Only a few hours have passed since Camps Bay bodyboarder, David Lilienfeld was fatally attacked by a Great White shark in Koeelbaai, near Cape Town. Less than two days ago, 2oceansvibe Reported the controversy around the awarding of filming permits to documentary film makers, who were chumming the water off the Cape Coast in a bid to attract Great Whites for tagging and filming purposes. At the time, Alan Boyd of the Department of Environmental Affairs defended the permits. Moments ago, in the wake of the tragedy, Boyd cancelled them.
Earlier this month we told you about National Geographic shooting a shark documentary in Cape Town – with the support of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. But yesterday Dirk Schmidt, author of “White Sharks”, has called for the immediate issuing of a high shark alert – saying the filming is attracting sharks to Cape Town’s popular beaches.
The Grand National horse race in England has been heavily criticised after two horses had to be put down this weekend. They were euthanised because they each broke a leg after falling after a fence jump. The event’s winning horse’s trainer had the following to say: “…a lot of people need to grow up, and realise that it is life”. Pics of both incidents inside.
Recently published photos have revealed what is believed to be the world’s first “strawberry” leopard. The big cat was discovered in South Africa’s Madikwe Game Reserve and is an incredibly rare find.
King Juan Carlos of Spain is no stranger to controversial hunting. Six years ago, it was asserted that the 74-year-old shot a drunken Russian bear that had been lured with honey and vodka. Officials dismissed the allegations as ridiculous. The Spanish media have just had another field day though, after they learned he’d broken his hip hunting in Botswana recently.
Paintball guns were the weapons of choice for eight Scarborough residents who were among a group of 35 individuals that battled two troops of baboons in and around the sleepy coastal Cape village on Easter Monday. They fought for hours, but the baboons had the last laugh by returning later in the evening.
Over the weekend, roughly 300 dogs were rescued from secret woodland kennels just south of Manila. They were part of an illegal online gambling operation in which players outside the Philippines bet on dogs fighting at a clandestine compound. But this is not the animals’ happy ending, as many of them are too injured or too wild to rehabilitate.
During a time where we really cannot afford to lose anymore rhinos, another one has passed away – this time after being hit by a lorry outside Pretoria. Pics of the incident can be seen after the jump.
It seems the debate surrounding the ability to properly domesticate all kinds of dogs is far from over. A three-year-old girl in London had her ponytail ripped off her head after a South African Boerboel dog in a public park mauled her. The dog in question has since been put down and its owner reported to the procurator fiscal.
Green, a female orangutan, is the subject of a powerful new documentary. She was rescued after deforestation in Indonesia left her without a home – and paralysed down her left side. Green’s last couple of hours on earth was filmed and included in a documentary by Patrick Rouxel for Al Jazeera. His aim is to highlight the extent to which deforestation is “raping our planet.”
Before you begin to make fun of the headline used for this article, we must tell you that the vermin extractors will also be serving an educational purpose. Johannesburg’s general owl population has been in decline for years as a result of urbanisation, but new owl projects are helping to combat this.
Yesterday fury broke out across social networks over surfaced photos of Donald Trump’s sons on a safari killing spree in Zimbabwe. Taken last year, the pictures show Eric and Donald Trump proudly posing next to animals they’ve killed. The list include an elephant, leopard, crocodile, kudu, civet cat and water buck. Full gallery of the boys’ hunting achievements – after the jump.
A rather large Great White Shark, measuring 4,3 metres in length, was caught 400 metres behind the breakers of Fish Hoek beach yesterday. Local fishermen from Kalk Bay accidentally caught the large female in fishing nets they had set late on Saturday night.
Humans and animals don’t always get along. But on occasion one species helps the other out in a remarkable way. When it comes to dolphins, it’s often the animal coming to the rescue of the human, but in this dramatic video, it is beachgoers in Brazil who lend a hand to the dolphins. Heartwarming stuff.
