2022-10-21 - Kampala, Uganda.
A Ugandan court has sentenced an ivory trader to life in prison - the longest sentence for such crimes in the country's history. A new law was passed in 2019 that toughened sentences for poaching or trafficking in endangered species. Pascal Ochiba was arrested in January this year with two pieces of ivory, weighing nearly 10kg (22lb). The magistrate said Ochiba, as a repeat offender, deserved life in prison for the future protection of wildlife.
2013-10-18 - Kampala, Uganda.
Over 800 pieces were found concealed in a container ready for shipment via the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa to China. Said to be worth over 6 billion Uganda Shillings, the catch will financially pain the middlemen of the illicit trade but have cost several hundred elephant their lives.
2012-02-13 - Kampala, Uganda.
The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) last weekend handed over illegal Elephant Ivory, Monitor Lizard skins and Rhino teeth worth Ush1.6b ($700,000) to the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). The trophies that are banned under the Convention in Trade in Endangered Species were impounded over the last three months destined for export. The items were impounded at different customs points after lacking exportation documents. According to Mr. James Kisaame, the enforcement assistant commissioner at URA, 1...
2011-12-05 - Kampala, Uganda.
Conservationists have raised the red flag over the increase in poaching of elephants in national parks. According to UWA, 33 elephants have been killed at Murchison Falls National Game Park in the last seven years, of which 25 have been killed this year. The numbers of elephants killed in parks since the year began have more than tripled.
2010-09-15 - Kampala, Uganda. Gerald Tenywa
POACHERS kill three elephants in Uganda every year, John Makombo, the acting head of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), has said. “Poaching has never been stopped anywhere in the world, but it can be controlled. That is one of the reasons UWA exists,” Makombo said. According to Makombo, the population of elephants, currently estimated at 5,000, has been increasing over the years due to UWA’s strong anti-poaching drives.
2009-09-10 - Kampala, Uganda. Gerald Tenywa
EACH week, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has to rescue an elephant or lion from a wire snare.The snares, set up by poachers, are fixed on fences or trees to trap the animals. According to Sam Mwandha, UWA's director of conservation, poaching is common in Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls national parks. "We have been called every week to remove snares from animals in the two parks," he said.
2008-11-25 - Kampala, Uganda.
It may not be quite as bad as the Three Bears returning home to find Goldilocks sleeping in one of their beds, but Ugandan villagers returning to the villages they abandoned during the East African nation's civil war are being met with a rather large surprise. "Elephants are moving into the villages," says Sam Mwandha, operations director for the state-owned Uganda Wildlife Authority. Much of Uganda's northern region lies in the so-called elephant corridor, a vast tropical flat terrain that adjo...
2008-10-09 - Kampala, Uganda. Edmund Kagire
Most rare and precious African fauna and flora species are on the verge of extinction, today more than in the past years following increased illegal trade in the past decade as global demand for these increases on daily basis. Data from the Lusaka Agreement reveals that over 20.000 elephants are killed in Africa annually and the ivory worth over $20m is exported to China, USA and Japan where it has a lucrative ready market. There is also a ready market for rhino horns, hippo teeth, primates like...
2008-08-29 - Kampala, Kenya. Patson Baraire
Over 200 families from Kinyabutongo and Kameme villages in Kihiihi Sub-county, Kanungu District have fled their homes and camped at the sub-county headquarters after elephants from the Queen Elizabeth National Park invaded their area. Last weekend, the elephants killed two people and injured several others. The Kihiihi LC3 chairperson, Mr Nelson Natukunda, named the victims as Ms Beatrice Musabyimaana, 39, and her two-year-old son Brian Abemaana, who were killed as she tended to her garden.
2008-07-28 - Kampala, Uganda. Patience Aber
The Police and army have launched a joint operation to drive back 35 stary elephants from Amuru District to Murchison Falls National Park. "We have embarked on an operation to drive elephants straying in Kochgoma and Alero sub-counties in Amuru district back to their conservation area in Murchison Falls National Park," UPDF northern region spokesperson Capt Ronald Kakurungu said last Tuesday in a statement. The elephants recently crossed over into the new district. Capt. Kakurungu said they are ...
2008-05-13 - Kampala, Uganda. Okello JB, Masembe C, Rasmussen HB, Wittemyer G, Omondi P, Kahindi O, Muwanika VB, Arctander P, Douglas-Hamilton I, Nyakaana S, Siegismund HR. Makerere University
We investigated population genetic structure and regional differentiation among African savannah elephants in Kenya using mitochondrial and microsatellite markers. We observed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) nucleotide diversity of 1.68% and microsatellite variation in terms of average number of alleles, expected and observed heterozygosities in the total study population of 10.20, 0.75, and 0.69, respectively. Hierarchical analysis of molecular variance of mtDNA variation revealed significant differe...
