Tag: animals

Cambodia seizes shipment of ivory hidden in hollow logs

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) — Cambodia has seized nearly a tonne of ivory hidden in hollowed-out logs and discovered inside an abandoned shipping container, an official said Wednesday. The country has become a key regional transit point for the illicit wildlife trade. Nearly 280 pieces of ivory — full and partial elephant tusks — were found in the container at the southwestern port of Sihanoukville after sitting there for a year. The shipment, owned by […]

Celebrity elephant kills owner in Thailand

BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — An elephant that has starred in feature films and commercials crushed its owner to death in Thailand, zoo officials said Tuesday, setting off fresh debate over the kingdom’s animal tourism industry. The accident took place Monday morning in the northern city of Chiang Mai, just after owner Somsak Riengngen unchained the five-ton elephant Ekasit. With a mahout, or handler, on his back, Ekasit took a few steps before reversing course and […]

Photographer captures human face of endangered species

by Olivia HAMPTON Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Can you love an animal to death? A new book by British photographer Tim Flach documents some of Earth’s most treasured species pushed to the brink of extinction by manmade crises, from pangolins hunted for their scales to Brazil’s pied tamarin threatened by urbanisation. “Most of the changes in the past have been driven by natural forces, but on this occasion, it seems to be […]

WATCH: Newly discovered orangutan species is most endangered great ape: study

https://youtu.be/66jNt5KLWqI JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A new species of orangutan has been discovered in the remote jungles of Indonesia, immediately becoming the world’s most endangered great ape, researchers said Thursday. “It’s the first declaration of a new great ape species in about 100 years,” Ian Singleton, co-author of the study and director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, told AFP. The species, called ‘Tapanuli orangutan’, lives in the Batang Toru forest on Sumatra island, and […]

Mice, fish and flies: the animals still being sent into space

by Pascale MOLLARD-CHENEBENOIT Agence France-Presse   PARIS, France (AFP) – Sixty years after Laika the dog became the first living creature to go into orbit, animals are still being sent into space — though these days much smaller creatures are going up. Julie Robinson, chief scientist for the International Space Station programme, explains what we are still learning from animals in orbit.   Why no more dogs, cats or monkeys? When those animals were sent […]

WATCH: Saving Indonesia’s birds-of-paradise one village at a time

by Kiki Siregar Agence France-Presse SORONG, Indonesia (AFP) — Deep in Indonesia’s easternmost province, a group of birdwatchers wait in earnest hoping to glimpse the renowned birds-of-paradise. Once plentiful in Papua’s jungles, rampant poaching and deforestation have devastated populations. The tourists are in luck, their patience is rewarded: Perched on the branch of a tall tree near the remote village of Malagufuk, a red king bird-of-paradise can be seen darting between the leaves. Agricultural plantations, […]

“Goat Fire Brigade” helps save Spain from forest fires

GIRONA, Spain (Reuters) — Much of Europe was scorched this summer, with numerous forest fires breaking out and in Spain goats and sheep are helping to fight the blazes – one nibble at a time. Dubbed ‘Goat Fire Brigades’ the animals are part of a pilot program in the Girona region of northern Spain, run by Pau Costa Foundation. Tapping into an old agricultural practice, the herds are set out to graze in strategic areas of […]

DENR Sec. Cimatu, ipinag-utos ang mahigpit na pagbabantay laban sa poaching 

QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Eagle News) — Ipinag-utos ni Department of Environment Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu ang mas mahigpit na monitoring sa lahat ng entry at exit points sa bansa dahil sa problema sa poaching o iligal na kalakaran ng pagbebenta ng hayop lalo na ang endangered species. Batay sa inilabas na memorandum order ng kalihim, inaatasan nito ang lahat ng regional directors ng DENR na paigtingin ang surveillance campaign sa lahat ng wildlife shipment. […]

Elephant hit by tourist bus in Malaysia dies

KUALA, Lumpur (AFP) — A wild elephant in Malaysia has died after being hit by a tourist bus on a busy highway, an official said Friday, the second pachyderm to meet its end in the area in two months. The 10-year-old bull was killed on the road connecting the western state of Perak with Kelantan in the east, which passes through thick jungle. “A bull elephant was knocked down by a bus and died. We […]