2024-03-23 - Pretoria, South Africa.
In the ongoing efforts to curb poaching and snaring of animals within the Zimbabwe and Mozambique borders, South African National Parks (SANParks) is working to create more partnerships with neighbouring countries to provide benefits to communities neighbouring the parks. The Kruger National Park is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. This park links the Kruger with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe and the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
2023-08-21 - Kruger National Park, South Africa.
Contraceptives are now being successfully used to prevent elephant overpopulation in South Africa. Approximately 75% of all breeding-age female elephants outside of the greater Kruger National Park had been successfully treated with immunocontraceptives in 47 reserves to prevent overpopulation.
2022-04-25 - Nelspruit, South Africa.
Two elephants, Kasper and Kitso, died while under sedation during relocation efforts from the Lowveld to Kleinmond Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) in the Western Cape on April 23. According to the owner and custodian of the elephants, Craig Saunders, they had been in the care of Elephant Sanctuary, Hazyview for the past 20 years.
2022-03-05 - Cape Town, South Africa.
A Zimbabwean has been fined R10,000 in Cape Town for unlawful possession of ivory. Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said Cosmus Ziwande, 38, was sentenced in the Cape Town magistrate's court on Thursday. Ziwande, who is serving a seven-year jail sentence for tampering with essential infrastructure in Clanwilliam, Western Cape, in July 2021, entered into a plea and sentencing agreement with the state. The fine was wholly suspended for five years.
2021-12-21 - Cape Town, South Africa. Charles Helm
In the 19th century, a population that came to be known as the “Knysna elephants” (a reference to the nearest big town) were the most southerly group of elephants in Africa. Over time they became the only free-ranging elephants in South Africa. Their numbers were decimated by the ivory market and habitat transformation. Evidence indicates that only one elephant, an adult female in her forties, remains. Now, about 18km from the area that lone elephant occupies, we have found new evidence of h...
2021-01-26 - Empangeni, South Africa.
STAFF, medical teams and anti-poaching personnel at Thula Thula Private Game Reserve are mourning the passing of their beloved matriarch elephant, Frankie, one of seven elephants that arrived at the private game reserve in 1999, when Nana was matriarch. Test results confirmed Frankie had liver damage, and despite a combination of medications and daily feedings, her condition didn’t improve.
2020-10-27 - , South Africa.
National Zoological Garden: It is with a heavy heart that we inform all our loyal followers of the death of one of beloved elephants, Landa. Landa, aged 36, was a popular resident of the National Zoological Garden since April 1986.
2020-10-21 - Mkuze, South Africa.
in a joint operation between WILDLANDS – a programme of the WILDTRUST, the Aspinall Foundation (in partnership with Albus Environmental), Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Conservation Solutions, a 20-year-old Tusker was successfully translocated from Tembe Elephant Park, owned by the Tembe Traditional Authority to Somkhanda Game Reserve, owned and managed by the Emvokweni Community Trust. Tembe Elephant Park was established in 1983 to protect the last remaining herds of free-roaming elephants in Sout...
2020-10-19 - Makhanda, South Africa. GUY ROGERS
Two elephants from Tembe Elephant Park in KwaZulu-Natal have arrived at Buffalo Kloof near Makhanda as part of a project to secure their big tusker genetics.
2020-09-13 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Conservative staff didn’t pick up on his collar’s signal earlier this week and and subsequently went in search of him. It would appear as if this magnificent tusker had an awkward fall, from which he was not able recover.
2020-09-13 - Sabi Sands, South Africa.
The video of a baby elephant taking a nap in Sabi Sands, South Africa has won the hearts of thousands of netizens.
2020-02-15 - Hoedspruit, South Africa. JEROME DELAY- ASSOCIATED PRESS
Khanysia did not see the trap set by a poacher in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. She cut her mouth, face and underneath her ear and chin. It was days before the 4-month-old albino elephant was found badly dehydrated but alive, and taken to the Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development center, three hours away. Khanyisa gets her name from her unique appearance as an albino, meaning "Light" or "Sunshine" in the local Shona language.
2016-12-09 - Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.
Circus owner Brian Boswell is challenging the legality of elephant protection laws after his attempt to sell African elephants to a zoo in the United Arab Emirates was blocked by wildlife authorities. Boswell has refused to accept the denial of a permit application to send five circus trained elephants to a Dubai zoo at the selling price of R3 million each
2016-10-03 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
Attempts to give the maximum level of international protection to all African elephants have foundered at a key species conference in Johannesburg. A proposal put forward by Kenya was strongly supported but failed to gain the two-thirds majority required. The opposition of the EU, which voted as a block, was pivotal in the defeat.
2016-04-26 - Port Elizabeth , South Africa.
Charges against two circus owners and an employee from the well known Brian Boswell Circus have been withdrawn in the Port Elizabeth magistrate’s court. Jane Boswell, her daughter Georgina, and elephant handler David Marais were facing a string of charges for allegedly beating, chaining, confining and not providing sufficient water and shade to elephants between December 2012 and January 2013.
2016-01-25 - Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Villagers wielding pangas, grinders and knives slaughtered three elephants that were shot dead in Mpumalanga after escaping from the Kruger National Park. An African Eye News Service reporter witnessed armed rangers from the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) trying to calm residents of Matsulu outside Mbombela last week. The impatient residents, who had arrived on the scene with empty buckets, wanted the rangers to kill the elephants immediately.
2015-11-27 - , South Africa.
Our wild herd on Kapama originated from the Kruger National Park and found their new home on the Kapama Game Reserve between 1992 and 1997. This calf is now about 5 years of age, and as you can see on the picture he still has the pink eyes and lashes.
2015-11-13 - Kruger National Park, South Africa.
While nowhere near the same level as rhino poaching, a marked increase in the number of elephants killed by poachers could well signal the start of another onslaught on wildlife in the Kruger National Park.
2015-11-08 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
The shootout last month, in which three rangers and a Congolese army colonel were killed, highlights the challenge of protecting parks in a part of Africa plagued for decades by insurgencies, civil war, refugee flows and weak governments. It shows how some conservation efforts resemble a kind of guerrilla warfare in which rangers and soldiers stalk — and are stalked by — poachers who are slaughtering Africa´s elephants and other wildlife.
2014-05-23 - Knysna, South Africa.
This press statement is being put out by the Knysna Elephant Park (KEP) and Elephants of Eden (EOE) in response to the abuse allegations and Facebook entries on the NSPCA Facebook Site and disseminated by the NSPCA to the various news stations and probably newspapers as well. The legal adviser for EOE, Mr. F J Fischer of C J Ballan Inc of Knysna, has received the necessary instructions to investigate civil action against the NSPCA and Mr. Gerhard Van Rooyen.
2014-05-19 - Knysna, South Africa.
The National Council of SPCA’s (NSPCA) has laid criminal charges against a well-known elephant sanctuary in Knysna for extreme cruelty to animals after photographs emerged showing wounded elephants. The Knysna Elephant Park, part of the Elephants of Eden group before it moved from the Eastern Cape to Knysna, offers visitors a range of experiences with elephants – from close encounters (their ‘Be Touched by an Elephant tour) to exclusive walks, rides and even a sleepover with elephants.
2014-05-15 - Kruger National Park, South Africa.
The South African National Parks (SANParks) has today announced the first confirmed elephant poaching incident in the Kruger National Park (KNP) in well over ten years. The incident occurred in the Pafuri region, in the northern part of the KNP. According to SANParks Rangers Corp Officer Commanding, Major General (Ret) Johan Jooste, forensic evidence suggests that this elephant bull was purposefully shot for its tusks, which were hacked off and carried away by suspected poachers.
2013-12-31 - Kruger National Park, South Africa.
An elephant bull has been put down after it attacked a couple in the Kruger National Park on Monday, trampling their blue Volkswagen car. Apparently the South African couple were following the elephant bull to videotape it and suddenly the animal turned on them and pushed their car into the bush for about 400m. According to eyewitnesses the animal was extremely aggressive and our rangers were alerted of the incident by the tourists,” Phaahla said.
2013-12-27 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
The European Union Commission has pledged more than 170 million Rand (12 million Euros) to assist in combating the illegal trade in ivory in which the fight will be taken more to the organized crime and rebel forces. Key states involved in the illegal ivory value chain have committed to urgent measures to halt the illegal trade. The measures, which include enhancing legislation and wildlife protection at national level, were adopted at the African Elephant Summit in Gaborone, Botswana, earlier t...
2013-06-14 - Mossel Bay, South Africa.
Thandora was held in captivity for 23 years before she was released into the wild this year with high hopes that she would adapt to the environment. However, experts from Conservation Global were shocked and distraught to find that she had died. “I am shattered having endured 36 hours of emotional rollercoaster that ended at 05h30 this morning,” Greg Vogt from Conservation Global told News24 after finding the elephant dead.
2013-06-05 - Mahikeng, South Africa.
The senior officials are facing disciplinary action after being charged with contravening environmental management norms and standards for issuing licenses to hunt four elephants that had calves. The calves were translocated to the Eastern Cape from Sandhurst Safari Lodge on March 13. Two of the adults were subsequently culled by the officials from a helicopter, spokesperson Lesiba Kgwele said.
2013-04-27 - Durban, South Africa.
The IFP calls on Government to urgently erect border fencing and deploy armed forces between Mozambique and Kruger National Park. IFP Spokesperson on Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mrs. Connie Zikalala MP, said, "Government should do everything in their power to protect our wildlife and heritage. Before we know it thousands of elephants will also be killed this year by poachers who want their ivory tusks. Government must treat this matter as critical and urgently deploy resources to combat s...
2013-04-26 - Mossel Bay, South Africa.
After months of preparation and rehabilitation, Thandora, the 27-year-old elephant from Bloemfontein zoo has been released into Gondwana Game Reserve. She has been physically and mentally prepared for a number of months, while living in a boma in the bush, she took her first steps in the wild on Monday. We take a look at how she’s been doing.
2013-04-17 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
The owner of an elephant park in South Africa says one of his handlers was trampled to death while taking elephants out for exercise. Craig Saunders, owner of the Elephant Sanctuary near Hartbeespoort Dam, west of Pretoria, said the accident happened on Monday. Saunders says the handler slipped off the back of an elephant that was engaging in "boisterous behavior" with another elephant. He says the handler ended up in the midst of the altercation, which happened during an early morning exercise ...
2013-04-15 - Skukuza, South Africa.
Two Chinese tourists were injured when their vehicle was overturned by an elephant on the H1-7 tar road between Shingwedzi and Punda Maria in the Kruger National Park around 06:30 on Monday morning. The driver sustained serious injuries and was taken to Clinix Phalaborwa Private Hospital after being assisted by a local doctor and paramedics on the scene. The passenger only sustained minor injuries.
2013-03-22 - Kruger national park, South Africa. Ron Thomson
The truth of the matter is that we have been trying to carry too many elephants for far too long in practically every national park in Africa - for the purpose of satisfying the needs of tourism; and for satisfying the emotional and irrational needs of urban people world-wide. For this we have the animal rights brigade to thank! The reality of the matter is that wildlife management authorities throughout Africa have been criminally guilty of neglecting our wildlife management priorities for more...
2013-03-06 - Bloemfontein, South Africa.
After 23 years in captivity, an elephant at the Bloemfontein Zoo will soon be released back into the wild. Zoo officials decided to free 27-year-old Thandora after the death of her companion. She will soon be joining a herd of elephants in the Gondwana Game Reserve in the Western Cape.
2012-10-26 - Bloemfontein, South Africa.
An elephant needs a new home because of unhygienic living standards in the Bloemfontein zoo, the National SPCA said on Wednesday. “The lack of cleaning staff led to compromising of the hygiene standards and the living conditions of the animals,†the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) said in a statement.
2012-08-08 - Pretoria, South Africa.
Previous field studies gave us important clues that elephants are a key driver of tree losses, but our airborne 3-D mapping approach was the only way to fully understand the impacts of elephants across a wide range of environmental conditions found in savannas," lead author Greg Asner of Carnegie´s Department of Global Ecology said in a press release.
2012-08-02 - Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.
Circus fans have given their support to Brian Boswell as he fights off animal rights activists. The activists, who want to stop Boswell using animals in shows, protested in front of his circus in Durban on Sunday. Boswell claims they also posted pictures on the internet that falsely depict him involved in acts of animal cruelty. Yesterday, Boswell said he had instructed his lawyers to demand that the pictures be removed and that the activists responsible apologise for "perpetuating lies" about h...
2012-04-09 - Louis Trichardt, South Africa.
A 54-year-old man from the Alldays area appeared in the Louis Trichardt District Court on Monday in connection with the alleged illegal hunting of an elephant. Steven Barber from the farm Weltevreden, situated in the Alldays district, was charged with the hunting of wild or alien animals. Barber, who allegedly does not have any elephants on his farm, arranged that an elephant from the neighbouring farm Kruidfontein would be lured to his farm. He supposedly placed a load of oranges close to the ...
2012-03-11 - Addo, South Africa.
HAPOOR JUNIOR, one of the offspring of the legendary elephant bull Hapoor who dominated Addo for 24 years, has died at his Pumba Private Game Reserve home after he was attacked by his brother, Nick. He was 58. Hapoor Junior was born at Addo in 1954, sired by Hapoor, the park’s dominating bull. The SANParks website says Hapoor was named for a nick in his ear caused by a hunter’s bullet.
2012-03-04 - Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Rosslyn Beeby
A team led by David Jachowski from the University of Missouri detected high levels of chronic stress in elephants relocated to three South African nature reserves. In some cases, these had occurred more than 10 years ago, and elephants were still exhibiting stressed behaviour in their responses to the not-so-new environments. The study, published online in the global science journal PLoS ONE, has interesting implications for the future design of nature reserves in Africa, and also raises questio...
2012-03-03 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
Born in Johannesburg in 1950, Anthony was the owner and head of conservation at KwaZulu-Natal’s Thula Thula Game reserve and the author of several bestsellers including The Elephant Whisperer: Learning About Life, Loyalty and Freedom From a Remarkable Herd of Elephants, which has sold over 90 000 copies worldwide. Anthony was also known for his bold ventures in conservation, most notably when he braved the 2003 US bombing of Iraq to rescue a pack of starving lions.
2012-02-17 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
Poachers have slaughtered at least 200 elephants in the past five weeks in a patch of Africa where they are more dangerously endangered than anywhere else on Earth, wildlife activists said Thursday. The money made from selling elephant tusks is fueling misery throughout the continent, the International Fund for Animal Welfare warned.
2012-02-15 - Kruger Park, South Africa.
Stable isotope series from elephant ivory reveal lifetime histories of a true dietary generalist, by Jacqueline Codron et al in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences The implications for all herbivores, and indeed many animal populations, is that you need to widen your dietary intake.
2012-01-05 - Skukuza, South Africa.
The African Elephant Action Plan and the African Elephant Fund received a more than R2 million boost at a meeting held in Skukuza from 12 to 14 December, 2011. The first official session of the trust fund´s steering committee took place in the Kruger National Park (KNP) to allocate available financial resources to the first set of eligible projects. The initiative was created under the auspices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) w...
2011-12-29 - Pretoria, South Africa.
SIX AFRICAN elephant conservation projects across the continent are the first to benefit from a new international trust fund set up last year to help protect the giant pachyderms. The selected projects, which have collectively been granted $150 000 (R1.2 million), include investigating regional illegal ivory markets, mitigating local human-elephant conflicts, providing equipment to rangers and strengthening the management of key protected areas.
2011-12-29 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
More elephant tusks were seized in 2011 than in any year since 1989, when the ivory trade was banned, international wildlife trade group Traffic says. The group said elephants have had a "horrible year", with 23 tonnes of ivory seized - representing at least 2,500 dead animals.
2011-11-04 - Sabi Sabi Game Reserve, South Africa. Boyd Matson
Showing off for the girls, pushing and shoving, picking fights, refusing to listen to their mothers, I could be describing teenage boys, but in this case I’m talking teenage male elephants. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference in their behavior, and the similarities were on display when I was at the Sabi Sabi Game Reserve in South Africa. In the young male groups one minute they would be eating and the next they were butting heads and crossing tusks.
2011-11-01 - Mbombela, South Africa.
The tusk of one of the Kruger National Park´s oldest elephants, Duke, who died in October, seems set to break environmental records, according to a report on Tuesday. The elephant´s left tusk was the longest ever measured in the KNP, reported Beeld newspape. It was 3.21m long, while the right tusk was 2.93m long. Together, the tusks weighed 140.5kg.
2011-06-06 - Knysna, South Africa.
A handler at the Knysna Elephant Park is in a critical but stable condition in hospital after being attacked by an elephant over the weekend. Arnold Ndzwanana had to have one of his legs amputated after being tossed in the air and then trampled by the 22-year-old bull, Harry. The park is now investigating what happened in the moments leading up to the incident. In June 2005, Harry trampled another handler to death.
