elephants

National Jun 30, 2020

Elephant goes on diet with help from Morioka Zoo visitors

The elephant weighed 3,940 kg as of June 20, but her target weight is 3,600 kg.

World Feb 6, 2020

Tim, one of Africa's last 'giant tusker' elephants, dies at 50

Big Tim, a beloved elephant who was one of Africa's last giant "tuskers," has died, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said on Wednesday. "The celebrated elephant died early Tuesday morning aged 50," KWS said in a statement. A survivor of poachers, Big Tim was found dead ...

Asia Pacific / Social Issues Dec 27, 2019

Techniques for taming elephants for Thai tourist trade called outdated and cruel

Separated from their mothers, jabbed with metal hooks and sometimes deprived of food, many Thai elephants are tamed by force before being sold to lucrative tourism sites that increasingly are advertised as "sanctuaries" to cruelty-conscious travelers. Balanced precariously on hind legs, 2-year-old Ploy holds a ...

World / Science & Health Dec 16, 2019

Botswana bans pro hunting pair after killing of research elephant

Botswana's government has revoked the licenses of two professional hunters who shot dead a research elephant and then destroyed its collar to try to hide the evidence. In a statement late on Saturday, the environment and tourism ministry said that professional hunters Michael Lee Potter ...

Asia Pacific Nov 12, 2019

Rogue 'Bin Laden' elephant caught in India after killing five people

An elephant named after the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden that killed five Indian villagers has been caught after a massive operation to hunt down the creature, officials said Monday. Wildlife officers tracked the pachyderm — dubbed "Laden" by the locals it menaced in ...

World Aug 27, 2019

CITES agrees on near-total ban on sending wild elephants to zoos

The regulator of global wildlife trade will impose a near-total ban on sending African elephants captured from the wild to zoos after a final vote on the issue on Tuesday. Following a heated debate at a meeting of parties to the Convention on International Trade ...

National / Science & Health Aug 22, 2019

Japan and EU ivory markets off hook as CITES holds back from calling for swift shutdown

A panel of an international convention on endangered species decided Wednesday not to adopt a resolution calling for an early shutdown of domestic ivory markets, including widely criticized ivory markets in the European Union and Japan. Instead, participants of the panel of the Convention on ...

Business Aug 13, 2019

Singapore to ban domestic trade in elephant ivory in two years

Singapore, a major transshipment hub in the illegal ivory trade, said Monday it will impose a ban on domestic trade in elephant ivory from September 2021, tightening the noose on the proliferation of such exchanges nearly two decades after a global ban on the ...

National Aug 10, 2019

Ivory registrations in Japan surged ahead of tighter restrictions: Environment Ministry

As ivory owners rushed to take advantage of Japan’s lax declaration system, the volume of registrations surged before the ivory market faced new restrictions on July 1.

World / Science & Health Jul 14, 2019

Elephant and rhino populations rebounding in Tanzania after crackdown on poaching

Elephant and rhino populations in Tanzania have begun to rebound after a government crackdown dismantled organized criminal networks involved in industrial-scale poaching. A prominent Chinese businesswoman dubbed the "Ivory Queen" was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Tanzanian court in February for smuggling ...

National Sep 23, 2018

Three zoos in Tohoku to swap female elephants in bid to fire up breeding interest

In the first attempt of its kind, three zoos in Tohoku will launch a project Tuesday to swap their female African elephants with each other to form new breeding pairs. The three are Selcohome Zoo Paradise Yagiyama in Miyagi Prefecture, Akita City Omoriyama Zoo in ...