2008-04-07 - Kampala, Uganda. Wolfgang H. Thome
A French tourist visitor had a near fatal run in with an elephant at Murchisons Falls National Park last week. Ignoring guidance habitually given to visitors, to take a ranger with them for their game drive, the group approached some elephants to within very close range before switching their car engine off. Little did they know that a female elephant with a small cub was taking this intrusion into her space as a potential threat to her newly born and promptly went on the attack.
2008-03-02 - Kampala, Uganda.
2008-02-06 - Kampala, United States.
The elephant population in Uganda's wildlife reserves and game parks has been growing steadily to about 5,000 since the near depletion of the gigantic mammals under the regime of late dictator Idi Amin, a top conservation official said Wednesday. Ecologists say during the late 1960s, jungles in the east African country's wilderness were teeming with over 30,000 elephants, in both gazetted areas and elephant migratory corridors.
2007-08-08 - Kampala, Uganda. Chris Ocowun
THE internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps bordering Murchison Falls National Game Park in Amuru district have petitioned President Yoweri Museveni over the actions of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). The IDPs want the authority to drive back the elephants that invaded their area. The locals said this in a meeting with the special presidential advisor for the north, Richard Todwong, last week. Todwong assessed the destruction caused by over 400 elephants that have invaded the vi...
2007-01-28 - Kampala, Uganda. Gerald Tenywa
THE elephant population in Queen Elizabeth National Park has hit the level of three decades ago of about 3,000. According to a census report released by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the elephant population is about 2,959, up from 2,497 in 2004. The population doubled between 2000 and 2004 when it increased from 1,100. UWA’s head of research and monitoring Aggrey Rwetsiba attributed the growth to reduced poaching and increased migration of elephants from DR Congo. The park’s managemen...
2006-12-15 - Kampala, Uganda.
The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has impounded a large consignment of ivory valued at 227 million Ugandan shillings (126,000 U.S. dollars) in Kampala. Paul Kyeyune, URA's Public and Corporate Affairs officer, was quoted by local media Friday as saying the 99 pieces of ivory weighing about 250 kg were intercepted at a tip-off at Kabuusu Tuesday midnight on the outskirts of Kampala.
2006-06-06 - Kampala, Uganda. Charles Akena
OVER 100 people in Kamdini village have given up poaching wild game and handed over an assortment of hunting implements to the authorities. A delegation of 245 poachers led by Mr Patrick Odongo handed over spears, traps, wire snares, cooking pots and other tools to the Senior Conservation Officer of Murchison National Park, Mr Stonewall Kato, at Kamdini Parish last week. They revealed that they used to hunt animals in the park and later sell the meat to hotel proprietors in Kampala and other are...
2005-04-20 - Kampala, Uganda.
An Indian tourist at a wildlife reserve in northern Uganda was killed by an elephant when he and several compatriots tried to get a close look at the pachyderm and her calf, officials said on Tuesday. The slain safari-goer was one of six Indian visitors in the Murchison Falls National Park on Sunday to have misjudged the distance between themselves and a group of elephants and were charged, the officials said.
2005-04-18 - KAMPALA, Uganda. GEOFFREY MULEME
The once-threatened elephant population in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park increased by more than 1,000 during the past three years, partly because of animals fleeing poachers and civil war in neighboring Congo, a government wildlife official said Monday. Thousands of elephants in the park were slaughtered in the 1970s by dictator Idi Amin's soldiers and in the 1980s by rebel armies. The area is now protected, and the elephant population is booming because animals are leaving adjacent Vir...
2005-03-15 - Kampala, Uganda. Chris Ahimbisibwe
Four elephants from Queen Elizabeth National Park invaded Rubengye village in Burere sub-county, Bushenyi district and left crop gardens destroyed. The area councillor, Ephraim Biraro, revealed this on Friday during a district council meeting.
2004-10-07 - Kampala, Uganda. Gerald Tenywa, New Vision
A TEAM of wildlife officials has left for a global meeting in Bangkok, Thailand to oppose the lifting of the ban imposed on ivory trade. "Uganda believes in the concept of sustainable utilisation. We recognise that Uganda's elephant population growth in the last 20 years is partly due to the ban on ivory. Uganda therefore, proposes that this ban should be upheld until such a time that mechanisms for regulating ivory trade and elephant produc...
