At last the South African government is taking a firm stance on educating countries in the Far East that rhino horn doesn’t cure ailments like erectile dysfunction.
Has the Loch Ness monster finally been caught on camera? Well, George Edwards from Scotland certainly thinks so! The monster hunter has spent the past 26 years searching for Nessie. He now claims to have taken the “best picture ever” of the beast, after dedicating 60 hours a week to his quest.
Like so many of their human counterparts who have become fed-up with inadequate safety and security measures, mountain gorillas in Rwanda have taken matters into their own hands, literally. It recently came to light that juvenile gorillas had been seen dismantling complicated ensnarement devices, with their bare hands.
A mourning ritual that is rarely seen, and even more rarely captured on camera, will raise further questions about whether dolphins understand the concept of death.
Have you ever been so hungry that you could steal food from a pride of 15 hungry lions? No? Me neither. But for a couple of chaps north of our border it’s common practice. Click through for the sweat-inducing how-to video.
A bull has gored two Britons and an American during the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona over the weekend. The three were among several people caught and attacked by the animal after he had had broken free from the pack.
Incredibly, the US National Ocean Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had to issue a statement in the last week confirming the non-existence of mermaids after Animal Planet aired “Mermaids: The Body Found” and a whole bunch of Americans thought it was real.
The seaside town of Pringle Bay in the Western Cape is outraged at a National Geographic documentary that used food to lure baboons to a specially modified and fully furnished cottage in the area. The cottage is part of the Cape Hangklip Hotel, and the television series, Big Baboon House, raises ethical questions.
Last week, a young American graduate student who was leading a tour at the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden, Nelspruit, was pulled into the chimps’ enclosure by two alpha males after entering a restricted area. He was brutally assaulted and suffered multiple injuries that left him in critical condition fighting for his life.
The Department of Environmental Affairs (read: the South African government) has welcomed (obviously?) the Council of the Global Environment Facility’s approval of R25 million worth of funding aimed at strengthening the current wildlife forensic capabilities in South Africa. The donation will help combat wildlife crimes like rhino poaching.
The issue of the construction of a luxury hotel development in the Kruger National Park was discussed at length on 2oceansVibe last year when the weighty issue of hotel development in the Kruger National Park became public knowledge. The first of these developments, to be built near the Malelane Gate, the most convenient entrance from Johannesburg and the airport in nearby Nelspruit, is finally about to get underway.
Yesterday Lonesome George, the last of the Pinta Island subspecies of the giant tortoise, died, marking the total extinction of his subspecies. It’s a sad day, as Lonesome George became a symbol of other species on the brink of extinction, and an ambassador for Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands.
“Rhinos Under Threat” is a new YouTube documentary aiming to raise public awareness of the current crisis faced by poaching. It launched at the Rio+20 Conference earlier this week. See the full 28-minute film inside, however be warned that it might be upsetting for sensitive viewers.
Michael Jamison hails from Brakpan and has a girlfriend named Jackie. He also has a 200kg pet tiger named Enzo. They all get along pretty great. Check out this photo gallery of the threesome that appeared in Britain’s most prestigious newspaper yesterday, The Daily Mail.
30 years later the famous case of baby Azaria Chamberlain being eaten by a dingo while on holiday has finally been put to rest. Her mother, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, long maintained that a dingo took her baby, even as she was sentenced to life in jail for her daughter’s murder, a conviction that was later quashed.
In a rather feeble attempt to garner attention for the plight of abused animals everywhere, PETA has launched an adult content site peta.xxx [NSFW, sort of]. The site has been in the pipeline for a while now, and features porn stars like Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson. Although, to be honest, there is harder porn on late night E-tv.
A wild leopard was shot dead yesterday at the Oil India Limited field headquarters campus at Duliajan, India. The leopard injured 13 people during a day-long rampage. See photos of the animal attacking a security guard after he tried to rescue his colleague – after the jump.
As the total number of rhino poached in the Kruger National Park reaches 130, it’s nice to read news like this. SANParks has reported that two suspects have been arrested, and one killed, in a shoot out in the Crocodile Bridge section of Kruger.
The Hawks raided the home of one Dawie Groenwald this morning, in an “uncapped asset forfeiture” (read: repo raid) worth an estimated R55 million. This is part of one of South Africa’s biggest wildlife cases involving rhino poaching and trade in their horns, and we’ve got photos from the raid, and the police statement, after the jump!
It has been two years since 4,9 million barrels of oil were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. In the midst of the disaster, BP and its contractors did everything they could to keep people from seeing the scale of the disaster. But new photos released today offer some new insight into just how horrific the Gulf became for sea life. See them inside.
The town of Taiji in Japan, made infamous by award-winning documentary “The Cove”, plans to repair its reputation by building a sea life park in the self-same cove where annually hundreds of dolphins and whales are herded, captured and slaughtered by local fishermen. More on this seaside slaughter after the jump. Images might disturb some readers.
Late yesterday afternoon, you may have been alerted to the fact that we had found out that Salome the cheetah from the Hoedpsruit Endangered Species Centre was due to give birth to her first litter of cubs at some point during the following 24 hours. Her first cub was born at approximately 19h20 last night. Click through for more.
South Africa’s next poaching epidemic could emanate out of the trade in lion body parts. Lion bones are being used as a replacement for tiger bones to concoct traditional Asian medicines like tiger brew wine because of the demise of the region’s tiger populations. Lion are already being poached in the northern section of the Kruger National Park.
In the wake of the tragic death of 20-year old Capetonian bodyboarder, David Lillienfeld last Thursday, the City of Cape Town has agreed to implement a shark spotting programme at Kogel Bay, where the young man lost his life.
Just after midday on Saturday, at Camps Bay, hundreds of surfers paddled out into the bay to celebrate the life of David Lilienfeld. He passed away last week after being bitten by a shark at Koegel bay. Sea Rescue boats from Bakoven and Table Bay were also there on behalf of the NSRI. See a full gallery of the very moving event after the jump.
The City of Cape Town has released its official report on the fatal shark attack that claimed the life of bodyboarder, David Lilienfeld, 20, on Thursday at Kogel Bay, “Caves”, near Gordons Bay. In it, the City concluded that the tagging of False Bay sharks for a documentary could not be directly linked to the attack.
Yesterday bodyboarder David Lilienfeld suffered fatal injuries after being attacked by a shark near Cape Town. On the same day, several international websites also happened to run a feature on Andre Hartman, South Africa’s “Shark Whisperer”. Pictures of Hartman placing his hand on the snout of a great white shark and “putting it in a trance” were the main focus. See them inside.
Wherever humans and wild animals come into close contact with one another, there will likely be negative consequences for one or the other, or both. 13-year-old Richard Turere, who lives in Empakasi, on the edge of the Nairobi National Park, just south of Nairobi, has invented a system that keeps his family’s cattle safe from lions that had previously sought an easy meal from their herd.
Oscar, one of the world’s most famous adopted dogs, and his owner, Joanne Lefson is currently in in Cape Town. They are championing the cause of dog adoption – with a giant dog hot-air balloon floating over the Mother City this morning. See pics inside.
South Africans have reacted with shock and disbelief over the tragic passing of bodyboarder David Lilienfeld earlier today. He suffered fatal injuries at popular surfing spot, Koeël Bay, near Gordons Bay. A 2oceansViber alerted us to a recent video, featuring David and some of his friends. Watch it inside.