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By Sara HUSSEIN BANGKOK, Oct 18, 2023 (AFP) – A reedy pipe and a high-pitched trill duet against the backdrop of a low-pitched insect drone. Their symphony is the sound of a forest, and is monitored by scientists to gauge biodiversity. The recording from the forest in Ecuador is part of new research looking at how artificial intelligence could track animal life in recovering habitats. When scientists want to measure reforestation, they can survey large […]
By Mathiew LEISER, with Genevieve NORMAND in Montreal LEBEL-SUR-QUÉVILLON, Canada, Oct 4, 2023 (AFP) – No droppings, tracks, nests or other traces of wildlife — Canada’s boreal forests were devastated by record wildfires this year. In the woodlands of Quebec province, hunter Paul Wabanonik searches for fresh moose tracks on his Indigenous tribe’s ancestral lands, which had sustained him and his family. “Normally, we would see traces everywhere,” says the Ashinabe tribesman. But “it’s like […]
A top Thai conservation official was arrested on corruption charges on Tuesday, with police saying he was caught receiving a bribe and that $144,000 in cash was found in his office. Rutchada Suriyakul na Ayutya, director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, was appointed in February. He managed efforts to protect the kingdom’s environment and endangered animals, overseeing more than 150 national parks. “The officials have arrested him while the money […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s National Trust on Wednesday said nature and wildlife at the charity’s sites had been harmed by extreme weather in the past year and warned it could become the “new normal”. The heritage conservation charity’s climate change adviser Keith Jones said it was a “stark illustration of the sort of difficulties many of our species will face if we don’t do more to mitigate rising temperatures”. “We’re going to experience […]
Vietnamese police have arrested a bear owner for the first time after netting a record haul of hundreds of bile bottles in Hanoi, a wildlife protection organisation said Friday. The communist country is a major hub for the illegal trade in wild animals and bears are kept to drain the bile from their gallbladders for use in traditional medicine. Authorities outlawed bile extraction in Vietnam in 2005, but bear farms were allowed to keep the animals […]
by Peter Martell Agence France-Presse VARISEIA, Cyprus (AFP) – In a long-abandoned village in the UN buffer zone that divides Cyprus, an endangered curly-horned wild sheep offers hope not only for wildlife but that bitter ethnic divisions might slowly be healed. The mouflon, a majestic breed endemic to the Mediterranean island, is one of many species flourishing in the no-man’s-land created when inter-communal strife sliced Cyprus in two in the 1960s. “Without human influence, the […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Scientists discovered more than 200 new species across the greater Mekong region in 2020, according to a WWF report, despite the threats posed by climate change and human activities such as logging. The finds include a new primate, a colourless cavefish and an iridescent snake with an unusual non-overlapping pattern of scales. In all, 224 new species of plants and vertebrate animals were found in the region — which includes Myanmar, […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) – A Thai tycoon accused of poaching wildlife in a national park lost his final appeal Wednesday, in a long-running saga that drew public outrage over the elite’s perceived impunity. Construction magnate Premchai Karnasuta was arrested in February 2018 when park officials found guns, animal carcasses — including of a kalij pheasant and a red muntjac — and the pelt of a black leopard at his campsite. Premchai was found not guilty of […]
HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — A rhino horn trader has been sentenced to 14 years in jail, the longest ever prison term a Vietnamese court has handed down for the crime, a local conservation group said Wednesday. Vietnam is both a consumption hub and popular transit point for the multibillion-dollar trade in animal parts. Authorities have long vowed to stem the flow of illegal wildlife criss-crossing its borders, but experts have warned the black market persists […]
Authorities in California’s beachfront Orange County cities scrambled Sunday to mitigate the fallout from a major oil spill off the coast that caused “substantial ecological impacts.” As of Sunday, the oil plume from the 126,000-gallon (480,000 liters) spill of post-production crude was an estimated 5.8 nautical miles (6.7 miles, 10 kilometers) long and stretched along the popular shorelines of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, Huntington Beach city authorities said in a statement. “The spill has […]
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (AFP) — A critically endangered giant barking deer has been spotted in Cambodia for the first time, in a boost for the country’s wildlife preservation efforts, officials said Friday. The giant muntjac — known for its long antlers — was captured on a hidden camera in April in northeast Cambodia’s Virachey National Park in Ratanakiri province, environment ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said. But the discovery was only made recently after Cambodian authorities […]
HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — Vietnam, one of Asia’s biggest consumers of wildlife products, has suspended all imports of wild animal species “dead or alive” and vowed to “eliminate” illegal markets across the country. The directive signed by the leader of the Communist country follows an international scandal over the sale of wildlife, which has been blamed as the origin of the coronavirus pandemic in neighbouring China. It is a major victory for conservation groups who […]
