SMUGGLERS - IN SOUTH AFRICA

Saturday Star article by Sheree Bega.

Small creatures stuffed inside coffe tins and passed undetected through custome, snakes chilled (to make them sleepy and less likely to move) and shipped out in containers, cheetah snatched from the wild and wold to international zoos and private collectors.
These are some alarming examples of how South Africa is becoming a hub for the illegal wildfile trade, and there is global recognition of this says wildlife expert Karen Trendler,
She points out how illegal traders have used the focus on the surge in rhino poaching in recent years to target almost every other wildlife species.
Illegal traders have used the opportunity while the focus has been on rhino poaching .. The illegal trade has increased.
A lot of wildlife is used for the Muti and medicinal trade.
But it's become a status symbol to have exotic cheetahs in private collections in Dubai, for example. In Europe the huge thing is spiders, beetles and frogs and they are hammering our reptiles.
The wildlife traffickers have indenious ways of hiding wildlife. (But) The mortality that goes with it is shocking. Smaller species like frogs, some mammals and birds are stuffed into things like coffee tins, or they put six birds inside a map box.
Rynette Coetzee of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) says it's cleare that the current focus is on the poaching of rhinos "which leaves no time for investigating any other biodiversiity crimes."
"With the focus on rhino poaching it has just become so much easier for people to ply their illegal trade ... Information from confidential sources has pointed to the fact that specifically bird and reptile smugglers have picked up on this and there has been a substantial increase in specifically bird smuggling.

I say - WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO. The Lord created these beatiful wild creatures to be left and enjoyed where they are. Not to go and be eventually forgotten in a fish tank or bird cage. SHAME ON YOU - THE SMUGGLERS AND THE BUYERS.

TIGERS - AMAZING

In a zoo in California , a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of
triplet tiger cubs.

Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born
prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to
decline in health.

Although physically she was fine, the veterinarians felt that the loss
of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression.

The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's
cubs, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing
news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to
the mourning mother.

The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in
a zoo environment.

Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different
species.

The only orphans that could be found quickly, were a litter of weanling
pigs.

The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed
the babies around the mother tiger... Would they become cubs or pork
chops?

Take a look...you won't believe your eyes.

Now, please tell me one more time ... Why can't the rest of the world
get along?

Extraordinary Hippo

Please go and look at this it is quite amazing.

NEWBORN GIRAFFE

Purdy the giraffe at the Lion Park in Lansearia, gave birth yesterday. The baby dropped 2m to the ground, knocking it to life. The newborn lay there, breathing and kicking.
But Purdy - was only vaguely interested in her offspring, sniffing it briefly before wandering off.
The baby giraffe woud have to be bottle-fed. But it took five people to control the newborn as they tried to feed her a mixture of milk and egg yolk. She bucked and kicked, less than 12 hours old and already as tall as a man. Eventually, she latched onto the teat and grew quiet, her wide eyes as big as fists as she had her first meal. The palm-sized ears darted furtively as her handlers stroked the teddy-bear fur and wiped away the dribble of mucas round her nose.
In time she'll take to one staff member, and that person will be able to do everthing with her.
For the next seven to eight months she'll drink about 20 litres of the milky and egg mixture maily and receive supplementry vitamin B shots.
I won't be until around March that she will leave her small pen for the enclosure where Purdy roams.
Once there, she'll learn how to browse like an adult giraffe in the wild, but it will always be a life in captivity for the new arrival.
For now, she had drunk her full and she was wrestled to the ground. She blinked her kohlringed eyes and lay her head down.
The Lion Park boasts eight large carnivore species, including lions, hyenas, cheetahs and jackals, and other animals such as black wildebeest and giraffes, which roam freely in a large antelope area.

The baby giraffe hasn't been named yet.
Have any ideas for the name? E-mail your suggestions to starnews@inl.co.za.

I posted this from an article in The Star, written by Kristen van Schie.

KRUGER PARK - PHOTOS

Beautiful Zebras, always a favorite, so gentle, but will give you a jolly good kick if he feels like it.

This is a Bush Buck, he has a ring around his bottom.

We all know Hippos, the first time I saw one out of the water, I did not know what it was. LOL

Cheetah, very luck to see one, they blend in so well with the bush.

Cheeky little bugger, trying out his aggression by mock charging the car. Baby Elephant - baby charge !!!!

Vultures, must have a meal near by.

GOING AWAY.

Hi all my friends,
We are going away for a week, to the Kruger National Park, to see some of the wonderful animals Africa has been blessed with. Hope to get some very good photos. I might put them on flicker then if you like them you can download them, I think that is how it works.
You can feel summer is on its way now, the bite has gone out of the air.
Keep well and come and visit me often, I do so love to have you all calling and especally if you leave comments even if it is a few xxxx.
Lovies to you all.

