Elephant News

Sri Lanka probes elephant cruelty at Buddhist parade

By AFP

Colombo - Sri Lanka Friday ordered an investigation following the collapse of a skeletal 70-year-old elephant after being forced to parade at a high-profile Buddhist pageant popular with local and foreign tourists.

Activists vow to halt elephants' marathon train journey

By AFP

Guwahati - Indian wildlife activists on Friday vowed to go to the Supreme Court to halt an operation to take four elephants on a cross-country train journey to take part in a Hindu festival.

Study links wildlife tourism to decline in elephant numbers

By Tim Sandle

Liverpool - Wildlife tourism has supporters (revenue introduced into low-income areas) and detractors (such as negative environmental impact). A new study raises a concern with the impact of certain types of tourism and the impact upon elephant populations.

Cambodia seizes record 3-tonne haul of African ivory

By AFP

Phnom Penh - Cambodia seized more than 3.2 tonnes of elephant tusks hidden in a storage container sent from Mozambique, a customs official said Sunday, marking the country's largest ivory bust.

DNA sleuths bolster case against three ivory cartels

By AFP

Tampa - DNA tests on smuggled elephant tusks have identified three major ivory cartels in Africa and are helping investigators bolster the criminal cases against some of the most dangerous traffickers, researchers said Wednesday.

Sri Lanka elephants face plastic danger foraging dumps for food

By AFP

Colombo - At a garbage dump in central Sri Lanka a herd of wild elephants forage among a mountain of rubbish, swallowing dangerous scraps of plastic mixed with rotting food in what experts warn is an increasing problem for the revered animals.

Critics hit US over elephant trophy imports

By AFP

Washington - The administration of US President Donald Trump faced a barrage of criticism on Thursday from animal rights groups after it authorized the import of Zimbabwean elephant hunting trophies.

Shoot-to-kill: India hunts serial killer elephant

By AFP

New Delhi - India's top hunter on Friday led a shoot-to-kill pursuit of an elephant whose murderous rampage through villages has left 15 people dead.

Rogue elephant tramples 15 to death in India, faces culling

By AFP

New Delhi - An elephant that has killed 15 people in eastern India over a months-long rampage could be shot within days if it is not brought under control, an official said Wednesday.

Sri Lankan navy rescues elephant washed out to sea

By AFP

Colombo - Sri Lanka's navy has rescued an elephant that got into difficulties after being washed out to sea, a spokesman said Wednesday, calling it a "miraculous escape".

Thailand leads the pack for Asia's abused tourist elephants

By AFP

Bangkok - Twice as many elephants work in Thailand's tourism industry as the rest of Asia combined, with the vast majority kept in "severely inadequate conditions", a new report revealed Thursday.

Wild elephant kills Indian tourist in Nepal

By AFP

Kathmandu - A wild elephant killed an Indian tourist in Nepal's largest national park on Tuesday in the second deadly attack in recent months.

Sky's the limit for Thai baby elephant swimming back to health

By AFP

Pattaya - After losing part of her foot in a snare in Thailand, baby elephant 'Clear Sky' is now learning to walk again -- in water.

Elephants rescued from southwest China water tank

By AFP

Bejing - Rescuers in China used helicopters and a digger to free three wild Asian elephants -- including one young calf -- from a water tank where they were helplessly trapped for more than two days, state media said.

Namibia, Zimbabwe lose vote to allow ivory trade: CITES

By AFP

Johanesburg - The global conference that governs wildlife trade voted Monday against proposals by Namibia and Zimbabwe to be allowed to sell their ivory internationally, in a move welcomed by many conservationists.

World governments urge end to domestic ivory markets

By AFP

Miami - In a bid to stop the killing of elephants for their tusks, world governments voted at a major conservation conference to urge the closure of all domestic ivory markets.

Study sounds alarm for slow-breeding forest elephants

By AFP

Paris - Even without poachers, Central Africa's forest elephants would need almost a century to get their numbers back up to 2002 levels, said a study Wednesday that pried into the elusive creatures' slow-breeding ways.

Flood-hit elephant that travelled 1700km dies in Bangladesh

By AFP

Dhaka - An elephant thought to have travelled at least 1,700 kilometres from India into Bangladesh after becoming separated from its herd by floods died on Tuesday despite last-ditch efforts to save him.

Japan's oldest elephant dies, aged 69

By AFP

Toukyo - Japanese animal lovers were mourning the death of the country's oldest elephant, Hanako, on Friday, who passed away "quietly" aged 69 after triggering protests over her captivity.

Cambodia firm to reduce elephant work hours after heatstroke death

By AFP

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian tour operator said Tuesday it would reduce work hours for elephants during high temperatures following the collapse and death of an animal which had been ferrying tourists in 40C heat.

Wild elephant kills five in India's northeast

By AFP

New Delhi - A rampaging elephant killed five members of a family including a nine-day old infant in a remote village in India's northeastern frontier, a local official said Tuesday.

Night-flying drones combat Africa's poaching problem

By Megan Hamilton

Wildlife conservationists fighting poaching in Africa are being assisted from on high — by unmanned aerial drones that expose poachers. The drones are also helping to stabilize the tourism industry, which has been severely impacted by wildlife deaths.

Sumatran elephant found with leg almost severed by rope

By AFP

Jakarta - A Sumatran elephant calf lies stricken in the jungle in Indonesia as conservationists fight to remove a rope tightly wound around its leg that almost caused the critically endangered animal to lose a limb.

Wild elephant goes on rampage in Indian town

By AFP

Kolkata - A wild elephant went on an hours-long rampage in a town in eastern India on Wednesday, damaging about 100 homes, shops and other buildings, a state minister said.

Swaziland plans to relocate 18 elephants to American zoos

By Kesavan Unnikrishnan

Swaziland is planning to transfer 18 wild elephants in a Boeing 747 plane to United States in order to relocate them to three American zoos. In exchange, the zoos will be contributing $450,000 to a wildlife conservation trust in Swaziland for rhinos.

Youngest elephant at famed U.S. circus dies

By AFP

Miami - Ringling Brothers, America's best-known circus, announced the death of its youngest elephant at a conservation center where it is retiring the animals after criticism from rights groups.

Wild elephant kills two Thais in rubber plantation rampage

By AFP

Bangkok - A wild elephant killed two Thai men in separate pre-dawn attacks on Friday as they worked at a rubber plantation in eastern Thailand, police said.

22 more elephants poisoned to death in Zimbabwe

By AFP

Harare - At least 22 more elephants have died from suspected poisoning by poachers near Zimbabwe's main game reserve, a parks official said Tuesday, as conservationists struggle to stem a spate of attacks.

Rare white lion gives birth to four cubs at Toronto Zoo

By Megan Hamilton

Toronto - The white lion population at the Toronto Zoo has increased by four recently with the birth of four adorable — and vociferous cubs. White lioness Makali gave birth to two of the youngsters Saturday, Sept. 26, and then two more the following day.

Tech for tuskers: Protecting Africa's elephants with Google

By AFP

Mariakani - As elephant poaching in Africa by organised crime gangs using high-tech equipment rises, those working to stop their extinction in the wild have turned to technology too.

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