2011-04-12 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
The death of Dineo, the first baby elephant born at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa in Pretoria, felt like a death in the family, zoo staff said yesterday. Dineo, born three weeks ago, died in her sleep yesterday morning. An autopsy is being conducted. "We had her under 24-hour surveillance since the day she was born," said Craig Allenby, a manager at the zoo.
2011-03-28 - Pretoria, South Africa.
On Monday 21st March 2011 we became parents to a baby girl. Lerata is her name and she is only seven days old. She is managed by Carol Thobela and Graeme Ogilvie and she doing well. Here she is being fed her hourly bottle of milk which she devours. Sadly she was too short and could not reach her mums teat, so could not feed - thus the desperate decision to pull her only 24 hours after her birth. But the vets are happy and so is the herd, mum is fine and seems to be content with the plans t...
2010-11-26 - Knysna, South Africa.
THE international Eco- Etho Research and Education Centre has joined the Knysna Elephant Park’s African elephant research unit to launch a new academy that will study animal welfare and psychology. The major aim of the academy’s courses will be to develop world- recognised qualifications for those professionally involved with large mammals, in order to ensure that animals under any form of human jurisdiction do not suffer and that, in particular, co-operative contact, handling and teaching a...
2010-10-22 - Pretoria, South Africa.
A man gored by an elephant is suing a North West game lodge for R300 000, according to court papers. In papers lodged in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria this week, Andrew Falcon is demanding R300 000 from Three Cities Management Ltd, Madikwe River Lodge (Pty) Ltd and Madikwe River Lodge Management Ltd. He alleged that the lodge´s emergency medical procedures were so poor that he had to wait almost five hours before he could be evacuated for medical attention.
2010-09-15 - Kwelera, South Africa. Andrew Stone
A “WALKING-with-elephants” experience to enable visitors to get “close and personal” with pachyderms in their natural environment is being offered at an East Coast game park. Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve owner Graham Stanton said the walks, which varied in time and length, would be held in conjunction with elephant-back safaris and elephant interaction.
2010-08-20 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Guy Rogers
THE Addo Elephant National Park took a giant step forward yesterday, lowering the southern fence between the old and new sections of the park and opening the way for its burgeoning jumbo herd to return to their ancestral home. “Addo has expanded to about 180000ha but the park core, where the elephants presently are, is just over 12000ha, north of the Addo Heights road. With the lowering of the fence today we have expanded this core to include the just under 12000ha south of the road.
2010-05-24 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
A mystery "leak" draining a jacuzzi in South Africa has been explained after tourists caught an elephant drinking from the pool. Affectionately nicknamed Troublesome, the animal is well-known to rangers at the reserve for her inquisitive nature. But no one imagined any connection with a problematic jacuzzi outside one of the £400-a-night lodges.
2010-03-20 - Knysna, South Africa.
There has not been a confirmed sighting of an elephant in the Knysna forests of South Africa for decades, after they were hunted to the brink of extinction in the early 1900s. But signs of their survival can still be found, as Hamilton Wende discovers.
2010-03-08 - Pretoria, South Africa.
Animal Rights Africa and the DA have lambasted a top official in the department of environmental affairs for suggesting that culling some of the countrys elephants was "inevitable". Fundisile Mketeni, the departments deputy director-general for biodiversity and conservation, told parliaments portfolio committee on environmental affairs last week that the growing elephant population was a threat to national parks.
2010-01-25 - Kwalata Game Ranch, South Africa.
The International Elephant Foundation and the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa are pleased to announce that the International Elephant Conservation and Research Symposium will be held from 25 - 29 January 2010 at Kwalata Game Ranch in South Africa. This important symposium will concentrate on the research and conservation needs of captive and wild populations of elephants. We invite researchers from around the world to present conservation projects and research results on human-elepha...
2009-12-27 - Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve, South Africa. Louise O’Keeffe
TWO Toowoomba boys have made headlines in South Africa after the elephant they were riding on went on a rampage last Friday. “They then fell off right at the elephant’s feet where it was mauling the ranger with its tusk. They boys were very lucky, but they are quite traumatised by the even. The boy’s father Mick Meintjes spoke to The Chronicle after the story was published in the South African paper Daily Dispatch. The family were from East London in South Africa and moved to Toowoomba thr...
2009-12-10 - Cape Town, South Africa.
The public has just over two weeks in which to submit comments on how captive elephants should be treated. This follows the publication late last month of the department of environmental affair's Draft Minimum Standards For the Management Of Captive Elephants, issued in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act.
2009-12-03 - Kruger Park, South Africa. Jeff Warner
Color us fascinated by submitter Jeff Warner's photo, taken on a trip to South Africa's Kruger National Park. According to Jeff, this plucky warthog, despite having no warthog backup, decided to challenge a herd of elephants in order to assert his rights to a water hole. We were pulling for the little guy (who doesn't love an underdog?), but according to Jeff, things didn't quite go his way. "The elephant kicked sand in the warthog's face," Jeff explains. The indignity!
2009-11-25 - Plettenberg Bay, South Africa.
AN elephant handler who was gored in the chest by an eight- year-old cow at the Elephant Sanctuary at The Crags in Plettenberg Bay is recovering from his injuries in hospital. Sanctuary owner Chris Kruger described the incident as “an accident” yesterday and said an investigation by staff had found there was no malicious intent by the elephant.
2009-10-26 - Knysna, South Africa.
THERE is a herd of 11 to 12 elephants in the Knysna forests, according to Gareth Patterson, who has spent the last eight years of his life studying the area’s elusive creatures. Patterson on Friday evening launched a book about his quest, The Secret Elephants, at Wordsworth Books in Knysna. His findings contradict earlier conclusions by SANParks that it is unlikely there is more than one Knysna elephant left.
2009-10-10 - Cape Town, South Africa. Sean O’Toole
The elephants came first, recalls Steve Bloom. As a small child I had a cuddly toy elephant that accompanied me everywhere, and that may have had some influence on my affinity for elephants. Not that the biography of this Cape Town-born (1953) son of the soil is as straightforward as this. Bloom, who recently won two International Photography Awards from the Lucie Foundation for his pictures of an elephant swimming in the sea off the Andaman Islands, came to wildlife photography relatively late.
2009-10-05 - Cape Town, South Africa.
The elephant cow that provoked an outcry from an animal rights group when it was spotted, apparently distressed and in pain, on an Mpumalanga game reserve's live webcam a fortnight ago, has died. The elephant cow died yesterday [Sunday] afternoon of natural causes, i.e. old age, Djuma Private Game Reserve owner Jurie Moolman told Sapa in an e-mail on Monday.
2009-10-02 - Pretoria, South Africa.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare says it has noticed an alarming increase in elephant poaching since the sale of about 100 tons of stockpiled ivory. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species sanctioned the once-off sale in October last year but IFAW says it opened the flood gates for poachers. The stockpiled ivory from four African countries, including South Africa, was sold for R114 million.
2009-10-01 - Pretoria, South Africa.
The distressed elephant cow that provoked an outcry from an animal rights group when it was spotted on an Mpumalanga game reserve's live webcam last week has been granted a temporary reprieve. "She is now keeping up with the herd and will not be euthanised unless she falls behind," Djuma Private Game Reserve owner Jurie Moolman told Sapa by phone this morning.
2009-09-30 - Cape Town, South Africa.
The elephant cow that provoked an uproar from an animal rights group when it was spotted on an Mpumalanga game reserve's live webcam last week, distressed and in pain, was found on Wednesday by rangers in the Sabi Sand Reserve. A decision was taken to euthanise the animal, Djuma Private Game Reserve owner Jurie Moolman told Sapa in an e-mail. Djuma is one of more than a dozen lodges and reserves that make up the 65 000 hectare Sabi Sand Reserve, which shares an unfenced 50km border with the Krug...
2009-09-28 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
An elephant in distress at a well-known game reserve has caused an uproar with the group Animal Rights Africa (ARA) demanding on Monday that the reserve's owners help the animal. According to the group, the elephant had suffered for more than two weeks with what appeared to be birth complications. They said that on complaining that nothing was being done to help the elephant, they were told by Sabi Sands that their policy was not to intervene in natural processes. ARA spokesperson Steve Smit sai...
2009-02-25 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Jeffrey Barbee
A new form of contraception may help to solve the problem of an overpopulation of elephants in South Africa's national parks. Here, Smelly, a 27-year-old female, stands with her 18-month-old son, Stinky, at Makalali, a private game reserve. Smelly had for several years been on an innovative vaccination which prevented her from becoming pregnant. Then the process was reversed and she successfully conceived and gave birth to Stinky.
2009-02-10 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Schalk van Schalkwyk
Tourists watched in tears as an elephant bull bade farewell to its "friend", the deceased bull Alexander. The bull tried to chase vultures and hyenas away from Alexander's carcass and even tried to pick Alexander up. Alexander, one of the Kruger National Park's largest elephants and a familiar sight in the area around the Mopani Rest Camp, died on Saturday, presumably of a heart attack. Tourists parked near the carcass watched as an elephant bull arrived there and tried to lift up its friend. Th...
2008-11-14 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Alex Morales
South Africa may start its first elephant culls since 1994 next year to protect other species harmed by their destruction of habitats. South Africa's elephant population has swelled to 17,000 from 200 in 1900 when hunting had slashed their numbers, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk, South Africa's environment minister, said Nov. 12 in an interview in London. That's leading to overgrazing that threatens animal species including rhinos and antelopes, he said.
2008-11-12 - Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa.
Two elephants from the Brian Boswell Circus are to strike their own gold coins as part of the 2008 Natura coin range. South African Mint Company deputy general manager Natanya van Niekerk said the elephants had been chosen because the company had been inspired by circus owner Brian Boswell's saving of 10 elephant calves from being culled in 1983. Two of the calves grew up as part of the Boswell circus family.
2008-11-10 - Eastern Cape, South Africa.
THIS baa-my pair are inseparable after they struck up an unlikely friendship. Orphaned baby elephant Themba was unable to feed himself and faced certain death until Albert the sheep provided some much needed company. The pair now spend every hour together at their home in the Shamwari Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
2008-11-07 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Lisa Schlein
Conservationists say ivory auctions in four Southern African countries this week have raised more than $15 million for conservation efforts. The ivory sale was organized by CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The organization says the money will go for African elephant conservation and to support local communities. Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva. Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe sold more than 100 tons of ivory to Chinese and Japanese accredited tra...
2008-10-27 - Cape Town, South Africa.
An elephant ivory auction totaling over 19,800 lb (9,000 kg) will begin tomorrow in Namibia. This is the first time in nearly 10 years that international trade in elephant ivory has been sanctioned by the UN-backed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The sales will continue over the next two weeks in Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa, with a grand total of 119 tons (108 tonnes) of ivory up for bidding. This accounts for an estimated 10,000+ dead elephants.
2008-10-27 - Knysna, South Africa.
In 1876, the Knysna elephants, that freely ranged the forest and fynbos areas in the southern cape, numbered about 500 individuals. The numbers declined rapidly as increasing numbers of woodcutters and hunters settled in the area. By 1908 the population status was estimated at 20 individuals, dwindling further to an estimated 11 by 1970. By 1980 a mere 3 individuals were believed to still roam the area.
2008-10-17 - Pretoria, South Africa.
South Africa will sell 51 tons of stockpiled ivory on November 6 in a once-off sale to China and Japan, the Department of Environmental Affairs said on Wednesday. Chief executive of South African National Parks (SANParks) David Mabunda said the stockpile consisted of ivory that was verified by the secretariat of the UN-backed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) as being of legal origin with data to back the origins. “The ivory emanates from SANParks, Mpumalanga ...
2008-10-16 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
More than 100 tonnes of ivory will go on auction in four southern African countries in two weeks, in the first sale of stockpiled elephant ivory in nearly a decade, wildlife groups said Wednesday. The sales were approved in July by the UN-backed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and auctions have now been scheduled in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, wildlife officials said. China and Japan are expected to be among the biggest buyers, after CITES agre...
2008-10-13 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
FIVE years ago Walter Gwarada was stuck in the office every day, but chance and an impatient American turned him into the “elephant whisperer†of Addo. Gwarada, who came to South Africa in 2003 after working in information technology at a Zimbabwean cellphone operator in Harare, was hired as a manager for a fledgling private game reserve in Addo, where there was an American brought in to train three tame elephants from Knysna to do safaris. But after four weeks the American had deser...
2008-10-08 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Jenni Marsh
A BABY elephant and a sheep named Albert may not appear to have much in common, but at the Shamwari Game Reserve these two animals have become the best of pals. Eight-month-old orphan Themba, whose name means “hope†in Xhosa, struck up a friendship with wooly Albert after arriving at the reserve‘s animal hospital when he was just six months old. Thembas mum had fallen off a cliff and died at the Sanbona Wildlife Reserve in the Western Cape, where both elephants lived. Shamwaris...
2008-09-30 - Knysna, South Africa.
Although SANParks believes there is 'no reliable evidence' that more than one elephant is living in the indigenous Knysna forests, it has begun a DNA study of dung to determine the size of the herd.
2008-09-17 - Durban, South Africa. Woolley LA, Millspaugh JJ, Woods RJ, van Rensburg SJ, Mackey RL, Page B, Slotow R. University of KwaZulu-Natal
In predator-free large herbivore populations, where density-dependent feedbacks occur at the limit where forage resources can no longer support the population, environmental catastrophes may play a significant role in population regulation. The potential role of fire as a stochastic mass-mortality event limiting these populations is poorly understood, so too the behavioural and physiological responses of the affected animals to this type of large disturbance event. During September 2005, a wildf...
2008-09-11 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
THE death of a Woody Cape farm worker who was “grabbed” through an electric fence and trampled to death by an elephant last week, has been described as a freak accident. Zimbabwean-born Vanhuvmnwe Chinangama was killed instantly on the farm Request, while walking alongside a re-enforced electric fence separating a herd of nine elephants at the Elephants of Eden sanctuary from the rest of the farm. The farm spokesperson Stanford Slabbert yesterday said the elephant had inexplicably grabbed Ch...
2008-08-12 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Jens Laurson and George Pieler
AFTER nearly 20 years, ivory trade is legal again. This is good news for callous lovers of exotic trinkets or traditionalists among pianists, but hardly a reason for elephants to celebrate, you might think. Somehow it’s not more comforting to know that China, quickly becoming the premier neocolonial force in Africa, is a key reason why the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) has allowed the export of 110 tons of ivory. The other reason is Jap...
2008-07-24 - Tshwane, South Africa.
The South African Government has donated 160 elephants to Lusenga Plains National Park in Zambia's Kawambwa Disrict. Luapula Province Acting Permanent Secretary Clement Siame said the elephants would arrive next week for Lusenga Plains National Park as part of an on going restocking program. Speaking at a preparatory meeting for Destination Luapula Tour on Wednesday, Mr Siame said the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) had given the Park 100 Zebras, 100 Wildebeests and 280 Impalas, as well, to inc...
2008-07-17 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
China's approval for the first time as a bona fide buyer of ivory has drawn flak from some conservationists, who blame the country for stoking the illegal ivory trade. One of the world's biggest consumers of elephant ivory, China was given the go-ahead on Tuesday to participate as a licensed buyer in an upcoming auction of 108 tons of ivory from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. "This sale has literally given the green light to international poaching syndicates and organised crime, a...
2008-07-17 - Pretoria, South Africa. Michael Appel
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) standing committee on Wednesday authorised a decision taken last year for a once-off sale of ivory. The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has welcomed the decision. Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are now authorised to make a once off sale of a total of 108 tons of government-owned ivory, the department said in a statement on Wednesday. The following quantities of raw ivory have been approved for sale:...
2008-06-12 - Pretoria, South Africa.
Elephant culling at the Kruger National Park is unnecessary and not a last option, the Earth organisation said on Wednesday. Founder of the group, Lawrence Anthony, said the assertion that culling was only a last option was a method cleverly designed to try to sell the slaughter to an unwilling public. "The decision to cull is based on emotion. Credible science demonstrates that the cull is unnecessary. "The public is being asked to accept an unpopular decision which has no support among respect...
2008-05-28 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Caroline Duffield
South Africa has lifted its ban on the culling of elephants, as numbers have more than doubled since its introduction 1994.
2008-04-30 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
South Africa's 13-year moratorium on elephant culling was set to be lifted on Thursday to combat a surge in population numbers, despite an outcry from animal rights activists. The South African government earlier this year authorised the killing of elephants from May 1 as a last resort in limiting the numbers of the African elephant that have more than doubled since culling was halted in 1995. Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the issue of population management of the animals had...
2008-04-17 - Cape Town, South Africa. Wyndham Hartley
China, one of the centres of trade in illicit ivory, is on the list as a customer for the 30 tons of legal ivory which SA has permission to sell on world markets. Despite being a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites ) trade in illegal ivory has flourished in China. Its emerging middle class has such an appetite for ivory carvings and jewellery that in 2005 Richard Leakey, the renowned anthropologist, warned that the enormous economic growth in China pos...
