News from around the world
The Elephant In The Room
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The cruel and harsh reality behind elephant back riding in Asia is well documented – see for example ‘an elephant never forgets’ documentary below – and the ripple effects of educating the travelling public and raising awareness among the tour operators is slowly starting to pay off.
To Ride Or Not To Ride
There seems to be an unsubstantiated belief that the training of the African elephant does not involve the same extremely cruel practices that are inflicted on its Asian cousin, so we debunk a few myths around elephant riding.
The Possible Impacts Of Legalising The Lion Bone Trade
The recent announcement by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) to set the export quota of lion skeletons for Asia to 800 has important implications for the conservation of wild lions in South Africa. Legalising the trade in lion bones has been enabled by the 17th Conference of Parties (CoP17) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) failing to transfer all lion populations from Appendix II to Appendix I and thus prohibiting the int...
The Region’s Fauna And Flora
The natural vegetation is a mix of coastal Fynbos which comprises of numerous Proteas (Protea caffra), Erica (Erica mammosa) and many bulb species like Watsonias (Watsonia meriana) and Gladiolas (Gladiolus communis), as well as temperate high forest known as the Tsitsikamma forests.
The Dangers Of Captive Wildlife Petting
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Written by Anna Breytenbach As promised, here’s an overview about why petting of wildlife – even/especially young animals – is a dangerous and unethical practice. I wrote this some time back in addressing concerns about the majority of animal parks who thrive on this tourist activity under the thin excuse of conservation education. I offer this view in an effort to ensure the long-term survival of the few ethical places where good practices and conservation messages can cont...