21 January 2013 | The
heavy rain in the morning prevented me from
participating in a traditional BaAka hunt
in Dzanga Sangha protected area, whereby
long nets are deployed in the forests and
animals, like porcupines and small antelopes,
are flushed into them with drums and vocalizations.
Instead, I spent the afternoon on the elevated
observation platform at Dzanga-Baï,
a vast forest clearing where elephants and
other wildlife congregate to drink and to
benefit from minerals dissolved in the water.
This is arguably the best place in Africa
to observe large numbers of forest elephants.
Crossing paths
Andrea Turkalo from
Wildlife Conservation Society has been studying
elephants from this location for two decades
and has identified over 4,000 individuals.
I found her observing a large bull with
her binoculars. She expressed her frustration
at witnessing many of the well-known animals
leaving the park, into areas where poaching
is rampant, never to return. Turkalo is
convinced that forest elephants are a separate
species from savannah elephants. And she
can refer with authority after 30 years
in the Central African Republic, about how
the establishment of logging companies and
their road networks increase poaching pressures
on elephants and facilitate ivory trade.
I was unaware of the
chance event that was about to happen as
she introduced to me another senior scientist
on the platform, Peter, who was using a
thermal camera to observe elephants at night.
The device showed in blues, oranges and
yellows the temperature of any object in
view. He pointed out to me through the camera
that one could even see the veins on the
ears of elephant bulls, which transport
blood to the large skin surface for cooling
purposes. More importantly, however, he
was able to see the elephants with high
definition in absolute darkness.
Peter has also set up
a device to record the sounds at the Baï
uninterruptedly for 6 months, as a way of
monitoring elephant trumpeting and other
vocalizations as indicators of activity
levels. When he revealed to me his surname,
Wrege, and his affiliation to Cornell University
I realized that we had met 28 years ago
in Kenya, when he was studying the social
behaviour of bee-eater birds and I was studying
migratory birds.
We hugged and laughed
and recalled the circumstance that brought
us together: he was bitten by a venomous
snake during a nightly visit to the bee-eater
nests, barefoot to minimize disturbance.
I remember accompanying him through the
agony of hours, monitoring his pain on the
leg, his feeling of numbness in the face
and other strange symptoms. We had anti-venom,
but decided to observe the evolution of
the condition before administering the dose,
aware of the risk of a sudden allergic reaction
that could have killed him. He recovered
well, without the anti-venom. And there
he was, at age 64, fit and cheerful as always,
following his passion for animals and spending
the nights on his own, up on a platform
in the heart of the Congo Basin.
These two fascinating
characters I met today are examples of a
life-long dedication to the study of animals
in the wild. Good wildlife conservation
needs to be based on the best available
science. Turkalo and Wrege, in their own
ways, contribute knowledge that can better
inform the decisions of conservationists
and policy makers.
Agents of change
And then there is Terence
Fuh, a young and energetic Cameroonian,
whom I met yesterday. He was recruited by
WWF to run the gorilla habituation camp
in Dzanga Sangha. The vision for his rightfulness,
skills and commitment to learning is to
become a leading conservationist and a powerful
agent of change. Fuh and Lamine Sebogo,
WWF´s African Elephant Leader born
in Burkina Faso, are examples of the African
talent that is so much needed to influence
the path of conservation in this region.
On an ironic note, I
learned this evening that three of the endangered
elephants that we all so much care for were
killed recently in the national park by
a falling tree as they were digging for
minerals close to its roots. I was reminded
by this incident and the meeting of Wrege
today that chance is in itself an agent
of change too, sometimes in favour, sometimes
against our interests. There is nobody to
thank and nobody to blame. I would need
to blame myself, however, if I did not maintain
an open mind for the unexpected, look at
the glass half full, and grasp with enthusiasm
the opportunities that chance may put before
me.
+ More
Thai ivory ban needed
to save elephants
Posted on 15 January
2013 | Massive quantities of African ivory
are being laundered through shops in Thailand
and fuelling the elephant poaching crisis,
conservation group WWF says. The organization
today is launching a global petition asking
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra
to ban all ivory trade in Thailand in order
to curb the illegal killing of African elephants.
Although it is against
the law to sell ivory from African elephants
in Thailand, ivory from domestic Thai elephants
can be sold legally. Criminal networks are
exploiting this legal loophole and flooding
Thai shops with blood ivory from Africa.
“Existing laws are not
effective at keeping illegal African ivory
out of the Thai market. The only way to
prevent Thailand from contributing to elephant
poaching is to ban all ivory sales,” said
Janpai Ongsiriwittaya, campaign leader in
WWF-Thailand. “Today the biggest victims
are African elephants, but Thailand’s elephants
could be next. Ms Shinawatra can help put
an end to the killing, and I believe Thai
citizens will support greater protection
for these iconic animals.”
Poaching is at record
levels in Africa with tens of thousands
of elephants being slaughtered each year
for their ivory tusks. Trade data released
last month shows that international ivory
trafficking has reached its highest ever
recorded rate. Thailand is the biggest unregulated
ivory market in the world and a top driver
of poaching and illegal trade.
“Thailand’s legal allowance
of trade in ivory tusks from domesticated
Asian elephants is exploited to market African
elephant ivory as worked products through
hundreds of retail outlets,” according to
the 2012 report of the Elephant Trade Information
System.
“Many foreign tourists
would be horrified to learn that ivory trinkets
on display next to silks in Thai shops may
come from elephants massacred in Africa.
It is illegal to bring ivory back home and
it should no longer be on sale in Thailand,”
said Elisabeth McLellan, manager of WWF’s
Global Species Programme.
In March, representatives
from 176 governments will meet in Bangkok
to discuss global wildlife trade issues,
including rampant elephant poaching in Africa.
WWF is calling on Ms Shinawatra to use the
opportunity to announce her country’s commitment
to banning ivory trade in Thailand.