WHALE SLAUGHTER

Legal whale slaughter

I've just signed an urgent petition at Avaaz.org to protect whales. Read more below, or click this link to join me in signing:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/whales_under_threat_9/98.php?CLICKTF

SNYDICATE: RHINO CALF KILLED,

NELSPRUIT:
A rhino poaching syndicate has received a knockout blow from the local organised crime unit after seven of their members were arrested late last year.
The investigation came after a rhino carcass was found at Langspruit in Marloth Park on November 6.
It gained momentum in December when two poachers were caught by area game wardens in the Kruger National Park where they were hunting rhino.
The wardens were in the vicinity when they heard faint explosive sound and found poachers hunting.
Poachers last year filled a total of 50 rhino in the Kruger Park along.
A third suspect was later arrested and evidence found that they used R-1 rifles to shoot the animals. The horns are sold on the international market of up to R40,000/kg.
Further leads were followed up and Gert Jacobus Stephanus Lund was arrested in Johannesburg. He allegedly supplied the poaching trio with rifles and ammunition and was involved in the selling of rhino horn.
Two further poachers were caught in separate incidents. A Chinese national, who is alleged to have been involved in selling and the distribution of of horns, Juan Feng Cia from Bedfordview, was also later arrested.
The syndicate was allegedly involved in the killing of nine rhino, most of them cows. Among the rhino was a small calf and its horn was also harvested.

I took this article from The Citizen, Thursday 8 April, 2010 written by Gerhard Rheeder.

NOT wishing to confuse the photos of the rhinos at the top are not dead they were taken by me in the Kruger National Park.

The world is terrible, this and other stories from around the world make me want to cry. What oh what can be done by us to help?

I have thought of something, If all the evil ones fell over and slept for a week, then we could see who they are!!!! I cannot wish more evil than that I must also be judged, but I hope I am not one to fall down and sleep for a week. God Bless.

OUR RHINO - LEAVE THEM ALONE.

Well-funded poaching syndicates are cashing in on Asia’s demand for rhino horn - and jeopardizing decades of rhino conservation efforts in South Africa.

The reason behind the current 15-year high in rhino poaching is no longer a mystery or “baffling” to experts: It is fueled by the insatiable demands of a newly affluent - and increasing - population in Asia.

Commercial rhino poaching has become a well-oiled machine - and the “new Asian wealth” is bankrolling the slaughter.Today’s rhino poachers

Heavily funded, politically connected, and well-armed, today’s rhino poachers use helicopters to fly into Africa’s game reserves to kill rhino with the latest high-powered weapons.

In a recent Guardian article, chief executive of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, Yolan Friedmann, said the average number of rhino killed has skyrocketed from 10 to 100 yearly.

There has been a rampant increase in South Africa. Poaching figures for this year have already surpassed the whole of last year. It’s probably the worst it’s been for 15 years. There’s a lot more money going into poaching and it’s becoming more hi-tech. It’s no longer just a man with a bow and arrow wading through the bush. These guys are using helicopters and AK-47 rifles.

Despite the once successful Save the Rhino project, rhinos are under siege. South Africa is facing a crisis. We’ve done extremely well in rhino conservation, but something has changed in the past 18 months, there’s an insatiable appetite for rhino horn in the far east.

Cathy Dean, director of Save the Rhino International, says in the article that the surge in poaching is a threat to years of hard-earned success in rhino conservation.

The gains of the last decade are in real jeopardy. The underlying concern is that this upsurge in rhino poaching – a major issue in Zimbabwe as well as South Africa – is no longer opportunistic poaching by individuals but carried out by … highly sophisticated criminal gangs.

So far this year, 84 rhino have been killed in South Africa. In 2007, the number was 13.

Unfortunately, commercial rhino poaching has become widespread: Zimbabwe’s rhino population is also suffering at the hands of a politically connected poaching cartel that fulfills “orders” from Chinese nationals for rhino horn.

And illegal killing isn’t the only way rhino horn enters Asia’s flourishing endangered species marketplace.

Exploiting loopholes

The Vietnamese are getting into the rhino killing business by exploiting loopholes in South African trophy hunting laws. Most notable is the incident involving Dwesa Nature Reserve.

Earlier this year, Dwesa Nature Reserve auctioned off the right to kill six rhino to the trophy hunting operation, African Scent Safaris. Afterward, it was confirmed that Vietnamese clients of African Scent Safaris killed two rhino and had the horns exported to Vietnam.

When it was discovered that Vietnamese hunt participants were having the horns shipped to Asia in order to sell them in the thriving illegal market, members of PHASA (Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa) were advised not to “book and conduct hunts with nationals from Vietnam or other Far Eastern countries.”

Susan Lieberman, WWF species program director, explains the growing Vietnamese interest in rhino horn in a National Geographic article.

There is some mythology developing in Vietnam because somebody took rhino horn and went into cancer remission, or at least that is the information we’re getting.

But it is not, and never was, a cure for cancer.

