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One of Kenya's last great tusker elephants was reportedly shot and killed by poachers. During a routine flyover on January 4 by the conservation group Tsavo Trust in southern Kenya, the body of a famous, roughly 50-year-old African elephant known as Satao II was discovered, though news of his death was only announced Monday. While the cause of death has not been confirmed, conservationists believe he was killed by a poisoned arrow while feeding in the eastern region of the park. The area is known as a "poaching hot spot." African elephants are traditionally referred to as "tuskers" when their...

Poachers have broken into a zoo near Paris and shot a rhinoceros dead before stealing his hugely valuable horn, police revealed today. In the first case of its kind ever in Europe, the four-year-old was found dead in Thoiry, west of the French capital. The raid happened late on Monday night, and it was not until 9am today that zoo keepers made the horrifying discovery.

A retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer accused of smuggling narwhal tusks across the border pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to 10 money-laundering counts. Gregory Logan, 59, of St. John, New Brunswick, smuggled 250 tusks valued at $1.5 million to $3 million into Maine in false compartments in his vehicle, prosecutors said. Narwhals are medium-sized whales known for spiral tusks that can grow longer than 8 feet. They are protected by the U.S. and Canada.

If you're a white-tailed deer in Milwaukee County, odds are you live in or near the county's park system. The 15,000 acres of parks and parkways provide more than 90% of the deer habitat in the county, according to an assessment by the Department of Natural Resources. That's a lot of land, but not enough for a deer to hide in. Especially if you're a big-racked buck like "Bow Tie." Bow Tie was a very well-known white-tailed deer that was frequently seen in Milwaukee County. Randy Crawford of Wauwatosa is a wildlife photographer and hunter who enjoys viewing and capturing...

This is with regard to "Elephant Poaching haunts Kerala" by Ramesh Babu, Hindustan Times, Mumbai Page 8 HT - Nation July 6, 2015. Kerala in Southern India is God's Own Country. It is home to 3,520 Wild Elephants who live in protected areas in various parts of the State. Just a week back, it was discovered that at least 10-20 Wild Elephants or more were slaughtered for their tusks by ivory poachers in various forests in Kerala in collusion with corrupt forest officials. This is terrible news for "Elephant Lovers" and for all "Wildlife Lovers". Periyar and Parambikulam Tiger Reserves...

A Yountville art gallery owner has pleaded guilty to wildlife trafficking and conspiracy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco announced Wednesday. Michael Polenske, owner of Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley, admitted to illegally buying and selling sea turtle shells, whale bones, orca jaws and a seal head. Trafficking such items violated such federal laws as the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Polenske, 53, of Napa, also admitted to conspiring from 2007 through 2011 to dealing in wildlife species that were protected by federal law. He imported the protected items into the U.S. from European vendors with the...

Unless you live under a rock, there is no way in Hades that you have not heard of Cecil the LionÂ’s dreadful demise. Matter of fact, there has been such an international uproar over his killing that Obama is now slated to do the eulogy at CecilÂ’s funeral. ItÂ’s also been reported that Michelle has already contacted CecilÂ’s pride to give them her and Barack's condolences. ItÂ’s true. Tell everyone. Now, before I give you my two cents as a big game hunter on the Cecil situation, right before I sat down to bang out this screed my editor pointed...

Until 2000 Zimbabwe had a successful wildlife-management program, with many big-game animals flourishing. But by 2003, a staggering 80% of the animals that had lived on Zimbabwean safari camps (which employed firm quotas to regulate animal population sizes) had died. By 2007, there were only 14 private game farms in the country, compared with 620 prior to the land seizures of 2000, according to a National Geographic report. With the protection of private game reserves nearly nonexistent, once abundant wildlife began dying off, hunted by desperate farmers with no other options for sustenance. Despite the passing of harsher laws for...

More rhinos were killed by poachers last year in Africa than ever before. In 2014 the dubious record looks set to be broken again. The black market price for rhino horn is now considerably higher than cocaine. Poachers from Mozambique's poorest villages sneak into South Africa, heavily armed under the cover of darkness. They are here to hunt rhinos. The money they make from just one rhino horn is enough to feed their families for months. It’s a payoff worth risking their lives for. Between 1990 and 2007 poachers killed on average 14 rhinos a year in South Africa. Last...

