understanding for people who are actually risking their lives and struggling to keep these animals on this planet for longevity .

There were 5 MILLION Elephants in Africa 40 years ago , now there are between 300.000/ 600,000 Elephants , of which, 100 Elephants are killed everyday by poachers , 700 a week and so on . The whole of the equivalent population of the DESERT ELEPHANTS are being WIPED OUT IN A DAY !! in Africa by poachers , issuing permits to kill more, this is NOT SUSTAINABLE HUNTING !!!

Associate Director : Robert G. Dreher : USFWS , you appear to be disregarding the rules set down by CITIES. :- Email Letter received , after I contacted David Cameron , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom , early this year: Defra Government Department United Kingdom :- I Quote ; Kevin Woodhouse Defra – Customer Contact Unit “

LETTER FROM THE UK GOVERNMENT

“The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), to which the UK is a Party, applies to ensure that trade in listed species hunted for their trophies is only permitted if it is sustainable.

In view of concerns raised that the import of hunting trophies of some species from some countries are unsustainable, we have agreed in principle with other EU Member States that stricter measures should be introduced in relation to the importation of hunting trophies of rhinos, lions and some other species. This list will be further considered and kept under review.

We will continue working with other CITES Parties and relevant non-government organisations to ensure the long-term survival of this and other important species.
Yours sincerely
Kevin Woodhouse
Defra – Customer Contact Unit “

SUMMARY

I reiterate : ‘The Namibia wildlife is at risk of going extinct because the animal populations are very low and vulnerable because the WWF are ‘cooking the books’ to allow Trophy Hunting to continue from the most fragile wildlife populations on earth, in Namibia.

The WWF should be protecting the animals , however, they are openly lying about populations to keep a Trophy Hunting stance as they control funding streams from USAID; to ALL the African countries from the USA Congress , who is lobbied by the USA Pro-Hunting Lobby Groups to maintain Trophy Hunting, from almost extinct animals .

The African people are powerless to stop their wildlife being massacred into extinction.

We urge the USFWS to consider their decision and listen to the world instead of the voice of a few and protect Africa through your laws and policies .

Save the last of the Black Rhinos and the Desert Elephants from American Trophies Hunter’s Greed and Vanity . We need the animals alive in healthy in family groups, or we will loose them forever’

U.S. charges South Africans in illegal rhino hunting case

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/23/us-usa-alabama-rhino-idUSKCN0IC2NH20141023

(Reuters) – A South African company has been indicted in Alabama for selling illegal rhinoceros hunts to Americans and secretly trafficking in the endangered animals’ horns, which sell on the black market at prices higher than gold, prosecutors said on Thursday.

The 18-count indictment charged Valinor Trading CC, which operated in the United States as Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris, and company owners Dawie Groenewald, 46, and his brother, Janneman Groenewald, 44, with conspiracy, Lacey Act violations, mail fraud, money laundering and structuring bank deposits to avoid reporting requirements.

All species of rhinoceros are protected under U.S. and international laws, including the Lacey Act, which addresses illegal poaching and wildlife trafficking, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

“This case should send a warning shot to outfitters and hunters that the sale of illegal hunts in the U.S. will be vigorously prosecuted regardless of where the hunt takes place,” Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division Sam Hirsch said in the statement.

The whereabouts of the Groenewalds, and whether they have hired a lawyer, could not immediately be determined.

National Geographic magazine reported that Dawie Groenewald was arrested in 2010 in South Africa, along with 10 others and that a multi-count case has been under way for four years.

Both Groenewald brothers are South African nationals. Janneman Groenewald lived and operated out of Alabama’s Autauga County, where he maintained company bank accounts.

Nine American hunters paid up to $15,000 per animal for a total of 11 hunts sold at hunting conventions and gun shows in the United States between 2005 and 2010.

None of the hunters was charged because prosecutors said the hunters were tricked by the Groenewalds into believing they were shooting legally at “problem” rhinos. The Groenewalds obtained no hunting permits from the Republic of South Africa or local government, the indictment said.