2008-03-16 - Stellenbosch, South Africa. Iain Macdonald
Cleopatra is an elephant and matriarch. The journey is her endeavour to keep her precious family alive against enormous odds. All the events contained in this book take place betweeen 1966 and 1994, a tumultous period for the region.The most tragic event was the demise of the rhino due to commercial poaching. The same people who killed the rhino went on to decimate the elephant.
2008-03-11 - Kruger National Park, South Africa.
This year the elephant and buffalo census team, under the leadership of Dr Ian Whyte, who is conducting his 24th census, counted 13 050 elephants in the Kruger National Park (KNP). Although Ian retired earlier this year, he was contracted to conduct the census. The count indicates 623 individuals or five percent more than the 12 427 counted last year. Ian says in his report that only 338 calves were recorded which is considerably less than the 725 counted in 2006.
2008-03-08 - KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
February 2008. Contraception of female elephants in one South African game reserve began in June 2007, well ahead of the news this week that the government has put culling back on the table. The birth control method, developed over 10 years, hopes to slow down elephant growth rate to prevent having to use culling to reduce numbers. In 1995 pressure from the conservation and tourism lobby around the world forced the SA government to put a moratorium on culling in Kruger National Park.
2008-03-03 - Pretoria, South Africa.
The Government of South Africa says it will think about allowing some elephants to be killed as it says there are too many of the big beasts in the country. The plan to kill or 'cull' elephants has divided opinion in South Africa. African elephants have been protected since 1995, but the ban on hunting them will be lifted on 1 May. Press Packers Quintin and Erin both live in South Africa, but have different opinions on the matter.
2008-03-03 - Pretoria, South Africa. Kathleen Costello
Scientists discovered this trait after studying the mammals mourning dead relatives in their natural environment. They also know that elephants are highly intelligent, demonstrate empathy and live within complex social structures. (Young elephants need to be taught elaborate social behaviors by adults in order to survive.) These are just a few of the reasons why killing a herd of elephants is more humane than killing a few individuals, experts say. This theory will be tested in South Africa, sta...
2008-03-02 - Pretoria, South Africa. Chris Barron
After a 14-year moratorium, the government has approved elephant culling to protect the environment. Chris Barron asked Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk. Q: Is there enough scientific evidence that elephants are threatening biodiversity? A: The science is evolving all the time, but I believe the scientific evidence we have now is adequate to defend the decision.
2008-03-01 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Sheree Béga
China, one of the world's largest traders in illegal ivory, is vying to buy up South Africa's massive elephant ivory stock which has built up over several years as the result of a worldwide ban. But conservation authorities must first decide whether China is a suitable destination for the ivory, the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said this week. Last June, South Africa received permission from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flor...
2008-02-28 - Pretoria, South Africa.
The Humane Society of the United States and its international arm, Humane Society International, today applauded new regulations on elephant management announced by the South African government on Monday. The new regulations will ban the capture of elephants for commercial exhibition facilities such as elephant back safari industries or circuses, prohibit the import and export of captive elephants and prevent intensive breeding of captive elephants, other than natural birth, beginning May 1, 200...
2008-02-28 - Mpumalanga, South Africa.
A 46-year-old game ranger was trampled to death by an elephant, Mpumalanga police said on Wednesday. Superintendent Abie Khoabane said two rangers at Manyaleti Game Lodge saw an irate elephant, and vultures in the sky. They went to investigate and the elephant charged them. The rangers ran in different directions. One did not return and a search was launched for him. The missing ranger was found dead on Tuesday near the place where the elephant charged. An inquest docket has been opened.
2008-02-27 - Kruger National Park, South Africa.
The South African government has decided to lift its moratorium on the culling of elephants in the country's national parks because populations in the country have risen from about 8,000 elephants to nearly 20,000 over the past decade or so. South Africa says, for instance, that there are some 5,000 more elephants living in the Kruger National Park, where numbers have almost doubled to 12,500, than can be sustained by the park's enclosed habitat. What are the arguments for culling elephants?
2008-02-26 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
The unnecessary confinement and transportation of elephants for entertainment purposes has left the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) "seriously perturbed". The NSPCA was on Tuesday responding to the Norms and Standards for the Management of Elephants in South Africa, announced by Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Monday.
2008-02-26 - Pretoria, South Africa. The Born Free Foundation
Leading animal protection and conservation organization, The Born Free Foundation, expressed utter disappointment today after Environmental Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk announced that government-sanctioned elephant culling will become official policy on Friday 29 February, 2008. This would end the culling ban introduced in 1994, the year that free elections in the RAINBOW Nation ended apartheid for good.
2008-02-26 - Pretoria, South Africa. Guy Rogers
A NEW policy for managing South Africa‘s elephants lifts the 17-year-old moratorium on culling jumbos – but emphasises that this measure will be approved only as a “last resort”. Announcing the final norms and standards for elephant management at a briefing in Pretoria yesterday, Environment and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said his department recognised the need to maintain culling as a management option. “But we have taken steps to ensure this will be the option of last r...
2008-02-25 - Pretoria, South Africa. Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Elephant management in South Africa At approximately this time a year ago, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) published the Draft Norms and Standards for Elephant Management for public comment. Intense public interest was generated and we are now ready to publish a final version that has benefited significantly from the public commentary and consultative processes. It was to be expected that strong emotions would be part of this debate. There are few other creatures on earth ...
2008-02-22 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
Animal Rights Africa (ARA) has threatened boycotts, protests and legal steps if South Africa legalises culling to control elephant numbers. Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk is expected to announce the national norms and standards for elephant management (NNSEM) on Monday. ARA said on Friday that promoting international tourist boycotts, public protests and legal challenges were among the measures it would resort to if the NNSEM persisted in legalising culling as...
2008-02-16 - Knysna, South Africa.
One lucky elephant has a new calling: contributing to the process of winemaking, writes Lesley Beake. Harry the elephant tossed his trunk and ran away to the wine farm. If one thinks at all of elephants and the delights of drink, it will be an image of marula fruit and elephants enjoying sundowners deep in the bush where nobody can report them for drunken lumbering. But a recent experiment has shown that the great grey beasts are also useful in the pressing of grapes for wine. Probably not comme...
2008-02-06 - Knysna, South Africa. Timothy Twidle
IT was all smiles when three schools in Knysna received books and stationery from a trust set up in memory of a woman and her child who were killed by a stampeding elephant in Zimbabwe last year. British citizens Kelvin Parker, his wife Veronica and daughter Charlotte were on a guided walk in Hwange National Park last March when they were mistakenly led to within 30 metres of a male elephant in musth. A game ranger and Parker narrowly escaped with their lives when the elephant charged in a frenz...
2008-01-15 - Tzaneen, South Africa.
Isn’t it incredible how a picture taken out of context can have such a detrimental impact. That’s what I was concerned about when writing this article, but nevertheless I’m going to post it as i’d love to hear your point of view on this subject. The subject being training wild African elephants. This post is a follow up to my last post where I mentioned I visited EFAF (definitely in need of website re-design!) - Elephants For Africa Forever - near Tzaneem in Mpumalanga just after Christm...
2008-01-14 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Robyn Dixon
Samson, otherwise known as Elephant No. 1, is twisting his trunk around tufts of grass and throwing them into his mouth. He is aware that David Powrie has sneaked up on him but is willing to ignore him for now. The tall, blond, sunburned ranger knows each one of the 120 elephants here in Welgevonden Game Reserve, identifying them by nicks in their ears, tusks and the patterning of their tails - almost like a fingerprint. He sniffs the air for the bulls in must (they exude an oily secretion when ...
2007-12-25 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Robyn Dixon
Rising elephant numbers in South Africa has been a cause for concern for the authorities concerned. They fear this jumbo overpopulation might have disastrous consequences on other animals. Samson, otherwise known as Elephant No. 1, is twisting his trunk around tufts of grass and throwing them into his mouth. He is aware we have sneaked up on him but is willing to ignore us.
2007-12-16 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Eleanor Momberg
Four of the 12 juvenile elephants captured in Hwange in November 2006 by Shearwater Adventures for its elephant-back safari operations have died in captivity. One escaped, and the ZCTF is investigating reports of cruelty towards the pachyderms.
2007-12-13 - Waterberg, South Africa. Robyn Dixon
Samson, otherwise known as Elephant No. 1, is twisting his trunk around some succulent young tufts of grass, tugging them up and throwing them into his mouth, perfectly aware we have sneaked up on him but willing to nonchalantly ignore us, for now. We crouch on a rock about 40 yards away -- about as close to a wild bull elephant as it is safe to get on foot. Even though Samson shows no signs of irritation, it's nice to be with David Powrie, who is something of an elephant whisperer.
2007-12-08 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Michele Hofmeyer
Elephants are hefty herbivores and are well known for their destructive feeding behaviour, which has been shown in areas around Africa to change the look of the landscape. But how does this affect the smaller creatures further along the food chain? This is a question that is being tackled by an ambitious research programme being led by the Organisation for Tropical Studies (OTS) who are currently working in the Kruger National Park (KNP).
2007-11-24 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
Gerald Durrell once said: "Anyone who has got pleasure from Nature should put something back. Life is like a superlative meal and the world is the maitre d'hotel.What I'm doing is the equivalent of leaving a reasonable tip." Photo-journalist David Paynter has left more than a resonable tip in this stunning coffee table book depicting the lifetime of a young bull elephant named Tempo Ndhlovu.
2007-10-21 - Paola Cavalieri, South Africa.
One of the consequences of the culling of elephants in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s was the breakdown of elephant societies. After the destruction of their patterns of attachment and of their stored knowledge, elephants started to display symptoms associated with the human post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) observed in Kosovo and Rwanda - a disorder including abnormal-startle response, loss of emotions, depression and hyper-aggression.
2007-09-28 - Knysna, South Africa.
The Knysna elephants, made famous through the books written by Dalene Matthee, were thought to be on the verge of disappearing from the forests around the Southern Cape Town. But recent research indicates that a small elephant population still occupies the area and their numbers are increasing. DNA that was extracted from the dung left behind in the forests has been tested and five females have been identified. The research project is conducted by Gareth Patterson and conservation geneticist, Lo...
2007-09-11 - Vanderbijlpark, South Africa. Elise Tempelhoff, Beeld
An elephant cow in the Pilanesberg nature reserve first chased a game warden for 100 metres, then tore his pants open with her tusk. Later she played a bit of soccer with him. When he landed on his back next to her she stared into his eyes for a few seconds, then shook her head and ambled off back to the matriarch, young cows and calves. Eugene le Roux, 29, chief game warden at Bakubung Bush Lodge said while he was lying staring into the elephants eyes, he hoped his death would be quick.
2007-09-11 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
Culling elephants could cost South Africa's fast-growing tourism industry dearly, MPs heard on Tuesday. A substantial number of tourists would not come to the country if culling was reintroduced, Animal Rights Africa trustee Steve Smit told members of Parliament's environmental affairs and tourism portfolio committee. This assessment was based on discussions held with local tourism operators and tourism marketing agencies, as well as international animal rights organisations, he said.
2007-09-11 - Tzaneen, South Africa. Fiona Macleod
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk is having a rough ride after he spent time at a Limpopo outfit that captured young elephants from the wild for elephant-back safaris. Wildlife groups are furious after Van Schalkwyk visited Elephants for Africa Forever (Efaf), an elephant training outfit that caused an outcry in April last year when it "kidnapped" six elephants aged between six and 12 in the Selati private game reserve.
2007-08-30 - Durban, South Africa.
This years Roscar awards in South Africa for wildlife movies included a memorial award honoring filmmaker Rick Lomba, killed on location by a Bengal tiger. Nicky Lomba, the filmmakers 18-year-old daughter, presented a statue of a hippo Wednesday to Evert van den Bos of Nature Conservation Films, based in Holland and Tanzania, for his movie about a woman who saved the street elephants in Thailand, the Durban Daily News reported Thursday. Van den Bos work also earned a rhino Roscar, the wildlife e...
2007-08-28 - Hartbeespoort, South Africa. SHARMILA NAIR
IT HAS been almost two decades since the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) banned international shipment of ivory, yet the African elephants have not found themselves off the endangered list. Brought into action in 1989 after more than half of African elephants had been slaughtered for their tusks, Cites is still unable to completely protect the animals from illegal hunting. Almost 23,000 elephants are poached every year to support the ivory trade. This revelation ...
2007-08-15 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
A renowned conservationist recounted on Wednesday how he and his friends narrowly escaped an attack by an enraged bull elephant. Lawrence Anthony and his two friends were on a night drive at Thula Thula Game Reserve near Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday night when the animal attacked them. He came at us from nowhere in a full-blooded charge, hammering the front of the Land Rover station wagon and driving us backwards into the bush for about twenty yards, said Anthony.
2007-08-14 - Tshwane, South Africa. Shaun Benton
Culling elephants would only be considered as a last resort, after contraception or translocation, a senior official in the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism told MPs on Tuesday. Leseho Sello, a chief director in the department, was briefing the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs and Tourism on national norms and standards for management of elephants. Translocation and even contraception, she explained, are the preferred ways of managing South Africa's growing elephant po...
2007-08-14 - Pretoria, South Africa.
South Africa has received the go-ahead to sell its stockpiled elephant ivory stocks to Japan, but has not done so because it is waiting for provinces to tell government how much they have for sale. “We are writing to the provinces to verify how much ivory... is in their possession, and come up with a total,” environmental affairs biodiversity and heritage chief director Leseho Sello told MPs on Tuesday.
2007-07-16 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Leon Marshall, National Geographic News
Elephants moving into war-ravaged southern Angola from neighboring countries appear to have developed the ability to avoid the land mines that litter the region, scientists report. Michael Chase, a biologist who has been studying the elephants for seven years, says he first detected the animals' apparent ability to avoid the mines from satellite-collar tracking images.
2007-07-07 - Grahamstown, South Africa.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has obtained a court order preventing a man from training and exhibiting elephants, the SPCA said on Thursday. The SPCA had opposed an application by one Yossuf Jeeva to train six African elephants and to exhibit them. He also wanted to train two Bengal tigers, six lions, cheetahs, African wild dogs and spotted hyenas.
2007-07-03 - Hartbeespoort Dam, South Africa.
The death of Riccardo Ghiazza, who became infamous after a 2003 conviction for torturing baby elephants, will help to raise awareness about the wildlife trade in South Africa. This was the view of animal rights activists on Monday. Ghiazza, believed to have been on his way home, was killed on Saturday night when he crashed his black Mercedes SLK on the R512 near Hartbeespoort Dam. He died instantly from head injuries. Ghiazza made news headlines in 1998 when secretly filmed footage of mahouts e...
2007-06-27 - Durban, South Africa.
Hyraxes are widely stated to be the closest living relatives of elephants. This is not so. Though both are within the cohort of mammals known as Afrotheria, the Hyrax is not the closest living relative of the elephant. Elephants (Proboscidea) and hyraxes (Hyracoidae) are both more closely related to manatees and dugongs (Sirenia) than they are to one another.
2007-06-19 - Bloemfontein, South Africa. Osthoff G, de Wit M, Hugo A, Kamara BI. University of the Free State
Data are presented that indicate the dynamic changes of nutrients in milk from three free ranging African elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) cows during lactation. Electrophoresis and identification of protein bands showed that polymorphs of one whey protein may be present in elephant's milk similar to polymorphs of alpha-lactalbumin found in cow's milk. During these lactation times the content of short chain fatty acids, capric and caprylic acids increased, while fatty acids lauric acid and...
2007-06-06 - Cape Town, South Africa.
Stakeholders and authorities in South African nature conservation are preparing to discuss submissions received from the public regarding the management of the nation's elephant population. Delivering his department's budget vote speech in Parliament, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said they had received 700 pages of comments, from a wide range of individuals and organisations on the matter.
2007-06-05 - Knysna, South Africa.
DNA analysis has revealed the existence of five previously unknown, female Knysna elephants in the Southern Cape region at the tip of South Africa. Researchers say the discovery is reason for cautious optimism that the worlds most southerly elephant population may have survived the onslaught of ivory hunters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
2007-05-12 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
South African professional hunter Christo Kaiser has been killed by an elephant in Botswana. Kaiser, 40, the owner of Unico Hunting Safaris in Lephalale (formerly Ellisras), died on Friday, a close friend of his, Phillip Bronkhorst, said on Saturday. He was killed in the northern part of Botswana on Friday morning. He was killed by an elephant, said Bronkhorst.
2007-05-10 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Kinahan AA, Inge-Moller R, Bateman PW, Kotze A, Scantlebury M. University of the Witwatersrand
The savanna elephant is the largest extant mammal and often inhabits hot and arid environments. Due to their large size, it might be expected that elephants have particular physiological adaptations, such as adjustments to the rhythms of their core body temperature (T(b)) to deal with environmental challenges. This study describes for the first time the T(b) daily rhythms in savanna elephants.
2007-04-17 - Phalaborwa, South Africa. Nkosana ka Makaula
When an elephant charged an elderly couple on Saturday morning, the couple split up and ran in separate directions. The elephant chose to follow the woman, whose broken body was eventually found on Sunday afternoon. The attack took place at Grietjie near Phalaborwa, said Mopani area spokesperson Superintendent Moatshe Ngoepe.