Three men are facing charges in Pasco County for poaching deer on private property and hunting out of season. Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission say they caught the men on February 27 on private land near Bellamy Brothers Boulevard in Dade City. Officers said they noticed spotlights in operation and heard multiple gunshots coming from private property nearby. Around 1 a.m., officers said they found Jason Payne, Eric Ohmdahl and Marc Laird cleaning six deer on Payne's property. Officers took three rifles with lights attached and six bags of deer meat. All three men were charged with...

Here's an interesting video of the US taking 6 tons of confiscated ivory to Africa to crush it. The purpose was to "send a message" to poachers. The entire worldwide elephant population is 500,000. They are vanishing at a rate of 50,000 per year, just for their ivory. A couple of people sent me this video, Reader Michael was first. Link if video does not play: U.S. crushes 6 tons of confiscated ivory to send message to poachers Africa's elephants are being slaughtered at a record pace by poachers who hope to get rich by selling their ivory tusks. The...

The illegal cutting of timber and the poaching of elephants and rhinos are part of a “rapidly escalating environmental crime wave” that international governments must combat by increasing cooperation, police and environmental officials said Wednesday. Interpol and the United Nations Environmental Program are working together to stop environmental crimes that cost tens of billions of dollars a year, said Achim Steiner, the U.N. Environmental Program's Executive Director. … The demand for elephant ivory by China’s rising middle class is fueling the deaths of thousands of elephants across Africa, say wildlife experts. An estimated 17,000 elephants were illegally killed in Africa...

Poachers kill 300 Zimbabwe elephants with cyanide • Cyanide has been used to kill 300 elephants in Zimbabwe's biggest nature reserve - three times the original estimate - as new photos show the scale of the slaughter Poachers in Zimbabwe have killed more than 300 elephants and countless other safari animals by cyanide poisoning, The Telegraph has learned. The full extent of the devastation wreaked in Hwange, the country's largest national park, has been revealed by legitimate hunters who discovered what conservationists say is the worst single massacre in southern Africa for 25 years. Pictures taken by the hunters, which...

Total of 688 rhino deaths passes last year's record, with three months of the year still to goNearly 700 rhinos have been killed in South Africa in 2013, making it the bloodiest year yet for rhino poaching. Last year, a record 668 rhinos were poached for their horns, but that figure has already been eclipsed with the deaths of 688 rhinos with three months left of the year, figures from the South African government show. There are around 18,000 white and 4,000 black rhinos in the country. The dramatic growth in rhino poaching in South Africa, up from just 13...

[snip] It's not unusual for state leaders to try to lure businesses into their borders, but Perry is doing it with fanfare. [snip]

<p>A homeless man was sentenced today to 60 days in jail for choking a pelican to death because he was hungry.</p> <p>The District Attorney's Office said Sergio Alvarez, 30, caught the bird near the Malibu pier on Aug. 22.</p> <p>About 5:50 p.m. that day, a bystander flagged down a sheriff's deputy and said a man was choking a pelican.</p>

A state in western India has declared war on animal poaching by allowing forest guards to shoot hunters on sight in an effort to curb rampant attacks on tigers and other wildlife. The government in Maharashtra says injuring or killing suspected poachers will no longer be considered a crime. Forest guards should not be "booked for human rights violations when they have taken action against poachers," Maharashtra Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam said Tuesday. The state also will send more rangers and jeeps into the forest, and will offer secret payments to informers who give tips about poachers and animal smugglers,...

Cops have busted a group of oddball poachers in Prospect Park — a band of vagrants that was trapping and eating ducks, squirrels and pigeons. Parks officers wrote four tickets — two for killing wildlife and two for illegal fishing — totaling $2,100 in fines during a two-day period last week. BoroDeal The city would not immediately release details of the incidents, which occurred on July 17 and 18 — just days after park-goers told rangers about a “Beverly Hillbillies”-like scene on the southeast side of the lake, near the ice skating rink. “This is a dodgy group,” said park-goer...

– South African police said Wednesday that they have arrested 11 suspected members of a major rhino poaching ring which they said had been linked to many rhino poaching incidents. Police spokesman Vish Naidoo said the suspects include two veterinarians and a game farmer. He says the 10 were arrested earlier this week and one was arrested Wednesday after he appeared in court to support the accused. Game farmer Dawie Groenewald was released on 1 million bail ($140,000), which is believed to be the heaviest in the crime's history. The remaining 10 were released on bail ranging from 5,000 to...

RENO, Nev.—Two men accused of shooting and killing five wild mustangs in Nevada last year have changed their pleas to guilty and now face up to a year in jail and $100,000 fine.