Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Pachyderm No. 45
July 2008–June 2009

Iain Douglas-Hamilton and Jake Wall, Pachyderm No. 45
July 2008–June 2009

Emelyn Nyoni, Ngasi Times
25 January, 2009

Thousands of villagers in the area of T/A Mponda in Mangochi district are living in absolute panic after elephants resorted to destroying people’s homes and crops in search of food.

For years now, the elephants have been moving out of the Phirilongwe Forest Reserve in quest of food in nearby villages because they have nothing to eat in their territory.

Article at the following link: http://www.nyasatimes.com/national/2509.html

Three Chinese men were Friday charged with illegal possession of government trophies at Makadara law courts.

The suspects were seized with the illegal ivory at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport on Thursday.

Article at the following link: http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=55127

BRITISH hunters, including a prominent Harley Street surgeon, have been paying the Zimbabwean authorities thousands of pounds each to take part in a mass elephant cull.

They are among groups of hunters who have been permitted to track and kill whole herds, including their calves, before taking photographs of themselves with the carcasses.

Rumours that Zimbabwe was culling its population of 80,000-100,000 elephants have been circulating for some time, but definitive proof that foreigners have been paying to be involved has emerged only now.

Radio Times
10—16 January 2009

My first experience of elephants was at six weeks old in Tanzania when, I’m told, a whoosh of warm air blew from a probing trunk inches away from my face, writes Saba Douglas-Hamilton.

Did you know elephants have the power of infra-sound, which allows them to communicate over great distances? They can also hear seismic sound through their feet. And a recent study has confirmed that the memory part of an elephant's brain is far superior to that of a human, so the old saying "an elephant never forgets" could actually be true.

Elephants do not have the greatest eyesight in the animal kingdom, but they never forget a face. Carol Buckley at The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn., for instance, reports that in 1999 resident elephant Jenny became anxious and could hardly be contained when introduced to newcomer Shirley, an Asian elephant.

China is trying to keep its ivory carving industry alive by banning any new companies from entering the market. The move, announced Friday by the State Forestry Administration (SFA), will help extend existing supplies of ivory for another 15 to 20 years.

Because there are limited amounts of the raw material, the SFA said Chinese companies can now only use no more than five tonnes of it every year.

Article at the following link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/10/content_10636175.htm

Filed from Tsavo by IFAW's Edward Indakwa
December 04,2008

At Lugard Falls, along the Galana River in Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park, a concrete bridge invites the brave to Northern Tsavo.

Unlike the Park’s southern sector – a tourism haven with roads and hotels – Northern Tsavo, as the area north of Galana is known, is desolate.

Starved of ground water sources and devoid of humanity, except, perhaps, armed poachers tiptoeing across the savanna and the ranger sentinels who keep the peace, the north is a wilderness.