Massive ivory auctions to lead to new killing of elephants, conservationists warn

 

Massive ivory auctions to lead to new killing of elephants, conservationists warn 18:04 Wed 22 Oct 2008 - Elitsa Grancharova Ivory auctions that will take place in Namibia on October 28, Botswana on October 31, Zimbabwe on November 3, and South Africa on November 6 2008 have raised the concerns of international conservationists from Born Free Foundations (BFF), a member of the Species Survival Network, who said that the ivory auction was approved by members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), despite an international outcry from scientists and conservationists. Following the announcement that more than 108 tonnes of stockpiled elephant ivory in southern Africa would be auctioned in 2008, fear was mounting that the most vulnerable elephant populations across Africa and Asia would be unable to withstand the increased levels of poaching that are predicted to occur as a result of these sales, BFF said in a media statement on October 20. Between 1979 and 1989, more than 600 000 elephants were killed for ivory causing the elephant population plummet from 1.3 million to just 600 000. Current estimates put African elephant populations at around 475 000.

Massive ivory auctions to lead to new killing of elephants, conservationists warn - News news

Center for Computational Epidemiology established

BY ELIZABETH BASSETT

September 01, 2008

The University of North Texas and its local Health Science Center have created the new Center for Computational Epidemiology with a $473,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
The center will continue research started in 2005 by a team that included members of the Health Science Center’s department of biostatistics and the university’s departments of geography, computer science and biology. That team already has developed working models to estimate the pattern of transmission of diseases such as tuberculosis, human papillomavirus and influenza.
Creating tools and models to predict the dynamics of an infectious disease outbreak will be one of the center’s goals. The models will let public health officials see how different scenarios will play out in the event of an outbreak.
The new center will work on the construction of a simulation chamber that will be used to develop the models
and train students and health officials how to use them. Because of all the computer power needed to run the complex models, a computer cluster will be installed at UNT’s Discovery Park to run the simulation chamber, and two portable visualization systems will let people view the chamber operations from Discovery Park and the health science center.

The Moose/Wolf Dynamic on Isle Royale

SOURCE: Isle Royale Wolf/Moose Study | GRAPHIC: By Patterson Clark, The Washington Post - July 21, 2008

The Moose/Wolf Dynamic - washingtonpost.com

Four African Countries to Sell Ivory, China Permitted to Buy

 

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 15, 2008 (ENS) - Four southern African countries have been approved to sell a total of 108 metric tonnes of government owned elephant ivory as a one-time exception to the international moratorium on ivory sales that has been in place since 1989 to protect these endangered animals from poachers.

The decision was taken today at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES, in Geneva. It is the third such sale permitted since the ban took effect.

The 33 member CITES Standing Committee, which oversees the implementation of the CITES treaty between the major conferences, has authorized the ivory sale that was agreed in principle in June 2007 for Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

 

Elephant tusks with two rhino horns, front left (Photo courtesy Care for the Wild International)

The Committee also agreed to designate China as an importing country. Japan had already been allowed to import ivory in 2006. Officials of both countries said that they would monitor their domestic markets after purchasing the ivory to detect any increase in illegal sales of the valuable material.

Four African Countries to Sell Ivory, China Permitted to Buy

Fears for future of African elephant as UN prepares to legalise China ivory sales

 

AP

Conservationists warn that if China becomes an approved ivory trading partner, African elephants "will be shot into extinction".

Succumbing to the massive Chinese demand for ivory carvings and trinkets is likely to give an enormous boost to the illegal, poaching-based trade, conservationists have warned.

They say if China becomes an approved ivory trading partner, African elephants "will be shot into extinction".

China is expected to be given the green light by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) at a meeting in Geneva on Tuesday. The upcoming auction of 108 tonnes of ivory, which China would be able to participate in, is also likely to be given the go-ahead. In previous sales, only Japan had been allowed to take part.

Fears for future of African elephant as UN prepares to legalise China ivory sales - Telegraph

Return of the ivory trade

 

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Saturday, 12 July 2008

Elephant numbers across Africa were estimated to have crashed from 1.3 million in 1980 to 625,000 in 1989.

Alarmed conservationists are warning of a new wave of elephant killing across both Africa and Asia if China is allowed to become a legal importer, as looks likely at a meeting in Geneva next week.

The unleashing of a massive Chinese demand for ivory, in the form of trinkets, name seals, expensive carvings and polished ivory tusks, is likely to give an enormous boost to the illegal trade, which is entirely poaching-based, conservationists say.

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Return of the ivory trade - Nature, Environment - The Independent

Alberta- Deer cull sparks protests

A helicopter carries the bodies of deer, dangling by cables, to an eight-metre deep pit in this photo taken Feb. 28 on farmland north of Provost, Alta. (Photo supplied by Duane Morrell)

A rising body count has fuelled protests by Provost-area residents against a government deer cull designed to stop the spread of chronic-wasting disease (CWD).

The latest pictures, snapped Feb. 28 about 16 km north of Provost (292 km southeast of Edmonton) by Duane Morrell, a member of the Provost and District Fish and Game Association, show the grim reality of the systematic killing.

Bloody deer carcasses litter the snow-covered fields. A helicopter carries the bodies, dangling by cables, to an eight-metre deep pit. Their heads removed for testing but their meat and hides un-harvested, scores of deer are stacked up along the bottom of the trench.

“After following the helicopter around and witnessing the amount of deer harvested on the 28th, there is no possible way that the deer could be processed in the four-hour time period allowed by the government, leading to the disposal of mass quantities of meat that any hunter would face charges for,” Morrell said.

Dave Schmidt explained that association members consider the cull to be overkill – taking a high number of animals for the number of deer testing positive for CWD – and resent the province’s methods and the cost of the cull.

But he adds that a protest campaign targeting the current minister of Sustainable Resource Development, Ted Morton, is helping publicize their concerns.

edmontonsun.com - Alberta- Deer cull sparks protests