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…

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National 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…

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National 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…

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National 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…

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Huffington 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…

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Mongabay.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…

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National 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…

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National 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…

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