2007-04-13 - Wiwatersrand, South Africa. Nondlela Maponya
WHAT makes an elephant hot? That apparently flippant question is the subject of a serious study by Wits masters student Philippa Hidden. Hidden, of the university’s Physiology Department, has completed a study of elephants thermoregulation (how they control their body temperature). The study was done on tame elephants in captivity. Using infrared pictures Hidden determined how elephants heated up and cooled down.
2007-04-06 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
The middle-aged British couple hurt in a fall from an elephant in Hartbeespoort on Thursday have been transferred to the Sunninghill Hospital in Johannesburg. Lorna and Michael Denyard, both in their 50s, were transferred "on request", said Craig Saunders, the owner of The Elephant Sanctuary, where the incident occurred.
2007-04-05 - Hartbeespoort, South Africa.
A British man and wife were critically hurt when they fell off an elephant at a sanctuary in Hartbeespoort on Thursday afternoon, said ER 24. The woman was sitting behind her husband on the elephant when it knelt to let them climb off after a safari, said spokesperson Werner Vermaak. "The lady and her husband then fell forward and plummeted from the elephant's back right onto the ground. "Both of them sustained multiple fractures and severe injuries," he said.
2007-04-04 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Leon Marshall
Environment ministers from five southern African countries plan to turn a 110,833-square-mile (287,132-square-kilometer) chunk of land into a massive cross-border conservation zone. The proposed parkland—spanning an area about the size of Nevada—would vastly increase roaming space for Africa's biggest elephant herd.
2007-04-01 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Mike Cadman
The report, Consuming Wildlife: The Illegal Exploitation Of Wildlife In South Africa, Zimbabwe And Zambia, also details increased elephant poaching in Zimbabwe and Zambia and quotes extensively from a document compiled by the governments of Kenya and Mali, which claims that more than 40 tons of ivory has been confiscated worldwide during the past two years. More than 13 tons of the ivory is believed to have come from Zimbabwe and Zambia.
2007-03-30 - Durban, South Africa. Delsink AK, van Altena JJ, Grobler D, Bertschinger HJ, Kirkpatrick JF, Slotow R. Amarula Elephant Research Programme, University of KwaZulu-Natal
An immunocontraceptive programme was initiated in a small free-roaming population of elephants at the Greater Makalali Private Game Reserve in Limpopo Province in 2000 to determine whether the porcine zona pellucida (pZP) vaccine can successfully control population sizes. Further objectives were to determine implementation costs and efficiency through a multi-faceted approach. We have demonstrated that immunocontraception meets the objectives set by managers in the field.
2007-03-20 - Stellenbosch, South Africa. Pardini AT, O'brien PC, Fu B, Bonde RK, Elder FF, Ferguson-Smith MA, Yang F, Robinson TJ. University of Stellenbosch
Despite marked improvements in the interpretation of systematic relationships within Eutheria, particular nodes, including Paenungulata (Hyracoidea, Sirenia and Proboscidea), remain ambiguous. Cross-species chromosome painting was used to delineate regions of homology between Loxodonta africana (2n=56), Procavia capensis (2n=54), Trichechus manatus latirostris (2n=48) and an outgroup taxon, the aardvark (Orycteropus afer, 2n=20).
2007-03-20 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals hopes that governments proposed elephant management regulations will lead to elephant-back safaris being abolished. The draft rules, released for comment last week, propose stopping the capture from the wild of anything other than genuine orphan elephant calves.
Wits University has just completed studies on how elephants cope with high African temperatures and how that influences their behaviour. In African savannahs, elephants are exposed to high environmental heat loads during the day and low ambient temperatures at night and yet these animals are able to cope quite adequately.
2007-03-19 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
Field ranger Thomas Mathosi has stabilised in Polokwane Private Hospital after the vehicle in which he was a passenger was overturned by a group of elephants in the Kruger National Park last week. As they were watching the herd in front of them, a smaller group of elephants stormed them from behind and flipped their vehicle over, trapping Sandra Basson, the section ranger at Pafuri, and her driver in the vehicle.
2007-03-18 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Nguni is situated in the Nyathi concession of the malaria-free Addo Elephant National Park, just an hour’s drive from Port Elizabeth and we bounce along the bumpy path until we finally arrive at the headquarters of Addo Elephant Back Safaris. The three bull elephants, Mukwa, Duma and Taba, arrive minutes later, escorted by senior handler Elliot Mangaliso. The trio are all between 16 to 18 years old and are originally from Kruger Park where they were saved from being culled and then taken to th...
2007-03-14 - Sabisands, South Africa. Rhona Ganguly
With her honeymoon in South Africa quickly coming to an end, Deborah Smith had already ticked off six of the seven boxes on her list of must-see safari animals. But with one day remaining, the marketing and communications director for the NEC Group and her accountant husband Jon, were desperate to see an elephant. They asked a ranger at the Ulusaba Harbour game reserve in Sabisands if it would be possible to see one. Little did the couple realise just how much of an impact that request would hav...
2007-03-13 - Kruger National Park, South Africa.
A game ranger was seriously injured when a herd of elephants attacked his vehicle in South Africa's Kruger National Park, park officials said Tuesday. The ranger, named as Thomas Mathosi, and his group happened upon a breeding herd of elephants when they returned from a staff function in the north of the park, park spokesman Raymond Travers was quoted as saying by South Africa's SAPA news agency.
2007-03-07 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
After the banning of so-called 'canned' lion hunting, the South African government is now training its sights on elephant-back tourism, animal rights activists said Wednesday. Last week's draft recommendations on elephant management which listed culling as an option for controlling soaring herd numbers also recommended stricter controls on the capture of young elephants for use in tourism, the International Fund for Animal Welfare noted.
2007-02-28 - ADDO ELEPHANT PARK, South Africa. CLARE NULLIS
The environment minister on Wednesday proposed a package of measures including limited culling and contraception to slow rampant elephant population growth but stressed there would be no mass slaughter. The elephant population of 20,000 is growing at a rate of more than 6 percent per year, disrupting the delicate biodiversity in the flagship Kruger National Park and other wildlife parks, Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said.
2007-02-25 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa. Stella Mapenzauswa
South Africa needs to consider restarting elephant culls because growing numbers of the mammal now threaten local habitats, the WWF conservation group has said. "What has happened in the last 10 years is that protected areas ... had elephant numbers grow to where they are actually suppressing the habitat, the vegetation," Rob Little, acting chief executive of WWF South Africa, told Reuters late on Friday.
2007-02-14 - KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Davina Quarterman
Being female can be a risky business, especially if you are a Marula tree in Africa receiving the attention of elephants. The tasty, nutritious and vitamin C-rich Marula fruits are much sought after by both man and animals. It is a stable "wild food" and base for the popular Amarula liquor. But Marula has separate male and female trees so fruiting females attract browsing elephants, which cause damage to branches and bark.
2006-11-24 - Pretoria, South Africa. Shakespeare A, Strydom S., Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria
A practical method was developed to assess the extent of burns suffered by elephants caught in bush fires. In developing this method, the surface areas of the different body parts of juvenile, subadult and adult elephants were first determined using standard equations, and then expressed as a percentage of the total body surface area. When viewed from a distance, the burnt proportion of all body segments is estimated, converted to percentages of total body surface area, and then summed to determ...
2006-11-20 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Guy Rogers
ELEPHANTS have been re-introduced into the Somerset East area where they used to occur in passing herds along the Little Fish River. The manager of Kamala Game Reserve, Dale Cunningham, said yesterday the release was the fulfilment of a dream for his father-in-law, Lud de Bruijn. The elephants were acquired from Shamwari through a deal which is facilitating the spread of game in the province. Shamwari carried the cost of the darting and Kamala the cost of transport, with no money required for th...
2006-11-16 - EAST LONDON, South Africa. Mark Stansfield
AFTER an absence of almost 200 years, free-roaming elephants can once again be seen not far from the hub-bub of modern East London – and to witness these majestic creatures in their natural habitat is a thrill not to be missed. The elephants, consisting of two adult females, a sub-adult and two calves, have been released into the 2300-hectare Mpongo Private Game Reserve located about 30km outside the city on the road to Sutterheim.
2006-11-14 - Durban, South Africa. Elise Tempelhoff, Beeld
Interim legislation was urgently needed to stop elephant calves from being removed from herds for use in the safari and film industry and as working animals. This was the opinion of a working committee, consisting of provincial conservation agencies across the country, as formulated in a document compiled by the KwaZulu-Natal department of agriculture and environmental affairs.
2006-11-13 - Limpopo, South Africa. Press release SanWild
In a daring and courageous elephant capture operation that started on Saturday morning a group of so-called "problem elephants" were captured and relocated to their new home in a wildlife sanctuary in Limpopo Province. Described by many as dangerous, crazy and damage causing, the small family herd of elephants browsed peacefully in their new home this morning unaware of the controversy their rescue had caused with a number of unsympathetic individuals that would rather have preferred to see them...
2006-11-12 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Tom Cockrem
It was more than 40,000 years ago that on the continent of Africa two species emerged to vie with each other for the title of ruler of the land: the elephant and man. Drought, disease and war saw these two protagonists experience alternating cycles of dominance. It took the advent of the gun for the two-legged hunter to finally take charge. The African elephant has lost the battle of the species. There are only 600,000 left on the continent today. There used to be at least 15 million.
2006-11-04 - Kapama, South Africa.
In South Africa, a unique team of elephants is being trained to track down their most deadly enemy - the poacher. Watch as elephant expert Saba Douglas-Hamilton puts the specially-trained elephants through their first real test and joins former big game poacher Magic, now a conservation officer, in an attempt to elude scent-tracking elephants.
2006-11-03 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
A horse ride in the Addo Elephant Park became a nightmare for Australian tourist Margaret Davies, 48, after she fell off a horse in the Nyati wilderness area 10:00 on Thursday and had to be airlifted to Greenacres Hospital with back injuries and a fractured femur. The trumpeting of the elephants apparently frightened the horses, which bolted and threw three people, one of them Mrs Davies.
2006-11-01 - Thula Thula, South Africa. Roy Watts
After watching a savage Carte Blanche documentary on the brutal taming of the Tuli elephants, Lawrence Anthony made an unsuccessful attempt to acquire some of these unfortunate animals, but they had already been placed in various game reserves. The Elephant Manager and Owners association learned of his need and came to light with a herd of seven jumbos from Mpumalanga, and they were darted, loaded on trucks, sedated and sent on a nine hour road trip.
2006-10-20 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa. Moyiga Nduru
Concern about ivory sales in Southern Africa is persisting among environmental groups, this after CITES granted Japan stockpile buyer status earlier this month. "We are extremely concerned by CITES giving Japan their blessing," Jason Bell-Leask, Southern African director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), told IPS. "Its difficult to distinguish between illegal and legal ivory in Japan...We do not believe that Japan has done enough to prevent the (illegal) trade in ivory."
2006-10-15 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
A South African scientist has expressed concern over the apparent high number of elephants maimed apparently by wire snares laid by poachers to trap game in the northern parts of the country. Professor Rudi van Aarde, head of conservation ecology research at the University of Pretoria, has seen at least seven elephants with parts of their trunks missing during a recent visit to the Mapungubwe National Park.
2006-10-12 - BEIT BRIDGE, South Africa. Vishnu Naidoo
In this past week members of the Beit Bridge border post, under the command of Director Joseph Makushu, arrested ten foreign nationals for attempting to smuggle drugs and jewellery made from Ivory through the Beit Bridge border post. The suspects are likely to be charged with Dealing in Drugs and they are expected to appear in the Musina court before the end of tomorrow.
2006-10-11 - CAPE TOWN, South Africa.
A herd of elephants and a church are caught up in the South African government's efforts to redistribute land to black communities evicted under white rule and right one of the great wrongs of the apartheid era. Local authorities agreed earlier this year that professional hunters should be brought in to kill the mighty mammals. Animal rights activists protested and on Tuesday announced that they had raised enough funds to move the elephants to a wildlife sanctuary called SanWild in the Limpopo p...
2006-10-10 - Limpopo, South Africa.
TWELVE elephants in KwaZulu-Natal that were to have been shot have been reprieved and will be moved a wildlife sanctuary in Limpopo, Animal Rights Africa said today. Due to a successful land restitution claim, the entire Thukela Biosphere Reserve, near Weenen, now has new owners who do not want the elephants on their newly returned land. The elephants, orphaned by culling in the Kruger National Park, were taken to Thukela Biosphere Reserve in the early 1990s.
2006-10-06 - Plettenberg Bay, South Africa.
The Elephant Sanctuary is located about 20 miles outside of Plettenberg Bay. We had the opportunity to learn about, feed and stroke the elephants. Bill, Keith, Barbara and I were fiercely brave and rode the elephants. The views on top of the elephant were great but it was a little scary getting on and off.
2006-10-03 - Cameroon, South Africa. Mike Loomis
We have not been able to collar an elephant in southern Cameroon. We have had a couple of shots, but the heavy vegetation and bad weather have made it impossible to accomplish what we hoped to accomplish; we had a very hard time getting out of the forest and back to Yokadouma. I'll be working next in Waza National Park and northern Cameroon.
2006-09-19 - Derdepoort, South Africa.
A 34-year-old ranger has allegedly been killed by an elephant at Madikwe Game Reserve near Derdepoort border post between South Africa and Botswana. David Vorster, an emergency spokesperson, says man was found dead on their arrival. He says apparently the elephant crossed the fence and reached a different camp where it met the ranger and killed him.
2006-09-13 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Melissa Wray
What does the management of elephants have to do with abortion, cloning, HIV/Aids, stem cell research and the distribution of medicine during disease outbreaks? All of these issues are of ethical concern to South Africans and were all on the agenda at the Ethics Society of South Africa’s third annual conference held from September 11-13, 2006.
2006-09-03 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Deborah and Jonathan Smith
We filmed this whilst on honeymoon at Ulusaba private game reserve in South Africa. Its very rare to see an elephant birth in the wild. We were very lucky. Elephants are in the womb for 22 months and can walk within an hour of being born.
2006-08-23 - Durban, South Africa. Shannon G, Page BR, Duffy KJ, Slotow R., Amarula Elephant Research Programme, School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal,
Elephants (Loxodonta africana) exhibit pronounced sexual dimorphism, and in this study we test the prediction that the differences in body size and sociality are significant enough to drive divergent foraging strategies and ultimately sexual segregation. Males had longer feeding bouts, displayed significantly more destructive behaviour (31% of observations, 11% for females) and ingested greater quantities of forage during each feeding bout.
2006-08-21 - Tshwane, South Africa. Veronica Mohapeloa
The world's leading elephant scientists will meet in Cape Town on Tuesday to submit their views on the need for further research into the ecology of elephants in the country. The elephant population in the Kruger National Park alone is said to be increasing at seven percent every year, and doubling roughly every ten years. And by 2012 there may be as many as 20 000 elephants in the Kruger National Park alone, and by 2019 as many as 30 000.
2006-08-17 - GIRIYONDO, South Africa. Itumeleng Seakamela
South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique opened a key border crossing for an expanded international wildlife park on Wednesday, boosting regional hopes of a major new global eco-tourist destination. "It amounts to more than allowing our wild animals to roam freely," South African President Thabo Mbeki said at a ceremony at Giriyondo, a border post which links the three countries.
2006-08-08 - KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, South Africa. Craig Timberg
The baobabs, which can live for thousands of years, are victims of Kruger National Park's burgeoning population of elephants, whose growing destructiveness has sparked an emotional national debate over whether to return to the controversial practice of culling. That would mean shooting entire families and butchering them for their meat, practices that animal rights activists denounce as barbaric and unnecessary.
2006-08-05 - Thukela, South Africa.
A small family group of elephants are presently finding themselves in dire straits and urgent financial assistance is needed to save their lives for a second time. In an ambitious rescue project the three wildlife charity organisations have joined forces to raise the substantial funding that will be needed to launch Operation Jumbo Journey by the 1st September 2006. For this purpose at least $20.000 has still to be raised before this date.
2006-07-19 - Cape Town, South Africa. R.W.Johnson
Under the CITES, (controls the worlds ivory trade) Robert Mugabes Zimbabwe has a concession to sell lots worth $660 or less. "Elephants are now being poached across the border from Botswana and other neighbouring countries to fulfil the demand, which seems to be bottomless, said one game ranger." Two months ago Zimbabwe police caught Chinese dealers with seven tonnes of ivory, of which four tonnes came from illegal sources.
2006-07-18 - Giyani, South Africa. Riot Hlatshwayo
Spokesperson Moses Tseli said the original plan was to try and herd the elephants back to the Kruger, but that it was then agreed to rather kill them, following discussions with South African National Parks (SANParks). "We have to consider the safety of the people, which is why we have no alternative but to put the elephants down."
