National Geographic: Rescued Circus Lions Airlifted to Safety in Africa

First posted on 2016-06-27     Wildlife Watch Rescued Circus Lions Airlifted to Safety in Africa Lions rescued from circuses in Peru and Colombia are set to arrive back home in Africa. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED April 28, 2016   This lion and 23 others removed from circuses in Peru are being airlifted to South Africa, where a…

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Huffington Post: Orangutan Rescue in Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem

      By Laurel Neme Author and freelance journalist   Medical check of orangutan. Photo courtesty of Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP) The adolescent orangutan was on his way to becoming the illegal pet of a police lieutenant in Jakarta in 2004 when a team from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP) and the Ministry of Forestry’s Conservation…

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National Geographic: Abused Circus Tiger Gets Fairy-Tale Ending

His name is Hoover, and this big cat is about to enjoy a new life in Florida.   By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED April 21, 2016 Photograph by Animal Defenders International     Alongside crates of asparagus, Hoover the tiger will be airlifted Friday from Peru to Florida, where he’ll settle into a new home in Tampa after…

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National Geographic: Remembering the Woman Who Helped Bears in Distress

Bears smile just like we do, said Else Poulsen, who understood what makes them tick. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED April 20, 2016   Few people know bears as intimately as author and bear behavioralist Else Poulsen, who died on April 15 in her home in Ontario, Canada, after a battle with cancer. She was 61. If ever…

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Mongabay.com: Leuser’s Legacy: how rescued orangutans help assure species survival

30th March 2016 / Laurel A. Neme Mongabay.com Meet two blind orangutans: Leuser and Gober, their offspring, and the people of the SOCP rescue group. Together they’re creating a future for Indonesian orangutans. Agribusiness is rapidly razing the prime forest habitat of Sumatra’s 14,600 remaining orangutans; replacing it with vast stretches of oil palm plantation. The species’…

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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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National Geographic: Happy Ending for Smuggled Pangolins

Wildlife Watch 16 rare scaly anteaters are back in the wild after being rescued from Vietnam’s illegal wildlife trade. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED March 15, 2016 This story was updated to reflect that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today issued a preliminary finding to a scientific petition submitted by conservation groups, saying that Endangered Species Act…

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National Geographic: Circus Lions Rescued in Peru, Headed for New Home in Colorado

Twenty-one circus lions and ten monkeys await transfer to a Colorado sanctuary early next year. Photograph by Animal Defenders International Laurel Neme for National Geographic Published November 26, 2014 By early next year Jan Creamer, co-founder and president of Animal Defenders International (ADI), intends to see 30 lions rescued from circuses in Peru and Colombia running…

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National Geographic: Elephant Foster Mom: A Conversation with Daphne Sheldrick

  Posted by Laurel Neme in A Voice for Elephants on December 6, 2013         Orphaned elephants “can be fine one day and dead the next,” says Daphne Sheldrick, a Kenyan conservationist and expert in animal husbandry. She knows. To date, she has fostered over 250 calves, first in partnership with her husband, David Sheldrick, founding warden…

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