The hunts took place at a ranch in Mussina, Limpopo Province, South Africa co-owned by the Groenewalds and American investors, according to the indictment.

After killing or capturing a rhino, the hunters posed for photos with the carcasses that appeared on company marketing brochures, the indictment said. Dawie Groenewald, who supervised the hunts, then cut off the horns with chainsaws and knives.

The population of rhinos, indigenous to southern Africa, is being decimated by poachers who supply a demand for horns for decorative and supposed medicinal purposes, prosecutors said.

The investigation was part of ongoing Operation Crash, named for a term used to describe a rhino herd, led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It has resulted in 26 arrests and 18 convictions, with prison terms as high as 70 months for illegal rhino hunting or trafficking in horns.

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Petition: WWF: End your Partnership with the USA Pro-Hunting Lobby

Yolanda Kakabadse: WWF’s International President and USAID: WWF: End your Partnership with the USA Pro-Hunting Lobby G

Yolanda Kakabadse: WWF’s International President and USAID: WWF: End your Partnership with the USA Pro-Hunting Lobby G
100,000
5,242

5,242 signers. Let’s reach 100,000

Why this is important to me

The World Wildlife Fund in Africa, is in bed with the USA Pro-Hunting Lobby Groups: DSC, SCI and NRA. They have vested interests because they are controlling funding streams and imposing their Hunting Agendas first. Which, means they are directly influencing and manipulating ALL the African Countries to maintain a Trophy Hunting Stance.
Please sign this very important petition. We need to raise awareness to STOP the corruption in the WWF in Africa. They are blatantly exaggerating critically endangered wildlife population numbers and data, they are misusing global WWF Charity Donations, whilst, creating opportunities for the Trophy Hunting Industries in Africa to flourish.

This wildlife holocaust is causing human incurable diseases. ‘Ebola’ is spreading across Africa and soon the rest of the world.

Evidence : Uncontrollabled Hunting Leads to New Deadly Diseases including Ebola : http://en.ria.ru/eco_plus/20140906/192693219/Uncontrolled-Hunting-Leads-to-New-Deadly-Diseases-Including.html

The African Ecosystem is breaking down as Trophy Hunters have massacred and over-hunted wild animals for over 50 years.

The USA Trophy Hunting businesses and the members of the USA Pro-Hunting Lobby Groups alongside the Poachers are now standing side-by-side massacring the Wild Animals into extinction.

The destruction of the natural world in Africa is supported by WWF Charity Donations, which is directly threatening the African Tribal People’s health and their future because they are dependant upon the Natural World to survive. …

Petition and More:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Yolanda_Kakabadse_is_WWFs_International_President_and_USAID_WWF_End_your_partnership_with_the_USA_ProHunting_Lobby_Group/?dJiBYcb&pv=37

Monkey populations will suffer as climate change alters their food

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/monkey-populations-will-suffer-as-climate-change-alters-their-food-20141002-10mfas.html

October 2, 2014   Science Editor

If you consider the consequences of global warming, it’s always the major effects that receive the most attention – glaciers melting, sea levels rising, more frequent and more intense bushfires, floods and cyclones.

But climate change is affecting plants and animals in ways that are far less spectacular and harder to detect. And yet these subtle changes have the same potential to decimate populations.

This month scientists will publish research that links a decline in the nutritional quality of leaves eaten by colobus monkeys in Uganda to changes in climate over the past 30 years.

Specifically, the team found that in a range of plant species in Kibale National Park the amount of fibre had increased by up to 15 per cent, while the proportion of protein had decreased by about 6 per cent.

David Raubenheimer, a professor of nutritional ecology and co-author of the study, said this shift was significant because many variety of monkey selected their food based on its nutritional quality, in particular the amount of protein to fibre in plant leaves.

“We know if we go out and measure leaves and find patches that have a lot of protein to fibre, that’s good territory for monkeys,” said Professor Raubenheimer, from the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney.