2006-07-18 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Mark Schulman
Unlike many populations in Africa which remain endangered as a result of years of poaching and habitat loss, elephants in Kruger National Park are growing at a rapid rate. Since the park stopped culling elephants about a decade ago as a result of international pressure, numbers have gone from 7,000 to over 12,000. According to local officials, the park’s habitat can only sustain about 7,000 over a long period. Any more and it will add pressure to an already fragile and carefully managed enviro...
2006-07-18 - Limpopo, South Africa.
Two of more than 20 elephants that broke out of the Kruger National Park have been shot dead in the Giyani area, SABC radio news reported on Tuesday. It said rangers from the park in the Limpopo environmental affairs department killed the elephants because they were a threat to the local community. The other elephants were believed to have gone back to the Kruger National Park.
2006-07-17 - Giyani, South Africa. Riot Hlatshwayo
Women in a village neighbouring the Kruger National Park are too afraid to collect firewood and water after 26 elephants escaped from the reserve in the past week. Residents of Nsavulani village east of Giyani have seen some of the jumbos in their area. "The other day we saw a herd of about 15 of the elephants," said Madali Maswanganyi on Monday. "We can no longer go and fetch firewood because of the elephants.
2006-07-02 - Balule, South Africa.
Environmental affairs officials are still hunting for a wounded elephant that was shot at the junction of the tar road between Phalaborwa and Hoedspruit and the road to Gravelotte. The elephant, believed to be a young bull, was shot in the small hours of the morning of June 8, 2006 with a .375 calibre rifle.
2006-05-06 - Durban, South Africa. LEW ELIAS
ELEPHANTS are set to become a part of the East London private game reserve at Inkwenkwezi after nature conservation authorities gave it permission to let the public take walks with the pachyderms. The approval is subject to the reserve building suitable accommodation and providing for their needs such as adequate facilities for food and water, reserve owner Graham Stanton said yesterday.
2006-04-24 - Cape Town, South Africa.
Six young wild elephants were forcibly removed from their herd last week and condemned to lives of abuse as safari elephants - with the full approval of South Africa's conservation authorities. The elephants have been taken to the training facility of Elephants For Africa Forever (EFAF), a centre which notoriously supplies "tamed and trained" elephants to elephant-back safari tourism operations throughout South Africa.
2006-03-27 - Hoedspruit, South Africa. Zinkie Sithole
The fate of a "tame" elephant has yet to be decided, three weeks after she trampled her handler Edias Makore to death when he used a prodder on her. Master elephant trainer Paul Coetzee said: "I have not made a final decision about her fate, but for now we have isolated the elephant and will not use her for future rides."
2006-03-24 - Letaba, South Africa.
The Elephant Hall at Letaba Main Camp in the Kruger National Park (KNP) reopened today. The museum covers elephant evolution, biology, behaviour, ecology and research. It also showcases the ivory of eight of Kruger's greatest tuskers include a full-size elephant skeleton and the impressive tusks of Mandleve.
2006-03-06 - Hoedspruit, South Africa.
The Zimbabwean elephant trainer Elias Makori has died after being trampled by an elephant at Jabulani Camp near the Kruger National Park on Monday morning. Superintendent Moatshe Ngoepe, Limpopo police spokesperson for the Mopane district, said the trainer had been trying to herd an elephant that had strayed from a herd back towards the others when it attacked him at the camp in Hoedspruit.
2006-02-17 - Cape Town, South Africa. Sarah Lockwood
Two hundred and fifty years after the last elephants were hunted out in the Breede River Valley near Worcester, the giants have returned to roam their traditional territory. Two bull African elephants called Letaba and Klaserie are the latest additions to the Fairy Glen Game Reserve in the Breede River Valley near Worcester, making the reserve the closest park to Cape Town able to offer visitors the "Big Five" experience.
2006-01-25 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Brett Adkins
A NEWBORN elephant rejected by its inexperienced mother at the Bloemfontein Zoo last week has been “adopted” by the Knysna Elephant Park, which is giving the baby pachyderm 24-hour care to ensure its survival in its new Garden Route home. The female calf, which has been named Ashanti, was driven through the night and arrived at the park, situated between Plettenberg Bay and Knysna, in the early hours of Saturday after its birth just four days previously, when the injured animal was discovere...
2006-01-19 - GAUTENG, South Africa. Moagisi Letlhaku
The Brian Boswell Circus, SA's own touring circus, started its season in Centurion this week and will be in town until February 4. The Boswell Circus has been around in South Africa for 24 years and has travelled to neighbouring countries like Botswana and Swaziland. "But our season always starts up here," said Robin Tapinos, the circus' marketing and promotions manager.
2006-01-19 - CAPE TOWN, South Africa.
Leading South African scientists have advised the government against culling elephants, saying there is no reason to lift a 10-year ban. The government has been considering an end to the ban, amid fears that a rapid increase in the elephant population is threatening the ecological balance. But a panel of 10 experts told the environment minister it was not clear the elephant population was too large.
Ten of the world's leading elephant scientists began a conference in Cape Town on Wednesday to debate the future of South Africa's elephants. They are expected to determine whether there are too many elephants, whether they are causing damage to biodiversity and whether action is needed to reduce their population.
2005-12-28 - DINOKENG, South Africa. Ed Stoddard
Tembo was a killer who faced the death sentence for his "crimes." But the six-tonne bull elephant won a reprieve after a vet approached animal trainer Rory Hensman and asked him if he could mend Tembo's wild ways. Now tourists are taking rides on Tembo's back in the bush at Dinokeng Game Reserve 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Johannesburg -- proving that grown elephants can learn new tricks.
2005-11-12 - Mooketsi, South Africa.
A routine training session with elephants at Elephants for Africa Forever (Efaf) in Mooketsi, near Duiwelskloof turned into tragedy for a young foreign student on Saturday November 12, 2005. Will Andrew, spending some of his ‘gap’ year at Efaf, had just returned from a leisure break in the Kruger National Park and was taking part in a training session with four elephants.
2005-11-08 - Pilanesberg, South Africa.
Eight elephants saved from a fire six weeks ago have been taken back to the Pilanesburg National Park in the North West - their place of origin. Wildlife specialists, who nursed the animals, are satisfied with the condition of the elephants. Sixteen elephants were admitted to a sanctuary outside Hamanskraal after being torched in a veldfire. Eight of them, including adults and calves, died at the sanctuary from various complications and trauma related to the burns.
2005-11-04 - KWAZULU-NATAL, South Africa.
A woman was killed when she was an attacked by an elephant in the Charters Creek game lodge in KwaZulu-Natal, lodge spokesperson Tony Conway said on Friday. The 51-year-old woman who worked at the lodge was returning from an operation with four other colleagues when they encountered a herd of elephants on Thursday night.
2005-10-23 - Pilanesberg, South Africa. Myrtle Ryan
The plight of the elephants burned in runaway fires in the Pilanesberg National Park at the end of last month has captured the hearts of South Africans. This week, as their fate hung in the balance with several calls for them to be humanely put down, a KwaZulu-Natal inventor rushed to their rescue and has literally helped saved their skins. On Thursday, members of the North West Parks and Tourism Board and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - which has said "where undu...
2005-10-21 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa. Carol Hills
A baby elephant was euthanised in a boma in Hammanskraal on Thursday when its organs failed almost a month after it was severely burnt in a wildfire at the Pilanesberg National Park in September. The elephant had survived on its own in the bush for more than two-and-a-half weeks before being spotted by tourists a week ago and taken to a trauma centre set up in bomas in Hammanskraal.
2005-10-20 - Pilanesberg, South Africa. Nipho Magwaza
Two weeks after the outbreak of veld fires in various parts of the country, elephants are still feeling the pain the flames have left them in. Already four elephants which were severely burnt have been put down at the Pilanesberg National Park, near Sun City in the North West Province, and an 18-month-old calf that was severely burnt in the fires died on Sunday.
2005-10-19 - RIVERSIDE, Calif, South Africa.
Life scientists have long maintained that, based on body size, small organisms are more metabolically active than large organisms. A new study shows that this is true only for organisms that are closely related evolutionarily and have body masses differing by no more than 6-7 orders of magnitude – about the difference in body mass between an elephant and a shrew.
2005-10-18 - Pretoria, South Africa. Hanti Otto
Two elephant calves rescued from the Pilanesberg National Park after a horrendous veld fire in September have died of lung damage from inhaling smoke. A third elephant also has respiratory problems and is being monitored. This elephant has burns over 90% of its body. The two calves, aged 14 and 16 months, died within three days of each other.
2005-10-14 - Pilanesberg, South Africa. Fiona Macleod
Fourteen badly burnt young elephants rescued from a wildfire in the Pilanesberg National Park are caught in a tug of war between conservationists about whether they should be put out of their misery. The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) sent a high-level delegation of five veterinarians to check on the elephants after one of them died of its injuries. They have been treated at a private quarantine facility north of Pretoria since the rescue late last month.
2005-10-02 - Pretoria, South Africa.
I have been following the deliberations and statements on elephant culling with considerable interest. The minister of environmental affairs is quite right to consider options with caution. I was initially relieved when SanParks consulted scientists from outside in dealing with the problem of whether elephants reduce biodiversity within the Kruger National Park and, if so, whether to cull them. I gather from colleagues who attended these earlier meetings that there is not a shred of evidence in ...
2005-09-28 - Hammanskraal, South Africa. Melanie Gosling
Sixteen young elephants, burnt in a raging veld fire which swept through Pilanesberg National Park in North West last week, have been darted and trucked to a private boma at Hammanskraal for treatment. One elephant, which had part of its trunk and ears burnt off, died at the boma from its injuries yesterday. Another was taken by lions in the park and four were put down because their burns were so severe.
2005-09-25 - Kruger National Park, South Africa.
To say the issue of culling elephants in the Kruger National Park is emotive is a desperate understatement. The issue is so fraught that the government has sidestepped it for the past 10 years, putting a moratorium on culls that has seen the elephant population soar. The truth of the matter is that the image of the apartheid government was so odious that culls could be carried out to maintain the elephant population at the level of about 7 000 because the Nationalist government had no reputation...
2005-09-24 - Pilanesberg, South Africa.
Thirteen of the more than 20 elephants that got burned in a run away fire in the Pilansberg Game Park, in the North West, yesterday, have been rescued and taken to a safe facility. One elephant was put down. The inferno started on Tuesday outside the west fence of the park. Eighty percent of the grazing at the park has been destroyed. However, it is the damage to the elephant population that is hard to estimate.
2005-09-23 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
Twenty elephants were severely burnt and one was put down after a veld fire at Pilanesberg Game Park near Sun City in North West, reported SABC news on Friday. Medical rescue teams attended to the injured animals. Seven of the 20 injured elephants were transported to a place were they would receive special treatment. The park's manager, Peter Leitner, said the fire started outside the game park and then wreaked havoc among the animals.
2005-09-21 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
UP TO 10,000 elephants are facing slaughter as South Africa prepares to end its ten-year ban on culling the beasts. The Government is expecting a global outcry from animal welfare groups, so there will be an 18-month “consultation period” before the cull — which would involve rounding up and shooting entire family groups begins.
2005-09-20 - Pretoria, South Africa. Sky News
South Africa has said it wants to carry out culls to contain its elephant population.Officials said a final decision would be made early next year after public consultations.Such a move is sure to provoke a global outcry from animal welfare groups who view the practice, which involves the rounding up and shooting of entire family groups, as cruel.
2005-09-15 - Kruger National Park, South Africa.
Seven more elephants have escaped from the Kruger National Park (KNP) and are roaming through the Matsulu location near Nelspruit in Mpumalanga. This follows the escape of six elephants that were put down in Limpopo Province last week, because they could not be safely herded back into the park. Louw Stein of the Mpumalanga Parks Board says the reason why elephants are escaping from the park, is the shortage of edible vegetation. He says this is due to a large bush fire that swept through the par...
2005-09-11 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Mike Cadman
D-Day is fast approaching for thousands of elephants in the Kruger National Park. A long-awaited report by South African National Parks (SANP) that proposes ways to manage the rapidly growing elephant population of Kruger Park will be presented to Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the environmental affairs and tourism minister, on September 20. The report will address the controversial option of culling.
2005-09-09 - Canningsmoore, Marite, South Africa.
Six elephants that escaped from the Kruger National Park have been shot dead. They first broke a fence two days ago but were chased back. The grass appeared greener on the other side and the elephants were lured to Canningsmoore, East of Marite. The parks officials were reluctant to risk chasing them back again as they were grazing in between small communities and could have endangered the residents.
2005-09-06 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa. Ed Stoddard
It has spiced up many a meal but now the fiery chilli pepper is being used to cool an ancient feud between farmers and wild elephants in Africa. In the Zambezi valley in southern Zambia, small-scale farmers are growing chilli peppers as a deterrent against elephants that raid their crops -- and marketing the end result. "Elephants simply don't like the smell of chilli," said Nina Gibson, project coordinator for the Elephant Pepper Development Trust.
2005-08-21 - Hartebeespoort, South Africa. Arja Salafranca
An elephant's hide is curiously soft, wrinkled and folded over on itself, but also incredibly soft. That was a surprise; only having seen elephants in the wild from game drive vehicles, I had assumed the skin to be as tough and coarse as it looks from afar. Elephants also have their own personalities, and that weekend at the Elephant Sanctuary in Hartebeespoort, we all fell in love with our individual elephants.
2005-07-20 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Duncan Guy
Elephant conservation should be considered in much the same way humans consider plans for their own health and well-being, an elephant management workshop heard on Tuesday. Sociality, which is the conservation of social structures and processes, has largely been ignored in conservation, according to a paper by Gay Bradshaw of Oregon State University and Allan Schore of the University of California.
2005-07-03 - Skukuza, South Africa.
African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are mixed feeders, incorporating varying proportions of grass and browse into their diets. Disagreement persists as to whether elephants preferentially graze or browse, and the degree to which the consumption of these foods is a reflection of their local availability. We used stable carbon isotope analysis of feces to investigate seasonal and spatial variation in the diets of elephants from Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa.
2005-06-28 - Knysna, South Africa. Jo-Ann Bekker
The killing of an elephant minder at the Knysna Elephant Park raises questions about whether these mammals should be kept in captivity, particularly when they have survived the trauma of a culling. These are the views of Gareth Patterson, who has been studying the small herd of wild elephants in the Knysna forest since 2001. He said the job of elephant trainer or keeper was judged the most dangerous in America, according to statistics kept by the United States bureau of labour. Tobias Ndlovu, 32...
2005-06-27 - Hoedspruit, South Africa.
South Africa made veterinary history in the world by successfully conducting vasectomies on four elephants at Makalali near Hoedspruit in Limpopo. The operation was a second attempt by the local and foreign veterinary teams in about four months. There is a concern on elephant population increase in Africa where research has revealed a threat to the biodiversity of some national parks on the continent.
2005-06-25 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
The number of elephants taken from the wild and used in elephant-back safaris has reached a crisis level, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) said. The NSPCA is calling for the government to intervene, as applications from operators flood in, said Rick Allan, manager of the organisation's wildlife unit.
2005-06-23 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
An elephant handler was killed by a bull elephant at the Knysna Elephant Park on Tuesday during a morning excursion, the International Fund for Animal Welfare said on Wednesday. The incident at the park also raises questions regarding the safety of South Africa's burgeoning elephant-back safari and tourism industry, said Ifaw spokesperson Christina Pretorius in a statement.
2005-06-22 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) has called for South Africa's growing elephant-back safari and tourism industry to be stopped immediately. Jason Bell-Leask, Ifaw's director in Southern Africa, said: "It needs to be stopped, and it needs to be stopped now."
2005-06-08 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa.
Elephants are back in South Africa's semi-arid Karoo region for the first time in more than 150 years, adding new life to a harsh environment that saw much of its large wildlife exterminated long ago. The family group of 12 elephants was relocated from South Africa's Kruger National Park to Kuzuko, a 14,500 hectare (35,830 acres) nature reserve on the Karoo's southern boundary.
2005-05-15 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Mike Cadman
Should we be capturing wild elephants in South Africa and training them to be ridden by people or to walk alongside them as part of our tourism industry? Some see nothing wrong with the idea and believe it promotes tourism and conservation, but others believe keeping elephants is captivity is cruel, potentially dangerous and merely a money-making exercise.
2005-04-25 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
Park authorities in South Africa have delayed making a decision on ways to curb the exploding elephant population in the Kruger National Park as experts remain divided on the issue, according to a news report on Sunday. Scientists and managers at South African National Parks have asked for a delay in a report, due to be released at the end of this month, recommending methods to reduce the number of elephant in the park, the Sunday Independent said.
2005-04-07 - Johannesburg, South Africa.
A campaign to oppose the removal of elephants from the wild for commercial purposes was launched this week by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and its partner organisation the Ethical Conservation Network. "Born to be Wild" was launched after IFAW and the ECN were concerned that, with growing numbers of elephants on private reserves, the temptation to sell off perceived excess stock of baby elephants to buyers in the tourism industry is great.