It would appear that authorities are finally starting to make serious inroads into the rhino horn trafficking underworld. A suspected kingpin, and former Mpumalanga police officer, was arrested on Friday in Hazyview. He was found with four rhino horns, and over R60 000 in his possession.
These pictures were taken in February at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya. An elephant was giving birth when a group of lions and hyenas mistook her newborn for a potential breakfast. But watch as the rest of the herd comes to the female’s aid by huddling around her until she delivers her calf.
Right on the back of the news that four SANParks employees have been arrested in relation to rhino posting, comes the news that three veterinarians have appeared in court for the wrongful possession of drugs used in rhino poaching. Does this mean that something is finally being done about the poaching crisis in the country?
Capetonian Dave Meinert was recently asked to look after a mate’s dog for the weekend. Apparently that included strapping a camera to the pet’s back and making a music video for local electro-hero Johnny Neon. And boy, are we glad he did that! See the video that has had everyone talking for the last week – after the jump.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA as they are better known, is a crazy bunch. They’re a bunch of militant vegetarians, and at one point even went so far as to rename tuna to “sea kittens”, in an attempt to make the canned fish seem more cuddly and cute. This is a little embarrassing.
Capetonian dog owners have been reminded to make sure their pets are registered with their local municipality by July this year, or risk having them impounded. The by-law received further attention from the City following an incident where a three-year-old boy was mauled to death by a pack of strays in Philippi last year.
It would seem that South Africa is not the only country facing a poaching crisis. Demand for ivory has led to a massive spree of poaching in Cameroon, which has left almost 300 elephants dead since mid-January. This is according to the country’s minister of forestry and wildlife.
PETA recently took up a lawsuit against SeaWorld on behalf of five killer whales. The animal rights campaigners even went so far as to compare the condition of these orcas to human slavery. The Daily Show responded by sending a black guy to interview someone at PETA. After watching this, pack up and go home, because this is the best thing you’ll see all day.
Seth Casteel is an award-winning photographer famed for his pictures of peoples’ pets. Check out this awesome gallery of underwater dog photos he produced after the jump!
65-year-old Allan Lorton, of Knight Road, Sherwood in Durban, died of his wounds on Tuesday after being viciously mauled in an attack by his neighbours’ pit bull. Neighbours and bystanders could only watch in horror as the pensioner bled profusely during the attack.
The Colombian pop singer and woman with the hips that don’t lie, Shakira, appears to have narrowly escaped the menacing attack of a Cape Fur Seal on the weekend. She’s been in Cape Town on holiday, and escaped with some minor cuts and bruises while attempting to take photographs of seals.
Last week 2oceansVibe correctly doubted the authenticity of footage that claimed a woolly mammoth had been spotted by a government-employed engineer in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug region of Siberia. The video became an internet sensation, making headlines around the world. But now everyone is having a laugh at The Sun, Michael Cohen and Barcroft Media.
I just had to look up the words “EPIC” and “FAIL” in the dictionary, and would you know, this story was listed underneath each description. A South African conservation group demonstrating an anti-poaching method for reporters accidentally killed the rhinoceros they were using in the demonstration.
There have been two incidents recently where “rehabilitated” dogs have attacked people. Each time it sparked online discussions about whose fault it is – the owner, the dog or the victim? But these situations are much more complex. Check out this clip of a dog biting a news anchor, unprovoked, in the face during a recent interview.
A teen surfing in the wake of a yacht off the Gulf of Mexico was pleasantly surprised when two animal friends decided to join him. Watch this very cool video – featuring a pair of curious Bottlenose dolphins swimming and jumping beside the boy – after the jump.
On Monday, the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs in South Africa, Edna Molewa, met with the Minister of Tourism in Mozambique, Fernando Sumbana Junior. They met in Pretoria to discuss solutions to the rhino poaching epidemic occurring in the Kruger National Park. This is what they’ve concluded so far.