2023-10-02 - Fort Worth, United States.
The Elephant Managers Association (EMA) is proud to announce the dates for our 44th annual conference, hosted by both the Fort Worth Zoo and Dallas Zoo on October 2 to 5, 2023. The conference will inc...
2023-09-10 - Temerloh, Malaysia.
The female elephant, which died at the Kuala Gandah National Elephant Conservation Centre (PKGK) in Lanchang, was brought to the country from Assam, India in 1974. Lokimala was brought to this country...
2023-08-28 - Pattaya, Thailand.
Following Thai tradition, the offspring of Pang Sarai, 22, and Plai Ningnong, 27, was named ‘Plai Boonmak,’ symbolizing ‘Abundant Merit.’ This ceremony expressed heartfelt wishes for the well-...
2023-08-26 - Omaha, United States.
The baby elephant at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo officially has a name; Amandra. Pronounced “ah-MON-dra,” the name means “strong woman.” The zoo said it was chosen by a donor and their family. ...
2023-08-24 - Melbourne, Australia.
Melbourne Zoo’s nine-year-old elephant Man Jai has died after a sudden illness. The Asian elephant was diagnosed with an incurable disease on Monday after zookeepers noticed lethargy and swelling in...
2023-08-22 - Mysore, India.
Preparations are in full swing at the Mysore Palace premises ahead of the arrival of the Dasara elephants. The jumbos will camp here for approximately two months, undergoing training and consuming nut...
2023-08-21 - Kataragama, Sri Lanka.
An individual who fed a poisoned watermelon to an elephant called “ Asela” of the Kataragama Abhinawarama temple was taken into custody by the Kataragama police on saturday. However, Veterinary S...
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 ha...
2023-08-21 - Sapporo, Japan.
19-year-old Asian elephant Pearl and her newborn baby stand together at the Sapporo Maruyama Zoo in Sapporo. According to the zoo, this is the first time in Japan that an Asian elephant has been born ...
2023-08-18 - Hanoi, Vietnam.
Two elephants at the Hanoi Zoo have been unchained after electric fences have been replaced anew. Le Si Dung, general director of the Hanoi Zoological Garden company, on Thursday said the two elephant...
2023-08-18 - Lampang, Thailand.
The Thai elephant, recently repatriated from Sri Lanka, Sak Surin, was moved to a new home today (Friday), at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang province, after the completion of its 30-...
2023-08-16 - Wuhan, China.
Born on June 26, 2022, the male elephant marked the first time that the zoo successfully bred an African elephant. The calf's father, named A Hai, and his mother, named A Nan, came to Wuhan in 1997 fr...
2023-08-14 - Fresno, United States.
The Fresno Chaffee Zoo celebrated World Elephant Day with a big announcement. Zoo officials say their female African Elephants are pregnant. They are expected to give birth between September and Octob...
2023-07-05 - Lampang, Thailand.
It is out of question that Sak Surin, now the most famous elephant in Thailand, will have to return to Sri Lanka, as he is now under the patronage of HM the King, said Natural Resources and Environmen...
2023-07-04 - Lampang, Thailand.
On 2 July 2023 at 07.00 hrs. the Tusker, Muthu Raja (Sak Surin), was transported from Sri Lanka to Thailand for medical treatment and rehabilitation by Ilyushin IL-76 cargo plane, with cooperation fro...
2023-05-27 - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
A team of veterinarians and experts will be sent to Sri Lanka next month to prepare for the return of Sak Surin, an ailing and ageing Thai elephant, to Thailand for medical treatment and physical reha...
2023-05-21 - Karachi, Pakistan.
A month after the death of Noor Jehan, an elephant in Karachi Zoo whose illness revived criticisms of the zoos, a second elephant named Madhubala is sick with a potentially fatal infection. The 18-yea...
2023-05-18 - , United States.
Callee, a 22-year-old male who has been at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium since 2019, will be moved to the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, the Omaha zoo announced on Thursday. Callee's move was...
2023-05-15 - Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
In the early evening of May 11, a small crowd gathered in front of the Zoológico Dr. Juan A. Rivero, hoping for one last peek of Mundi, the elephant symbol of the zoo shut down for animal abuse in M...
2023-05-09 - Dallas, United States.
The Dallas Zoo made the heartbreaking announcement Tuesday that one of its elephants has died. The 7-year-old African elephant, Ajabu, passed away Monday after a 12-day battle with a viral infection, ...