2005-03-27 - Limpopo, South Africa. Leon Marshall
The great elephant herds of the Kruger National Park, under threat of culling, are migrating in growing numbers across the border into Mozambique's adjacent Limpopo Park. Flying by helicopter over Limpopo Park last Friday, we could see several herds and single bulls moving through the bush that had formerly been denuded of game by Mozambique's protracted war and by serving as a coutada, or hunting ground, under earlier Portuguese colonial rule.
2005-03-22 - The Crags, South Africa.
Elephants have been introduced to the Knysna area right next door to two major eco-tourism attractions. Elephants of Eden is located at The Crags - and its closest neighbours are Monkeyland and Birds of Eden. While there have been reports of sightings of wild elephants in deep forest areas near Knysna, these are rare. Efforts to reintroduce elephants in an area that once accommodated Africa's southernmost herd have only enjoyed modest success in the past. Elephants ...
2005-02-23 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa. Reuters
An elephant has killed a ranger in South Africa's Kruger National Park, a rare fatality for those who work among dangerous animals in the reserve, the park said on Wednesday. The park said in a statement that field ranger Wilson Ndlovu was killed on Tuesday morning while on a bicycle patrol. It gave no details of the attack but said the area was surrounded by two-metre-high grass and the rangers wouldn't have seen the elephants "until the last possible moment".
2005-02-11 - Limpopo, South Africa. SABC News
A vasectomy has been performed on two elephants at the Mabalingwe nature reserve outside Bela-Bela in the Limpopo province. The operation performed by a team of local and international veterinarians is the first of its kind in the world. It is hoped that the operation will help solve the problem of the overpopulated elephant family. The first operation succeeded without any complications and the young bull headed for its breeding herd. Its mate died of undetermined complications ...
2005-01-20 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Environment Writer
Twin elephants have been born in Addo Elephant National Park near Port Elizabeth - only the third time that twins have been born in the history of the park. The baby elephants, now one month old, are both doing well so far, and staff are watching their progress anxiously. Megan Bradfield, the park's social ecologist, said yesterday the second month of life of elephant twins was critical. "Elephant twins are very rare. We've had two sets of elephant tw...
2005-01-12 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Melanie-Ann Feris
The little one kept on rolling in the mud, as if trying to disguise its strange colour with the dirt. The baby elephant, spotted among a herd in the southern part of the Kruger National Park, could be an albino or white elephant. The baby is believed to be about a month old, and an older sibling and its mother seemed very protective of it.
2004-12-22 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Stuff Nwes
There are no easy answers when it comes to keeping the world's largest land mammal in check. A century ago, southern Africa's elephants were driven close to extinction by indiscriminate ivory hunting. Now there are so many of them that experts say they are threatening the environment. South Africa National Parks (Sanparks) says it may have no choice but to resume culling in the Kruger National Park, which is home to most of the country's roughly 17,000 elephants.
2004-12-16 - Johannesburg, South Africa. World Bank Group
Achieving a balanced coexistence in southern Africa's Mid-Zambezi Valley between subsistence farmers and wild animals can be tricky. During the last 20 years elephants have been hemmed in by the increasing number of people moving into the area in search of arable land. As a result, the animals increasingly destroy crops as they roam and search for food.
2004-11-30 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. KELLY PROCTOR, Red and Black
A helicopter hovers low over the African savanna. Richard Fayrer-Hosken loads his gun and takes careful aim at his prey. A dart -- filled with a specially-developed contraceptive -- slams into the grey hide of a six-ton African elephant. Fayrer-Hosken, a professor and researcher of large animal medicine in the University's College of Veterinary Medicine, developed a contraceptive to control the elephant population in South Africa's Kruger...
2004-11-22 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa. Moyiga Nduru, Ijnter Press Service News Agency
Hope for the survival of many of Africa's unique animals lies in multinational cooperation initiatives like the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, although the challenges remain enormous, say conservationists. The park, situated on the South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe borders, is one of the world's largest, with an area of 35,000 square kilometres, almost the size of Israel. The treaty to create the parks was signed in Xai-Xai, Mozambique, in...
2004-11-17 - Cape Town, South Africa. Asiannews.it
The first load of Chinese-made armoured personnel carriers have arrived in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, with riot gear, mobile water cannons and other equipment soon to follow. China recently concluded a US$ 240 million arms deal with Zimbabwe in defiance of international sanctions against the troubled southern African nation.
2004-11-03 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Chris Van Gass, Business Day
SANParks will have an elephant management plan in place by the end of October next year, designed to reduce the "exorbitant" number of elephants in SA, Parliament's portfolio committee on environment was told yesterday. David Mabunda, CE of the organisation that manages the country's 20 national parks, said a task team would be established soon to take the process forward and by the beginning of March a draft of the plan would be put before the SANParks board ...
2004-10-29 - Cape Town, South Africa. Tony Weaver, Cape Times
Our aim was to fit satellite collars onto six elephants in the Khaudum, one of the most remote game parks in southern Africa, a project largely sponsored by the Peace Parks Foundation, who had hired me as the photographer and writer. We were halfway through the desert when the chopper began to run out of air.
2004-10-25 - Pretoria, South Africa. Leon Marshall, Pretoria News
Massive elephant culling is on the cards for southern Africa to reduce the vast over-population that is causing havoc in many of the sub-continent's nature reserves. Proposals to this end were made this week at a major conference convened by South African National Parks to come up with solutions for the critical problem. It included parks managers, game rangers, conservationists, academics, community representatives and animal-rights groups.
2004-10-24 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Fred Bridgland
Nobody wants to kill them, but 12 years without a cull in the Kruger Park has been a disaster for animals and humans, reports Fred Bridgland in Johannesburg.
2004-10-23 - Cape Town, South Africa. Gavin du Venage, The Australian
THE simplest way to kill a herd of elephants is to use assault rifles in fully automatic mode, firing armour-piercing bullets. Half a dozen men carrying military-issue guns stalk a selected group and, when they are as close as five metres away, pump magazine after magazine into the animals. There was an error in the article entitled 'A "just war" no one wants' ... Read more Tweet conservation Elephant Management Plan Proposed 2004-10-22 - Pretoria, South Africa. Dirk Nel, BuaNews The drafting of a national elephant strategy was one of several important proposals tabled at South Africa's Great Elephant Indaba, which ended in the Kruger National Park yesterday. In addition, several short- and long-term objectives for elephant management were suggested, for submission to the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk. Read more Tweet culling South Africa weighs killing off excess elephants 2004-10-21 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Gershwin Wanneburg, Reuters South Africa is weighing the option of killing off its excess elephants, 10 years after the practice known as culling was banned amid pressure from animal rights activists. Read more Tweet culling Kruger Elephants culling Debate Heats Up 2004-10-20 - Pretoria, South Africa. Dirk Nel, BuaNews The great elephant debate here today took an emotive turn, when animal rights groups passionately pleaded for the elimination of culling as a possible option to manage the country's oversized elephant population. Read more Tweet conservation Elephants: Vets offer help 2004-10-18 - Johannesburg, South Africa. News 24 The Veterinary Association of SA offered its assistance in controlling elephant populations in South Africa's national parks on Monday. Unabated growth of the elephant population in the parks posed a serious threat to the habitat, wildlife and tourist potential of the country's parks, Jozeph van Heerden, spokesperson for the association, said in a statement. Read more Tweet culling Great Elephant Indaba: Elephants face cull as numbers rise 2004-10-17 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Karen MacGregor, Times Online For years conservationists have fought to protect South Africa’s elephants from poachers and hunters, but now it seems that they may have been too successful. Experts claim that there are too many elephants in the country’s parks and thousands must be killed to preserve valuable habitats for other species. Read more Tweet culling Elephant Debate Not a Ploy to Reintroduce Culling, Says Mabunda 2004-10-14 - Pretoria, South Africa. Sharon Hammond BuaNews The upcoming Great Elephant Debate is not a ploy to reintroduce elephant culling, insisted chief executive of South African National Parks David Mabunda today. He said the event, scheduled for 19 to 21 October, simply aimed to open debate and identify ways in which to manage elephant populations. Read more Tweet conflict Rogue elephants shot by rangers 2004-07-26 - Durban, South Africa. Chris Jenkins, Daily News Game rangers have shot three rogue elephants in Zululand's Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park. The culling was in terms of a head office directive to control "delinquent" elephants to avoid possible fatal attacks on staff, neighbours or visitors. Read more Tweet welfare Elephant handler Wayne Stockigt says elephant abuse is not cruel 2003-02-04 - PRETORIA, South Africa. Student elephant handler Wayne Stockigt told a court on Monday that he did not think it was cruel to hit an elephant, whether it be with a stick or a fist. He admitted to a televised video showing him beating an elephant with a broken broomstick, but said he had been taught to do so by expert Indonesian handlers to discipline elephants. Stockigt was testifying in the Pretoria Regional Court where he is standing trial for allegedly maltreating 30 Tuli elephants bro... Read more Tweet relocation World"s biggest elephant relocation begins 2001-10-03 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Emma Young The world's biggest elephant relocation programme begins on Thursday, with the movement of 40 animals from the Kruger National Park in South Africa to an area just over the border in Mozambique. The move is also part of a plan to create a borderless, 21,600 square kilometre, wildlife park. This will encompass the Kruger, a similar area in Mozambique, and Zimbabwe's Gonarezhou Park, in April 2002. Read more Tweet accident Elephant accidentally kills handler 2001-04-17 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa. A handler was killed by an elephant cow which was being used on a film set in Broederstroom on Sunday. Circus owner Brian Boswell said Tandy was among seven elephants used as background animals for the filming of three movies and a commercial. Read more Tweet welfare Elephant trainer admits mistakes in cruelty case - Ruling due in South African custody suit 1998-11-06 - BRITS, South Africa. Accused of cruelty to the 30 young elephants he owns, Riccardo Ghiazza insists the animals are in good condition. But the South African trainer acknowledges that mistakes have been made while domesticating them for future homes in zoos and safari parks. Ghiazza, owner of African Game Services, an animal export farm near Pretoria, summoned reporters to the training facility on Wednesday to tell his side of a story that has ignited an international outcry. Read more Tweet abstract An outbreak of encephalomyocarditis-virus infection in free-ranging African elephants in the Kruger National Park. 1995-06-01 - Skukuza, South Africa. Grobler DG, Raath JP, Braack LE, Keet DF, Gerdes GH, Barnard BJ, Kriek NP, Jardine J, Swanepoel R. at National Parks Board, Skukuza, South Africa A cluster of four deaths in late December 1993, marked the onset of an outbreak of disease of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Kruger National Park (KNP) in South Africa, which has an estimated population of 7,500 elephants. Mortalities peaked in January 1994, with 32 deaths, and then declined steadily to reach pre-outbreak levels by September, but sporadic losses continued until November. During the outbreak altogether 64 elephants died, of which 53 (83%) were adult bulls. Archival... Read more Tweet abstract Nature: Isotope fingerprints in elephant bone and ivory 1990-08-23 - Pretoria, South Africa. J. C. Vogel, B. Eglington & J. M. Auret, Nature 346, 747 - 749 In theory, we have a way of pinpointing the origin of elephant ivory, which may be of value in conservation. Here we report that by analysing the isotope ratios of these elements, a clear distinction between several different populations of the African elephant can be made. Read more Tweet 255 Headlines about Elephants from South africa2024-03-23 - Pretoria, South Africa - SANParks partners with neighbouring nations to benefit communities 2023-08-21 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - How elephant populations are being controlled using contraceptives 2022-04-25 - Nelspruit, South Africa - Two male elephants from a well-known wildlife sanctuary in Hazyview die while under sedation 2022-03-05 - Cape Town, South Africa - Ivory dealer fined for illegal possession of elephant tusks 2021-12-21 - Cape Town, South Africa - Fossil track sites on the Cape south coast show ancient evidence of Knysna elephants 2021-01-26 - Empangeni, South Africa - Last trumpet for Thula Thula’s Frankie 2020-10-27 - , South Africa - 36 year old African female elephant born in Landa has died in Pretoria Zoo. 2020-10-21 - Mkuze, South Africa - ‘Majestic giants’ introduced into community owned reserves to strengthen elephant gene poole 2020-10-19 - Makhanda, South Africa - Big tuskers arrive in Eastern Cape 2020-09-13 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Much-loved elephant bull Tembe dies in Addo Elephant Park 2020-09-13 - Sabi Sands, South Africa - Baby elephant takes a nap 2020-02-15 - Hoedspruit, South Africa - Orphaned albino elephant recovers from poacher’s snare 2016-12-09 - Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa - Infamous SA circus owner fights laws that protect elephants 2016-10-03 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Efforts to boost elephant protection fails at Cites 2016-04-26 - Port Elizabeth , South Africa - Charges against Boswell Circus three withdrawn 2016-01-25 - Mpumalanga, South Africa - Kill the elephants, now! Mpumalanga villagers feast on Kruger escapees 2015-11-27 - , South Africa - An albino elephant on Kapama Game Reserve 2015-11-13 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Increase in elephant poaching a concern for Kruger Park management 2015-11-08 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Rangers in Congo"s Garamba park fight, die in skirmishes with heavily armed elephant poachers 2014-05-23 - Knysna, South Africa - Knysna Elephant Parks Response to Abuse Allegations 2014-05-19 - Knysna, South Africa - Alleged animal abuse at Knysna Elephant Park 2014-05-15 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Shock as SANParks discovers first poached elephant in ten years 2013-12-31 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Elephant put down after Kruger Park attack 2013-12-27 - Johannesburg, South Africa - EU Pledges 170 Million Rand To Help Fight Illegal Ivory Trade 2013-06-14 - Mossel Bay, South Africa - Thandora death in Gondwana Game Reserve shocks experts 2013-06-05 - Mahikeng, South Africa - Elephant mismanagement prompts hunting permit change 2013-04-27 - Durban, South Africa - South Africa: Government Must Urgently Erect Fencing Between Kruger National Park and Mozambique 2013-04-26 - Mossel Bay, South Africa - Thandora"s first days in the wild 2013-04-17 - Johannesburg, South Africa - South African elephant handler slips off back of elephant and is trampled to death 2013-04-15 - Skukuza, South Africa - Elephant overturns vehicle in Kruger 2013-03-22 - Kruger national park, South Africa - Elephant Culling In Kruger National Park: The Story Behind The Controversy 2013-03-06 - Bloemfontein, South Africa - Bloemfontein zoo elephant Thandora to be released in reserve 2012-10-26 - Bloemfontein, South Africa - Bloemfontein Zoo unhygienic: NSPCA 2012-08-08 - Pretoria, South Africa - Elephants may be contributing to deforestation 2012-08-02 - Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa - Circus boss Brian Boswell cracks whip. Fights off animal rights activists. 2012-04-09 - Louis Trichardt, South Africa - Man charged with illegal elephant hunt 2012-03-11 - Addo, South Africa - Dominant Addo elephant killed by brother 2012-03-04 - Pietermaritzburg, South Africa - Pain of translocation 2012-03-03 - Johannesburg, South Africa - R.I.P. "Elephant whisperer" Lawrence Anthony passes away 2012-02-17 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Activists: Poachers kill 200 elephants in Cameroon 2012-02-15 - Kruger Park, South Africa - Elephants trumpet dietary changes 2012-01-05 - Skukuza, South Africa - New African elephant fund receives major boost 2011-12-29 - Pretoria, South Africa - Global trust fund boosts six elephant projects 2011-12-29 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Elephant poaching: "Record year" for ivory seizures 2011-11-04 - Sabi Sabi Game Reserve, South Africa - Head-butting Elephants at Sabi Sabi 2011-11-01 - Mbombela, South Africa - Kruger elephant tusk may break record 2011-06-06 - Knysna, South Africa - Knysna Elephant attack: handler critical 2011-04-12 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Baby elephant"s death affects zoo staff 2011-04-12 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Baby elephant"s death affects zoo staff 2011-03-28 - Pretoria, South Africa - National Zoological Gardens of South Africa: Baby Elephant Born ! 2010-11-26 - Knysna, South Africa - Elephant care a jumbo task 2010-10-22 - Pretoria, South Africa - Man gored by elephant sues game lodge 2010-09-15 - Kwelera, South Africa - Elephant walks offered at Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve 2010-08-20 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Giant step forward as Addo elephants’ territory doubles (video) 2010-05-24 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Elephant picture explains mystery of leaking jacuzzi 2010-03-20 - Knysna, South Africa - Tracking down the elusive Knysna elephants 2010-03-08 - Pretoria, South Africa - Plan to kill elephants stirs outrage 2010-01-25 - Kwalata Game Ranch, South Africa - Changed date International Elephant Conservation and Research Symposium 2009-12-27 - Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve, South Africa - Two boys dodge elephant attack 2009-12-10 - Cape Town, South Africa - Comments on captive elephants in South Africa only two weeks more 2009-12-03 - Kruger Park, South Africa - Reader photo of the day: Warthog faces off against elephant herd 2009-11-25 - Plettenberg Bay, South Africa - Elephant turns on handler 2009-10-26 - Knysna, South Africa - Secret Elephants of Knysna alive, well 2009-10-10 - Cape Town, South Africa - As a small child I had a cuddly toy elephant that accompanied me everywhere 2009-10-05 - Cape Town, South Africa - Elephant dies of old age 2009-10-02 - Pretoria, South Africa - Elephant poaching on the rise 2009-10-01 - Pretoria, South Africa - Distressed elephant"s life to be spared 2009-09-30 - Cape Town, South Africa - Djuma Elephant to be euthanised 2009-09-28 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Uproar over distressed elephant 2009-02-25 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Planned parenthood for elephants. Can innovative contraception ideas solve South Africa"s elephant problem? 