Poaching
National Geographic: Oil Drilling, Possible Fracking Planned for Okavango Region—Elephants’ Last Stronghold
Hundreds of oil wells could come to cover a huge expanse in Namibia and Botswana, in what has been called possibly the “largest oil play of the decade. BY JEFFREY BARBEE AND LAUREL NEME PUBLISHED OCTOBER 28, 2020 – National Geographic JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Conservationists and community leaders in the spectacular Okavango wilderness region of Namibia and Botswana…
Read MoreNational Geographic: This ‘Rhino Court’ Had 100 Percent Poacher Convictions. Why Was it Closed?
Some conservationists and activists in South Africa are concerned that criminal syndicates are making it even more difficult to protect rhinos from poachers. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED AUGUST 18, 2020 This ‘Rhino Court’ Had 100 Percent Poacher Convictions. Why Was it Closed? “GO NOW! THE spoor is fresh!” Sandra Snelling, an operations manager for South African…
Read MoreMuse Magazine: Advocates for Elephants – Kids on Different Continents are Working to Protect Pachyderms
by Laurel Neme, published in MUSE magazine Read this story as a pdf – Advocates for Elephants – Kids on Different Continents are Working to Protect Pachyderms
Read MoreNational Geographic: New Alarm System May Stop Poachers In Their Tracks
New Alarm System May Stop Poachers In Their Tracks A multipronged high-tech system installed in a South African reserve has helped cut the number of poached rhinos to zero. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED April 27, 2018 When you’ve heard a shot, it’s already too late. In all likelihood the rhino is dead, and the best…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Why Has This Rhino Poaching Trial Been Delayed 17 Times?
As poaching in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province rises, conservationists say more should be done. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED November 13, 2017 It’s been one delay after another in the case against South African alleged rhino poaching kingpin Dumisani Gwala and his two co-accused. The reported reasons run the gamut—changes in venue, changes in magistrates, changes in defense…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Justice for Rhinos–When Will it Come?
Nothing prepared me for the venom in his eyes. While not directed at me, nobody in the courtroom could escape the anger seeping from his pores. Through a twist of fate, I was in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), a province on the eastern coast of South Africa, on September 19, the day the trial of a suspected…
Read MoreHuffington Post: For Pangolins, A Long Hard Road to Freedom
03/18/2016 by Laurel Neme Freelance Journalist and Author This pangolin was recently rehabilitated and released in Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Save Vietnam’s Wildlife. Pangolins are scaly anteaters about the size of a house cat. They’re presumed to be the world’s most trafficked mammal, with an estimated 100,000 plucked from the wild every year in Africa and…
Read MoreMongabay.com: Wildlife forensics unmask poachers and traffickers
Mongabay WildTech 10th July 2015 / Laurel Neme When border agents seize two tons of smuggled ivory, how do they tell where it’s from? When meat on sale in Southeast Asia is suspected to be from a tiger, how can the police prove it? And when blood in a hunter’s truck is thought to come from a poached…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Citizens Spur States to Ban Trade in Ivory and Rhino Horn
From Vermont to California, grassroots efforts drive state actions to protect elephants and rhinos. By Laurel Neme, for National Geographic PUBLISHED April 06, 2015 SHELBURNE, Vermont—”When you think things need to change, you have the power to make it happen,” Ashley McAvey, homegrown elephant activist and mother of two, told students recently at Endeavour…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Will Mobilization of Military Forces Stop Elephant Poaching in Cameroon
Posted by Laurel Neme in A Voice for Elephants on February 14, 2015 Ten elephant carcasses discovered in mid-January in and around Cameroon’s Bouba Ndjida National Park are raising fears that poachers may again be targeting the park. But information remains sketchy. According to the Cameroon Tribune, a government newspaper, the military made several patrols following reports of gunfire…
Read MoreNational Geographic: For Rangers on the Front Lines of Anti-Poaching Wars, Daily Trauma
Both wildlife rangers and rare species are victims of the relentless onslaught from the illegal wildlife trade. Unsung heroes face daunting challenges. By Laurel Neme for National Geographic Published June 27, 2014 In May 2008 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), 80 Mai Mai militia ambushed a unit of 12 wildlife rangers on…
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