The Guardian also reported that a Vietnamese diplomat took delivery of rhino horn outside the Vietnamese embassy in Pretoria; the exchange was caught on film.

It was further noted that

… there was growing evidence of Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai nationals’ involvement in the illegal procurement and transport of horn out of Africa.

Can education overcome superstition?

According to journalist Ben Davies, author of Black Market: Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia, much of the wildlife trade in Asia is based on superstitions that have been in existence for generations.

If only it was ignorance fueling this bizarre obsession with wildlife, it could eventually be solved with education - much in the way it was in Europe.

In the case of Asia, however, vast increases in human population combined with growing affluence are driving ever-larger numbers of animals down the road to extinction.

Davies believes that the battle to control the illegal wildlife trade will eventually be won - or lost - in Asia’s classrooms.

In the meantime?

It is likely to take decades before Asian superstitions about wildlife are overcome by education. And the superstition surrounding rhino horn will be especially challenging: The rarer the animal, the more desirable its alleged “powers” become.

At the other end, arrests are made, yet poaching continues. The Guardian reported a number of arrests made in South Africa this year.

At least 14 poachers, all Mozambican, have been arrested and several illegal firearms seized in Kruger this year. Nationwide, 22 poachers were caught. In January an international rhino-smuggling ring was smashed and 11 people were arrested.

Commercial rhino poaching is thriving - and here we are still talking about “what to do.”

The issue of rhino poaching will be discussed at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES, which will be held in Doha, Qatar March 13-25, 2010.

In the meantime, how many more rhino killings must we tolerate - just to satisfy “superstitions”?

Written by Rhishja Larson - Eco Worldy.

BIG STRETCH. - Kruger National Park.

This old man gave us so much pleasure for a long time, we called him Hole in the Ear, because of the perfect hole in his right ear.
He ambled around, I think a bit bored with the afternoon.
At one stage we watched him trying to push a tree over, which you all know they love doing, but then he ambled on and found this tree, but the leaves he wanted were just a bit to high for him so he had to have a big stretch. A bit further in this blog is another photo of him a few minutes later, and you can see the mischief he is looking for because he has his head over a fence, where he should not be. We had a good laugh at this if someone was coming out of the hide they would have jumped out of their skins !!!!
The Link the that photo is here in case you cannot find it. HERE


YOU ARE WELCOME TO THIS PHOTO DOWNLOAD IT HERE.

A BIT OF A LAUGH AGAIN

I have got this wrong way round, this is the second photo. The next day we were passing same hide and decided as there were no Elephants around to stop and take a photo of Tony for scale, and I did a bit of cutting and blending and walla. See how big Whole in the Ear is.

A BIT OF A LAUGH.

This Elephant we called Hole in the Ear, he had a beautiful round hole in his left ear. I think we should have called him Naughty.
This is a hide, it is safe to get out of our cars here and go through that gate and go and sit and see what we can see. Luckily there was no one down there (only us outside in our car I might add)
Can you imagine some poor soul walking up the passage and seeing this spying you out!!!!!!

LIONS FLIRTING

We had not seen Lion for 3 days, sometimes we do not see them at all. On our way out coming round a corner we were lucky enough to see these two on the road. He was in a very amorous

mood so he really was not too worried about us.

KRUGER NATIONAL PART

We are back from the Park, it was unseasonably wet and a bit of the cold side, we have been going there for many years mostly this time of the year and it is the first time we have had such bad weather.

But it was still lovely, I have only posted a few elephants, we saw a lot of them. Greatly happy to see many more and some wonderful birds.

KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

Hi, Tony and I are going to the Kruger Park to morrow, Sunday 6th June, we hope to see a lot of wonderful animals. I will not be here for a few days, hope to have some photos.
Bye for now.

TWO DARLINGS TAKING A BATH.

The Photograph was taken by Tony. At the Kruger National Park. South Africa.
The Only place in the world to be--- different strokes for different folks, they say.
I used a Quick Page by Zrtamp_Lilpaintedword02. must say who and what is used in digi scrapbooking, or else the man will come and take me to jail. Copyrights you know.

ELEPHANT

If you wish to Download this photo the link is HERE

ELEPHANT

Well now he speaks for himself. None of these roaming around the farm. Wish there were. I am so frightened of them when we go to the park and we are very near them in the car, I am on tender hooks.

IMPALA BUCK

These little Impala are lovely, and there are hundreds of them in all the parks. Usually the first thing we see on arrival and the last wave good bye. To think these graceful little darlings used to wander around as they liked. 100 years ago or so. On the farm where we spend 1 week every 2 weeks on the Vaal River, there are a few little buck, the wander here for a bit of water.

We get so excieted when we see one.

KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

Tony and I go to the Game Parks every year, can never get enough. Here is a photograph we took. This buck is Sabel.

It is a wonderful place to go if you like game and peace and quite.
There are many Game Parks all over South Africa, for those of you who are coming to South Africa for the World Cup.