2009-02-10 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Elephant"s sad farewell to friend Alexander in KNP 2008-11-14 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - S. Africa May Cull Elephants in 2009 for First Time Since 1994 2008-11-12 - Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa - Tuskers to mint own gold coins 2008-11-10 - Eastern Cape, South Africa - Baa-my pair are best of friends 2008-11-07 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Ivory Auctions In Southern Africa Raise More Than $15 Million 2008-10-27 - Cape Town, South Africa - International Sale of Elephant Ivory Begins in Southern Africa, Amid Controversy 2008-10-27 - Knysna, South Africa - Sanparks Statement on the Knysna elephant – No evidence for more than 1 survivor 2008-10-17 - Pretoria, South Africa - Tons of ivory sold abroad 2008-10-16 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Southern Africa to auction more than 100 tonnes of ivory 2008-10-13 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - From cellphones to elephants 2008-10-08 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - No sheepish tastes for cream and ivory 2008-09-30 - Knysna, South Africa - SANParks focuses on Knysna forest elephants 2008-09-17 - Durban, South Africa - Population and individual elephant response to a catastrophic fire in Pilanesberg National Park. 2008-09-11 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Shock at ‘freak’ elephant attack 2008-08-12 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Why legal ivory trade is better for the elephants 2008-07-24 - Tshwane, South Africa - Africa: Country Donates 160 Elephants to Zambia 2008-07-17 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Activists livid after China approved for ivory sale 2008-07-17 - Pretoria, South Africa - South Africa: INTL Conservation Group Agrees to Once-Off Sale of Ivory 2008-06-12 - Pretoria, South Africa - Elephant culling unnecessary 2008-05-28 - Johannesburg, South Africa - SA elephant cull ban ends 2008-04-30 - Johannesburg, South Africa - South Africa lifts ban on elephant culling 2008-04-17 - Cape Town, South Africa - Legal ivory sold to China ‘could end up in illicit market’ reach 2008-03-16 - Stellenbosch, South Africa - Cleopatra"s Journey by Iain Macdonald 2008-03-11 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Kruger National Park Elephants Numbers up by Five Percent 2008-03-08 - KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa - Elephant Contraception in Kwazulu-Natal’s Tembe Elephant Park 2008-03-03 - Pretoria, South Africa - Should elephants be culled? 2008-03-03 - Pretoria, South Africa - Pondering the herd mentality. Elephants grieve. 2008-03-02 - Pretoria, South Africa - The Elephant Culling Debate 2008-03-01 - Johannesburg, South Africa - China eyes slice of SA"s ivory stockpile 2008-02-28 - Pretoria, South Africa - The HSUS / HSI Applauds New Regulations on Elephant Management in South Africa, Warns Against Culling 2008-02-28 - Mpumalanga, South Africa - Game ranger killed by elephant 2008-02-27 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - The Big Question: Why is South Africa proposing to cull thousands of elephants in Kruger National Park? Why are we asking this now? 2008-02-26 - Johannesburg, South Africa - NSPCA concerned about lot of circus elephants 2008-02-26 - Pretoria, South Africa - Born free foundation stunned by south african decision to lift cull ban! 2008-02-26 - Pretoria, South Africa - Ban on elephant culling lifted – but only as a last resort 2008-02-25 - Pretoria, South Africa - Policy announcement by Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South African Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, on the occasion of the publication of the final Norms and Standards for Elephant Management 2008-02-22 - Johannesburg, South Africa - We will act if culling is made legal 2008-02-16 - Knysna, South Africa - A pressing engagement 2008-02-06 - Knysna, South Africa - Tragedy prompts joyous gesture 2008-01-15 - Tzaneen, South Africa - Elephants for Africa Forever 2008-01-14 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Controlling S. Africa"s elephant population 2007-12-25 - Johannesburg, South Africa - The problem of plenty 2007-12-16 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Game rangers bag poachers 2007-12-13 - Waterberg, South Africa - South Africa elephants get birth control 2007-12-08 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Do Elephants Affect Frogs 2007-11-24 - Johannesburg, South Africa - In celebration of the elephants 2007-10-21 - Paola Cavalieri, South Africa - What are humans doing to the elephants? 2007-09-28 - Knysna, South Africa - New hope for Knysna elephants 2007-09-11 - Vanderbijlpark, South Africa - Elephant played soccer with me 2007-09-11 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Culling elephants could cost SA 2007-09-11 - Tzaneen, South Africa - Van Schalkwyks elephantine error 2007-08-30 - Durban, South Africa - Roscar award for Bring the Elephant Home film 2007-08-28 - Hartbeespoort, South Africa - Shelter for giants. Rescued elephants get the best of care in a sanctuary in South Africa. 2007-08-15 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Conservationist Lawrence Anthony escapes attack of angry elephant at Thula Thula Game Reserve 2007-08-14 - Tshwane, South Africa - South Africa: Culling "Last Resort" for Elephant Management 2007-08-14 - Pretoria, South Africa - SA ivory sale waits on provinces 2007-07-16 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Elephants "Learn" to Avoid Land Mines in War-Torn Angola 2007-07-07 - Grahamstown, South Africa - Court order preventing a man from training and exhibiting elephants 2007-07-03 - Hartbeespoort Dam, South Africa - Infamous animal trader Riccardo Ghiazza dies in crash 2007-06-27 - Durban, South Africa - The Big Dispute: Dassie: Relationship to Elephants 2007-06-19 - Bloemfontein, South Africa - Milk composition of three free-ranging African elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) cows during mid lactation. 2007-06-06 - Cape Town, South Africa - Authorities to discuss elephant management 2007-06-05 - Knysna, South Africa - Worlds Most Southerly Elephants Survive Against All Odds 2007-05-12 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Elephant kills South African hunter 2007-05-10 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Body temperature daily rhythm adaptations in African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana). 2007-04-17 - Phalaborwa, South Africa - Elephant tramples elderly woman 2007-04-13 - Wiwatersrand, South Africa - A naturally hot topic: baby elephants temperatures are the important factor in the population movements of the herds 2007-04-06 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Elephant fall: Two taken to Johannesburg 2007-04-05 - Hartbeespoort, South Africa - UK couple critical after elephant fall 2007-04-04 - Johannesburg, South Africa - 5-Country Conservation Area Would Aid Africa"s Largest Elephant Herd 2007-04-01 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Rhinos and elephants in Southern Africa are coming under increased pressure from poachers 2007-03-30 - Durban, South Africa - Implementing immunocontraception in free-ranging African elephants at Makalali conservancy. 2007-03-20 - Stellenbosch, South Africa - Chromosome painting among Proboscidea, Hyracoidea and Sirenia: support for Paenungulata (Afrotheria, Mammalia) but not Tethytheria. 2007-03-20 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Trumpet sounds call to end elephant safaris 2007-03-20 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Temperature could be key in elephant research 2007-03-19 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Field ranger Thomas Mathosi stable after attack 2007-03-18 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Weekend Getaway: Elephant back safaris at Addo Elephant National Park 2007-03-14 - Sabisands, South Africa - Couple"s elephant birth video is global hit 2007-03-13 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Elephant Herd Attacks Ranger In South African Game Park 2007-03-07 - Johannesburg, South Africa - After canned lions, elephant-back tourism in line of fire in South Africa 2007-02-28 - ADDO ELEPHANT PARK, South Africa - South Africa Proposes Elephant Slaughter Limits 2007-02-25 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - WWF: South Africa should consider elephant cull 2007-02-14 - KwaZulu Natal, South Africa - Fatal attraction: Elephants and marula fruit 2006-11-24 - Pretoria, South Africa - A method for determining the extent of thermal burns in elephants. 2006-11-20 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Jumbo boost for Somerset East as elephants return to the region 2006-11-16 - EAST LONDON, South Africa - Elephant herd released at Mpongo 2006-11-14 - Durban, South Africa - Elephant calves need help 2006-11-13 - Limpopo, South Africa - Thukela "problem elephants" captured and relocated to their new home in SanWild wildlife sanctuary 2006-11-12 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Elephant versus man: the Human-Elephant Conflict in Africa 2006-11-04 - Kapama, South Africa - Nature film: Escape the Elephants. Saba Douglas Hamilton follows elephants in the bush in an effort to snare poachers. 2006-11-03 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Tourist hurt as horse spooked in Addo Elephant Park 2006-11-01 - Thula Thula, South Africa - Lawrence Anthony, THE ELEPHANT WHISPERER 2006-10-20 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - SOUTHERN AFRICA: No Ivory Sales Now Doesnt Mean None Later 2006-10-15 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Scientist raises issue of elephants maimed by wire snares 2006-10-12 - BEIT BRIDGE, South Africa - Arrest of Foreign Nationals and Seizure of smuggled Drugs and Ivory. MEDIA STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE 2006-10-11 - CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Church and elephants fall foul of government land reform efforts 2006-10-10 - Limpopo, South Africa - Orphaned KwaZulu-Natal elephants rescued, move to new home in Limpopo 2006-10-06 - Plettenberg Bay, South Africa - Riding the Elephants 2006-10-03 - Cameroon, South Africa - An Update, And A Close Call from the "Elephants of Cameroon" 2006-09-19 - Derdepoort, South Africa - Stray elephant kills game ranger in South Africa 2006-09-13 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Elephants And Ethics Explored 2006-09-03 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Elephant Birth at Ulusaba in South Africa 2006-08-23 - Durban, South Africa - The role of foraging behaviour in the sexual segregation of the African elephant. 2006-08-21 - Tshwane, South Africa - South Africa: Elephant Science Round Table to Meet Again 2006-08-17 - GIRIYONDO, South Africa - Presidents Open African Cross - Border Park 2006-08-08 - KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, South Africa - As the Elephants Multiply, So Do Kruger Game Park"s Woes - South African Proposal to Cull Animals Sparks National Debate 2006-08-05 - Thukela, South Africa - Operation Jumbo Journey 2006-07-19 - Cape Town, South Africa - In the past seven months, Chinese dealers bought 30 tonnes ivory from Zimbabwes Parks and Wildlife Management Authority - representing the tusks of about 2250 elephants. 2006-07-18 - Giyani, South Africa - Search Intensified by Limpopo rangers for 26 Escaped Elephants from Kruger National Park 2006-07-18 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - WWF: Managing elephants in southern Africa - A numbers game 2006-07-18 - Limpopo, South Africa - Two elephants shot in Limpopo 2006-07-17 - Giyani, South Africa - 26 jumbos break out of Kruger National Park 2006-07-02 - Balule, South Africa - Hunt On For Wounded Elephant 2006-05-06 - Durban, South Africa - Elephants for EL reserve, Public to take walks with jumbos 2006-04-24 - Cape Town, South Africa - IFAW: Young elephants snatched from wild with conservation approval 2006-03-27 - Hoedspruit, South Africa - Fate of killer Camp Jabulani elephant unclear 2006-03-24 - Letaba, South Africa - Letaba Elephant Hall in the Kruger National Park Reopens 2006-03-06 - Hoedspruit, South Africa - Jabulani Camp elephant kills trainer Elias Makori 2006-02-17 - Cape Town, South Africa - Tuskers return to the Cape 2006-01-25 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Rejected baby elephant starts new life in Knysna 2006-01-19 - GAUTENG, South Africa - Boswell"s BIG on variety 2006-01-19 - CAPE TOWN, South Africa - No reason" to cull SA elephants 2006-01-19 - CAPE TOWN, South Africa - World"s leading elephant scientists meet in Cape Town 2005-12-28 - DINOKENG, South Africa - "Rogue" African elephants may soon hunt poachers 2005-11-12 - Mooketsi, South Africa - Safari Elephant injures Student 2005-11-08 - Pilanesberg, South Africa - Recovered elephants going home at last 2005-11-04 - KWAZULU-NATAL, South Africa - Elephant kills woman at game lodge 2005-10-23 - Pilanesberg, South Africa - Technology takes sting out of jumbo burns 2005-10-21 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Burnt baby elephant euthanised 2005-10-20 - Pilanesberg, South Africa - Antiseptic spray helps elephants heal quicker 2005-10-19 - RIVERSIDE, Calif, South Africa - Based on Body Size, Bacteria and Elephants Have Similar Metabolism, Ecologists Find - UCR-led research team shows that organisms use their biochemical characteristics to overcome limitations arising from their body size 2005-10-18 - Pretoria, South Africa - Two elephant calves die of lung damage after veld fire 2005-10-14 - Pilanesberg, South Africa - Burning debate over ellies 2005-10-02 - Pretoria, South Africa - Park needs thorough research 2005-09-28 - Hammanskraal, South Africa - Pilanesberg elephants traumatised after blaze 2005-09-25 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Culling won"t win SA any friends 2005-09-24 - Pilanesberg, South Africa - Burnt elephants taken to a safe house 2005-09-23 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Veld fire burns 20 elephants 2005-09-21 - Johannesburg, South Africa - 10,000 elephants facing slaughter to protect trees 2005-09-20 - Pretoria, South Africa - South Africa Wants To Cull Elephant Population 2005-09-15 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Seven more elephants escape from Kruger Park 2005-09-11 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - D-Day looms for jumbos in Kruger 2005-09-09 - Canningsmoore, Marite, South Africa - Six escaped elephants shot 2005-09-06 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Chillies cool conflict between man and elephants 2005-08-21 - Hartebeespoort, South Africa - As one with the elephants - Getting up close and personal with elephants has changed Arja Salafranca 2005-07-20 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Elephants have emotions "just like humans" 2005-07-03 - Skukuza, South Africa - ELEPHANT (LOXODONTA AFRICANA) DIETS IN KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, SOUTH AFRICA: SPATIAL AND LANDSCAPE DIFFERENCES 2005-06-28 - Knysna, South Africa - Trauma of culling haunting Knysna"s elephants who killed elephant keeper Tobias Ndlovu? 2005-06-27 - Hoedspruit, South Africa - Elephants get the snip in landmark operation 2005-06-25 - Johannesburg, South Africa - "Stop using elephants for Safaris" 2005-06-23 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Elephant kills handler in Knysna, South Africa 2005-06-22 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Stop SA elephant tours - demand 2005-06-08 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Elephants return to South Africa"s famed Karoo 2005-05-15 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Elephants: tourism"s new money-spinners 2005-04-25 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Elephants: A huge headache 2005-04-07 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Elephants "born to be wild" 2005-03-27 - Limpopo, South Africa - Kruger elephants head for Mozambique 2005-03-22 - The Crags, South Africa - Elephants find new home near Knysna 2005-02-23 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Ranger killed by elephant at S.Africa"s Kruger 2005-02-11 - Limpopo, South Africa - Two elephants in historic vasectomy operation 2005-01-20 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Rangers watch anxiously over rare newborn twin elephants in Addo Elephant National Park 2005-01-12 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - African sun puts albino jumbo at risk 2004-12-22 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Rampaging elephants a headache in South Africa 2004-12-16 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Keeps Elephants at Bay 2004-11-30 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Scientists create elephant contraceptive drug 2004-11-22 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - One Park, Three Countries: The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park 2004-11-17 - Cape Town, South Africa - Weapons for ivory: the illegal trade between Bejiing and Zimbabwe 2004-11-03 - Johannesburg, South Africa - SANParks Brews Plan to Cull Elephant Herds 2004-10-29 - Cape Town, South Africa - Man Friday: On the trail of elephants and Blue Bulls somewhere between Botswana and Namibia 2004-10-25 - Pretoria, South Africa - Massive elephant culling in Kruger Park on the cards 2004-10-24 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Why 5000 elephants must die 2004-10-23 - Cape Town, South Africa - Elephant culling: A "just war" no one wants 2004-10-22 - Pretoria, South Africa - Elephant Management Plan Proposed 2004-10-21 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - South Africa weighs killing off excess elephants 2004-10-20 - Pretoria, South Africa - Kruger Elephants culling Debate Heats Up 2004-10-18 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Elephants: Vets offer help 2004-10-17 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - Great Elephant Indaba: Elephants face cull as numbers rise 2004-10-14 - Pretoria, South Africa - Elephant Debate Not a Ploy to Reintroduce Culling, Says Mabunda 2004-07-26 - Durban, South Africa - Rogue elephants shot by rangers 2003-02-04 - PRETORIA, South Africa - Elephant handler Wayne Stockigt says elephant abuse is not cruel 2001-10-03 - Kruger National Park, South Africa - World"s biggest elephant relocation begins 2001-04-17 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Elephant accidentally kills handler 1998-11-06 - BRITS, South Africa - Elephant trainer admits mistakes in cruelty case - Ruling due in South African custody suit 1995-06-01 - Skukuza, South Africa - An outbreak of encephalomyocarditis-virus infection in free-ranging African elephants in the Kruger National Park. 1990-08-23 - Pretoria, South Africa - Nature: Isotope fingerprints in elephant bone and ivory 20 years on Internet!ELEPHANT NEWS was created on 2001 in Munich, and relaunched in Phnom Penh in 2020, with almost 8 000 links to news articles about elephants on the InternetA number of articles now also have a cross reference to the elephant database, either for individuals elephants and/or to an article about the location holdingIn the right column, you can also see if an elephant has birthday today, and follow the link to more facts! medical Third elephant tests positive for virus at Dublin Zoo 2024-07-10 - Dublin, Ireland. Dublin Zoo has confirmed that a third elephant has tested positive for a virus which has left two other elephants dead over the last ten days. Eight-year-old Avani and seven-year-old Zinda died from E... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Asha in the Elephant Database Read about Dublin Zoo in the Elephant Database medical Houston Zoo Elephant Receives First Ever mRNA EEHV Vaccine 2024-06-18 - Houston, United States. Houston Zoo Tess, a 40-year-old Asian elephant at Houston Zoo, has been given the first-ever dose of an mRNA vaccine created by virologists at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) to prevent the deadly elephant endot... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Tess in the Elephant Database Read about Houston Zoo in the Elephant Database birth Blackpool Zoo confirms 2 elephants are expecting babies 2024-04-26 - Blackpool, United Kingdom. The latest round of pregnancy tests at Blackpool Zoo has revealed that two of its elephants are expecting babies. Mother and daughter Noorjahan and Esha are both pregnant and due to give birth in late... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Noor Jahan in the Elephant Database Read about Blackpool Zoo in the Elephant Database death RIP 2 year old “Chi Pich” 2024-04-02 - Sen Monorom, Cambodia. There was sad news from Mondulkiri Province, with the death of 2 year old elephant “Chi Pich” being announced. Sources from the Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment Organization (ELIE) said ... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Chi Pich in the Elephant Database Read about Elephant Valley Project Cambodia in the Elephant DatabaseExtern relevant Links (external link which opens in new window):EEHV (Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus)Extern relevant Links (external link which opens in new window):EEHV (Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus) death Popular tusker Mangalamkunnu Ayyappan dies 2024-03-26 - Kochi, India. Popular tusker Mangalamkunnu Ayyappan, 55, 55, died at Mangalamkunnu in Palakkad on Monday. The elephant owned by M A Haridasan had been under treatment for the past few months. Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Mangalamkunnu Ayyappan in the Elephant Database Read about Mangalamkunnu brothers in the Elephant Database birth Pinnawala Orphanage sees birth of 76th calf 2024-03-23 - Kegalle, Sri Lanka. The 76th elephant calf was born at the Rambukkana Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on March 20.This baby elephant was born to 32-year-old she-elephant Shanthi and 19-year-old Pandu at the Pinnawala Elepha... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Unnamed in the Elephant Database Read about Pinnawala elephant orphanage in the Elephant Database organisation SANParks partners with neighbouring nations to benefit communities 2024-03-23 - Pretoria, South Africa. In the ongoing efforts to curb poaching and snaring of animals within the Zimbabwe and Mozambique borders, South African National Parks (SANParks) is working to create more partnerships with neighbour... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Kruger National Park in the Elephant Database event Toledo Zoo Shares the Name of Precious New Baby Elephant 2024-03-15 - , United States. After weeks of voting and thousands of submissions, the Toledo Zoo has officially chosen the name of their precious baby elephant and we're personally thrilled about the news! Ladies and gentleman, Ki... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Kirk in the Elephant Database Read about Toledo Zoo in the Elephant DatabasePress Release: The Toledo Zoo is thrilled to announce the birth of a healthy baby elephant, born to African elephant, Renee.Press Release: The Toledo Zoo is thrilled to announce the birth of a healthy baby elephant, born to African elephant, Renee. birth Reid Park Zoo welcomes new baby elephant 2024-03-09 - Tucson, United States. A baby elephant was born at Reid Park Zoo. The zoo said Semba, the facility’s African elephant matriarch, gave birth to a 265-pound calf around 3:31 a.m. Friday, March 8. Reid Park Zoo said the calf... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Unnamed in the Elephant Database Read about Reid Park Zoo in the Elephant Database event Baby elephant in Copenhagen named after Thai river 2024-03-04 - Copenhagen, Denmark. A female baby elephant in Copenhagen Zoo has been named Chin after the Tha Chin river in central Thailand. The elephant was born last week in the Danish zoo. The zookeepers, who take care of the young... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Chin in the Elephant Database Read about Copenhagen Zoo in the Elephant Database conflict This elephant misses his mahout, authorities seek police help 2024-02-29 - Alappuzha, India. Evoor Kannan, the elephant known for his murderous rage and with a history of killing two mahouts is in a bad mood these days. He had been gentle under the care of his former Mahout Sharath Parippally... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Evoor Kannan in the Elephant Database Read about Evoor Major Sri Krishnaswamy Temple in the Elephant Database birth Third elephant calf born in Beekse Bergen 2024-02-20 - Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands. African elephant Punda has become the mother of a healthy elephant calf after a 22-month pregnancy. This is the third calf born in the Safari Park Beekse Bergen k in four months. Never before have thr... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Tendai in the Elephant Database Read about Beekse Bergen Safaripark in the Elephant Database death Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium’s elephant calf dies at age 2 2024-02-15 - Pittsburgh, United States. The zoo said Tsuni died Thursday after a sudden, brief battle with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). Her EEHV was detected through routine blood testing on Feb. 8, even though she presente... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Tsuni in the Elephant Database Read about Fairhope Conservation Center in the Elephant DatabaseExtern relevant Links (external link which opens in new window):The Elephant endotheliotropic herpes virusExtern relevant Links (external link which opens in new window):The Elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus death Farewell to Seoul"s oldest elephant passing at age of 59 2024-02-15 - Seoul, South Korea. The oldest female elephant in South Korea passed away Tuesday at a zoo in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, at the age of 59, zoo officials said Thursday. The female elephant, named Sakura, had suffered fr... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Sakura Jjang in the Elephant Database Read about Seoul Grand Park Zoo in the Elephant Database birth A star is born: Baby elephant debuts 2024-01-30 - Bangalore, India. The Bannerghatta Biological Park is brimming with excitement as it welcomes a delightful new addition—a baby boy elephant calf. This adorable arrival brings the elephant count in the Bannerghatta zo... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about unknown in the Elephant Database Read about Bannerghatta Biological Park Zoo in the Elephant Database death Guruvayur Kannan, nine-time winner of elephant race, dies at 62 2024-01-27 - Guruvayur, India. Elephant Kannan, of the Guruvayur Devaswom Elephant Camp, a nine-time winner of the festival-related elephant race, has passed away. His demise was around 5:30 pm on Saturday. The tusker's age at the ... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Guruvayur Kannan in the Elephant Database Read about Guruvayur Devaswom elephant camp in the Elephant Database poaching A baby elephant is found dead 2024-01-27 - Koh Nhek, Cambodia. Villagers found a baby elephant dead in Koh Nhek district, Mondulkiri province in the middle of the forest on January 26, 2024, suspected of being shot. Mondulkiri Provincial department of environm... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! evolution Discoveries: The Evolutionary Edge of Elephant Trunks and Ancient Giants 2024-01-13 - Beijing, China. A recent study published in the journal eLife has uncovered new findings on the development of dextrous trunks by indigenous elephants. According to Dr. Shi-Qi Wang, a senior author of the research, t... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! poaching Alleged poaching kills 46-year-old Sumatran elephant in Riau park 2024-01-13 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia. The Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan District, Riau Province, again lost one of its Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) after a poacher allegedly killed it for its tusks. The 46-year... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about Rahman in the Elephant Database Read about Tesso Nilo WWF-BKSDA Flying Squad camp in the Elephant Database fossil Celebration of Elephants: A Must-see New Exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History 2024-01-11 - New York, United States. In a narrow but sprawling curatorial space at the uptown museum, The Secret World of Elephants, now opened, tells the story of elephant species and their relatives through life-size models, videos, gr... Read more But Share with Tweet first, please! Read about American Museum of Natural History in the Elephant Database Back in history: 1 2 » »» [Start-Latest elephant news] [Latest headlines] [Archive 1995-2014]
2004-10-22 - Pretoria, South Africa. Dirk Nel, BuaNews
The drafting of a national elephant strategy was one of several important proposals tabled at South Africa's Great Elephant Indaba, which ended in the Kruger National Park yesterday. In addition, several short- and long-term objectives for elephant management were suggested, for submission to the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk.
2004-10-21 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Gershwin Wanneburg, Reuters
South Africa is weighing the option of killing off its excess elephants, 10 years after the practice known as culling was banned amid pressure from animal rights activists.
2004-10-20 - Pretoria, South Africa. Dirk Nel, BuaNews
The great elephant debate here today took an emotive turn, when animal rights groups passionately pleaded for the elimination of culling as a possible option to manage the country's oversized elephant population.
2004-10-18 - Johannesburg, South Africa. News 24
The Veterinary Association of SA offered its assistance in controlling elephant populations in South Africa's national parks on Monday. Unabated growth of the elephant population in the parks posed a serious threat to the habitat, wildlife and tourist potential of the country's parks, Jozeph van Heerden, spokesperson for the association, said in a statement.
2004-10-17 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Karen MacGregor, Times Online
For years conservationists have fought to protect South Africa’s elephants from poachers and hunters, but now it seems that they may have been too successful. Experts claim that there are too many elephants in the country’s parks and thousands must be killed to preserve valuable habitats for other species.
2004-10-14 - Pretoria, South Africa. Sharon Hammond BuaNews
The upcoming Great Elephant Debate is not a ploy to reintroduce elephant culling, insisted chief executive of South African National Parks David Mabunda today. He said the event, scheduled for 19 to 21 October, simply aimed to open debate and identify ways in which to manage elephant populations.
2004-07-26 - Durban, South Africa. Chris Jenkins, Daily News
Game rangers have shot three rogue elephants in Zululand's Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park. The culling was in terms of a head office directive to control "delinquent" elephants to avoid possible fatal attacks on staff, neighbours or visitors.
2003-02-04 - PRETORIA, South Africa.
Student elephant handler Wayne Stockigt told a court on Monday that he did not think it was cruel to hit an elephant, whether it be with a stick or a fist. He admitted to a televised video showing him beating an elephant with a broken broomstick, but said he had been taught to do so by expert Indonesian handlers to discipline elephants. Stockigt was testifying in the Pretoria Regional Court where he is standing trial for allegedly maltreating 30 Tuli elephants bro...
2001-10-03 - Kruger National Park, South Africa. Emma Young
The world's biggest elephant relocation programme begins on Thursday, with the movement of 40 animals from the Kruger National Park in South Africa to an area just over the border in Mozambique. The move is also part of a plan to create a borderless, 21,600 square kilometre, wildlife park. This will encompass the Kruger, a similar area in Mozambique, and Zimbabwe's Gonarezhou Park, in April 2002.
2001-04-17 - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa.
A handler was killed by an elephant cow which was being used on a film set in Broederstroom on Sunday. Circus owner Brian Boswell said Tandy was among seven elephants used as background animals for the filming of three movies and a commercial.
1998-11-06 - BRITS, South Africa.
Accused of cruelty to the 30 young elephants he owns, Riccardo Ghiazza insists the animals are in good condition. But the South African trainer acknowledges that mistakes have been made while domesticating them for future homes in zoos and safari parks. Ghiazza, owner of African Game Services, an animal export farm near Pretoria, summoned reporters to the training facility on Wednesday to tell his side of a story that has ignited an international outcry.
1995-06-01 - Skukuza, South Africa. Grobler DG, Raath JP, Braack LE, Keet DF, Gerdes GH, Barnard BJ, Kriek NP, Jardine J, Swanepoel R. at National Parks Board, Skukuza, South Africa
A cluster of four deaths in late December 1993, marked the onset of an outbreak of disease of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Kruger National Park (KNP) in South Africa, which has an estimated population of 7,500 elephants. Mortalities peaked in January 1994, with 32 deaths, and then declined steadily to reach pre-outbreak levels by September, but sporadic losses continued until November. During the outbreak altogether 64 elephants died, of which 53 (83%) were adult bulls. Archival...
1990-08-23 - Pretoria, South Africa. J. C. Vogel, B. Eglington & J. M. Auret, Nature 346, 747 - 749
In theory, we have a way of pinpointing the origin of elephant ivory, which may be of value in conservation. Here we report that by analysing the isotope ratios of these elements, a clear distinction between several different populations of the African elephant can be made.
2024-07-10 - Dublin, Ireland.
Dublin Zoo has confirmed that a third elephant has tested positive for a virus which has left two other elephants dead over the last ten days. Eight-year-old Avani and seven-year-old Zinda died from E...
2024-06-18 - Houston, United States. Houston Zoo
Tess, a 40-year-old Asian elephant at Houston Zoo, has been given the first-ever dose of an mRNA vaccine created by virologists at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) to prevent the deadly elephant endot...
2024-04-26 - Blackpool, United Kingdom.
The latest round of pregnancy tests at Blackpool Zoo has revealed that two of its elephants are expecting babies. Mother and daughter Noorjahan and Esha are both pregnant and due to give birth in late...
2024-04-02 - Sen Monorom, Cambodia.
There was sad news from Mondulkiri Province, with the death of 2 year old elephant “Chi Pich” being announced. Sources from the Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment Organization (ELIE) said ...
2024-03-26 - Kochi, India.
Popular tusker Mangalamkunnu Ayyappan, 55, 55, died at Mangalamkunnu in Palakkad on Monday. The elephant owned by M A Haridasan had been under treatment for the past few months.
2024-03-23 - Kegalle, Sri Lanka.
The 76th elephant calf was born at the Rambukkana Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on March 20.This baby elephant was born to 32-year-old she-elephant Shanthi and 19-year-old Pandu at the Pinnawala Elepha...
In the ongoing efforts to curb poaching and snaring of animals within the Zimbabwe and Mozambique borders, South African National Parks (SANParks) is working to create more partnerships with neighbour...
2024-03-15 - , United States.
After weeks of voting and thousands of submissions, the Toledo Zoo has officially chosen the name of their precious baby elephant and we're personally thrilled about the news! Ladies and gentleman, Ki...
2024-03-09 - Tucson, United States.
A baby elephant was born at Reid Park Zoo. The zoo said Semba, the facility’s African elephant matriarch, gave birth to a 265-pound calf around 3:31 a.m. Friday, March 8. Reid Park Zoo said the calf...
2024-03-04 - Copenhagen, Denmark.
A female baby elephant in Copenhagen Zoo has been named Chin after the Tha Chin river in central Thailand. The elephant was born last week in the Danish zoo. The zookeepers, who take care of the young...
2024-02-29 - Alappuzha, India.
Evoor Kannan, the elephant known for his murderous rage and with a history of killing two mahouts is in a bad mood these days. He had been gentle under the care of his former Mahout Sharath Parippally...
2024-02-20 - Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands.
African elephant Punda has become the mother of a healthy elephant calf after a 22-month pregnancy. This is the third calf born in the Safari Park Beekse Bergen k in four months. Never before have thr...
2024-02-15 - Pittsburgh, United States.
The zoo said Tsuni died Thursday after a sudden, brief battle with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). Her EEHV was detected through routine blood testing on Feb. 8, even though she presente...
2024-02-15 - Seoul, South Korea.
The oldest female elephant in South Korea passed away Tuesday at a zoo in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, at the age of 59, zoo officials said Thursday. The female elephant, named Sakura, had suffered fr...
2024-01-30 - Bangalore, India.
The Bannerghatta Biological Park is brimming with excitement as it welcomes a delightful new addition—a baby boy elephant calf. This adorable arrival brings the elephant count in the Bannerghatta zo...
2024-01-27 - Guruvayur, India.
Elephant Kannan, of the Guruvayur Devaswom Elephant Camp, a nine-time winner of the festival-related elephant race, has passed away. His demise was around 5:30 pm on Saturday. The tusker's age at the ...
2024-01-27 - Koh Nhek, Cambodia.
Villagers found a baby elephant dead in Koh Nhek district, Mondulkiri province in the middle of the forest on January 26, 2024, suspected of being shot. Mondulkiri Provincial department of environm...
2024-01-13 - Beijing, China.
A recent study published in the journal eLife has uncovered new findings on the development of dextrous trunks by indigenous elephants. According to Dr. Shi-Qi Wang, a senior author of the research, t...
2024-01-13 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.
The Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan District, Riau Province, again lost one of its Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) after a poacher allegedly killed it for its tusks. The 46-year...
2024-01-11 - New York, United States.
In a narrow but sprawling curatorial space at the uptown museum, The Secret World of Elephants, now opened, tells the story of elephant species and their relatives through life-size models, videos, gr...
