LOS ANGELES – A video showing the devotion between two ex-circus lions, rescued by Animal Defenders International (ADI), has gone viral on Facebook… notching up more than half a million view (573,000) and more than 71,000 reactions so far (and counting!) Thanks to Guatemala’s ban on animal circuses, the lions have been rescued from a […]

K9 hero dog, Hulk, who is a valuable member of an anti-poaching unit in South Africa, has – with emergency treatment – survived a frightening attack by a swarm of bees, in which he was stung 450 times. Hulk is one of the brave dogs on Pit-Track’s anti-rhino poaching frontline. Pit-Track, which operates on anti-poaching […]

The Four Paws team announced in a statement on social media on Monday that they are mourning the loss of FOUR PAWS Founder and President, Heli Dungler, who died suddenly and unexpectedly on Sunday. “His death is a severe blow for us and fills us with great pain. Our thoughts and our deepest sympathies are […]

Sixteen lions at a lodge in Rustenburg, South Africa, have been killed by poachers. The faces and paws of eight of the adults were hacked off, most probably to sell their teeth and claws to be used in ‘black magic’ potions or ‘muti‘. Distraught Gert Blom, 51, who owns Predators Rock Bush Lodge in North […]

The world’s oldest free-ranging black rhino – Fausta – has sadly died at the age of 57 in the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania… from suspected natural causes. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority said in a media statement that the eastern black rhino (Diceros birconis michaelli) cow died on Friday evening, 27 December, at 20h29. “Records show […]

“Picasso the Hadeda is back in the wild!” says CROW, the Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife. Picasso became the most famous Hadeda in South Africa in October when he was rescued after being covered in paint… CROW said its Hillcrest depot, Bruce Wilson (an earth angel according to many!) from Sanctuary Project, helped in the […]

This “has to be the luckiest and bravest pangolin in the world”, says Phinda Private Game Reserve conservation manager Simon Naylor. The little pangolin was abandoned, possibly run over and almost died… but thanks to luck and the dedication of a whole bunch of kind people in South Africa, he is now thriving in the […]

MPUMALANGA – Two suspects were arrested on Wednesday and appeared in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, 05 December 2019 for illegal possession of elephant tusks and firearms in Sunriseview, Nelspruit in South Africa. The South African Police Service (SAPS) named the two suspects as Johan Cox (41) and Hendrick Bernardus Elvis (32). They were arrested […]

For a Western hunter to pay to kill an African animal and expatriate its parts is a form of objectification, dehumanising and therefore morally reprehensible. It may entrench a Western narrative of supremacy underpinned by chauvinistic, colonialist and crudely utilitarian anthropocentric attitudes… writes Ross Harvey. We are living in the sixth extinction. Birds are disappearing from North America, […]

South African filmmakers, who on Friday won a top conservation award for their anti-rhino poaching documentary, have donated the R20,000 prize money to the Kruger National Park Special Ranger K9 Unit. The multiple award-winning wildlife crime thriller, ‘STROOP – journey into the rhino horn war’, received its 26th award this weekend when the documentary’s filmmakers, […]

POTCHEFSTROOM – South African police on a mission to turn the tide against illicit mining… have actually uncovered more than they bargained for. An intelligence driven operation on Tuesday – by Organised Crime and the Illicit Mining Team – led to the arrest of three suspects (for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition)… AND led […]

On 9 May 2019 the Australian Koala Foundation announced they believe “there are no more than 80,000 koalas in Australia”, making the species “functionally extinct”. While this number is dramatically lower than the most recent academic estimates, there’s no doubt koala numbers in many places are in steep decline. It’s hard to say exactly how […]

World-renowned elephant scientists and conservationists have united in an urgent plea to Zimbabwe, China and other countries considering exporting or importing wild-caught elephants for captive use, to abide by an internationally-agreed near-total ban on such activities that takes effect tomorrow, 26 November 2019. The experts’ plea comes in the wake of Zimbabwe exporting at least […]

Five suspected rhino poachers have been arrested – by one brave Ranger – in the Kruger National Park (KNP) this weekend, according to the South African National Parks (SANParks). The poachers were in the Malelane Section. Sadly the arrests – on Saturday 23 November – came after the poachers had already killed at least two […]

KUALA LUMPUR – The last Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia tragically died on Saturday, leaving the smallest species of rhino, which once roamed across Asia, surviving in small numbers mostly in Indonesia. The 25-year-old female rhino, named Iman, who has been cared for in a wildlife reserve since her rescue in 2014, died of cancer in […]

A third lion pride has been brutally butchered in a MONTH in South Africa by poachers who hacked off their heads and paws and stole them to be used to make traditional medicine potions… with the lion owner alleging that there appears to be a link between lion farms being audited and then attacked. Distraught […]

Beyond the statistics of a drought that continues to scorch parts of South Africa – particularly in the Northern Cape – are hundreds of stories of residents and animals trying to cope under duress with the dire conditions. This is one of those stories. It’s heartbreaking. And it’s just one of many. Filmmaker and lecturer […]

The South African Police Service (SAPS) in Lephalale (or Ellisras) in Limpopo have arrested three suspects for suspected rhino poaching. The three men were employees of the local game reserve on which they were arrested. SAPS said in a statement that the suspects were aged 29, 30 and 33. They were arrested for ‘illegal hunting’ […]

BLANTYRE – Seventeen black rhinos have been released into Malawi’s Liwonde national park after arriving from South Africa as part of conservation efforts aimed at keeping the local population of the endangered species healthy and safe. By moving the animals, in one of the biggest international relocations of its kind, conservationists hope to ensure wild […]

JOHANNESBURG: ‘STROOP – journey into the rhino horn war’ took the Video Media (Long Form) award for 2019 at the South African Breweries (SAB) Environmental Media of the Year in Johannesburg last night. This is the 25th award for the filmmakers of STROOP, Susan Scott and Bonné de Bod. An emotional de Bod stated last […]

Zimbabwe is planning an enforced mass migration of wildlife away from a park in the country’s south, where thousands of animals are at risk of death due to drought-induced starvation. At least 200 elephants have already died at two other parks due to lack of food and water, along with scores of buffalo and antelope, Zimbabwe Parks […]

Poachers in South Africa sentenced four majestic lions at Chameleon Village Lion Park in South Africa to a painful death, after feeding them chicken laced with poison as part of a plan to hack off their body parts for ‘muti‘. Male lions Thor and Mumford and white lionesses Isis and Mia died in agony after […]

A video of a Beluga whale playing catch with a rugby ball in the icy cold ocean is going viral, with many joking that the whale is celebrating the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup (RWC) win. According to Jacaranda FM, the crew of the boat, which includes South Africans, took the rugby ball along for the […]

Visitors to Cape Point Nature Reserve in South Africa this week have been treated to the spectacular and rare sight of an incredibly regal King Penguin… all the way from Antarctica. For those of us not there, Western Cape photographers Jon Kerrin and Robyn Gwilt were on the scene to capture these beautiful photos. Kerrin, […]

A PRIDE of lions who ruled one of the world’s largest urban game reserves have been butchered by poachers in South Africa for their body parts to make into ‘muti’ potions for witchdoctors. The two magnificent male lions and two lionesses died in agony from poisoned meat and then had their jaws and paws hacked […]