But over the past three decades the climate in Kibale National Park has become hotter and wetter, which in turn has altered the composition of plant foliage.

The team, led by primatologist Jessica Rothman from the City University of New York, found nine out of 10 species had increased their fibre concentration and reduced in protein. Only one plant showed the opposite trend, where its protein level increased.

“There are a number of experiments on plants showing that an increase in temperature and moisture has an impact on the fibre concentration,” Professor Raubenheimer said.

A rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has also been linked to a drop in the amount of protein in leaves.

While colobus populations remain stable, the study, published in the Ecology journal, propose that this shift in plant nutrients will have a significant effect on future populations.

Professor Raubenheimer said monkeys cannot digest a lot of fibre. So as fibre increases in their diet, he predicts their other nutrients needs, from protein and sugars, will not be met.

Females deprived of a balanced diet are less fertile and give birth to smaller young.

“The population birth rate is slowed, so you get a decline in population,” he said.

Because humans had destroyed so much plant and animal habitat for urbanisation and agriculture, many species were confined to isolated pockets of bushland or nature reserves.

“If climate change is causing these [reserves] to change biologically, then there is nowhere for them to go,” Professor Raubenheimer said.

“They can’t migrate to follow climates that are better suited to them like they could have a few hundred years ago.”

Global March for Elephants, Rhinos & Lions – October 4, 2014

hollywood march

Dear Friends,

Please excuse the heavy news, but this is too important not to share.

  • 100,000 elephants were slaughtered for their ivory tusks in the last 3 years.
  • Over 1,000 rhinos were killed for their horns last year.
  • Wild lion populations are in alarming decline due to “trophy” hunting and the lion bone trade.

We’re losing these animals. The good news is, you can help save them.

On October 4th, people in over 115 cities around the world will march with one voice to save these iconic endangered species.  

MARCH WITH US IN LOS ANGELES

We’ll gather at the La Brea Tar Pits Park in front of the Page Museum (5801 Wilshire Blvd, LA 90036) at 11am and march down Wilshire Blvd to the South African Consulate.

Promote your group or business

We’re encouraging people to bring signs promoting their business or group. We know that ALL people want to save these endangered animals, and we want the media and the world to see that.

 

Bring the kids!

After the march we will return to the park for a festive, educational event. Experts acting as animal ambassadors will help people understand the crisis facing each animal and take action to save them. The program includes speakers (stay tuned for celebrity info!) and music by African drummers, the talented Kat Kramer, and the Agape International Children’s Choir.

Find us Facebook

Join the Los Angeles Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1449025795334300/

NOT IN LOS ANGELES? #FINDYOURCITY

London, Rome, Johannesburg, Austin, Chicago, Nairobi, Mombasa, Arusha, Seattle, Kilimanjaro, New York, Toronto, Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans… The list of cities marching goes on and on. Visit the global website to find a full list, as well as a wealth of other information, such as strategy and objectives of the march, graphics and other media, march merchandise, and much more.

http://www.march4elephantsandrhinos.org

HELP US RAISE MONEY

Organizing an event like this is expensive. We have to print flyers, posters, signs, banners, and educational materials. We have to rent sound equipment, tents and tables and chairs. Please donate if you can. Any help, no matter how small, is greatly appreciated.

Donate here: https://www.youcaring.com/GMFERL-LA

SPREAD THE WORD

Please SHARE this email far and wide. Many people don’t know elephants, rhinos and lions face extinction. Even if they’re aware of the crisis, they don’t know they can take action to help save them.

We hope that you’ll march with us on October 4 to help prevent the extinction of these endangered species. On behalf of Earth’s threatened elephants, rhinos, and lions, thank you!

With love for the animals,

Susan

Susan Campisi, Co-organizer

Global March For Elephants, Rhinos & Lions – Los Angeles

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo.◙..◙.ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

global website: http://www.march4elephantsandrhinos.org/

LA website: http://www.saveourwildlife.org

LA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1449025795334300/

email: march.for.elephants.rhinos.LA@gmail.com