A little over five years ago, Dr Wendy Panaino, a researcher at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, followed her passion and began the journey to investigate the potential impacts of climate change on the pangolins of Tswalu. Parts of Africa are predicted to get hotter and drier with climate change, yet little is known about how mammals might cope with these changes. The already hot … [Read more...]
Stop the next coronavirus: ban wildlife trade!
Our world has changed beyond belief - hundreds of thousands have died, shops are shuttered, and we can’t even hug our family and friends. The likely cause of this pandemic? The global wildlife trade. We know it’s driving the extinction of thousands of species, and is responsible for animal rights abuses - and now experts warn wildlife markets could be a “ticking time … [Read more...]
Safeguarding biodiversity essential to prevent next pandemic
While the world’s attention is focused on controlling COVID-19, evidence points at the biodiversity crisis as a leading factor in its emergence. At first glance, the two issues might seem unrelated, but disease outbreaks and degraded ecosystems are deeply connected. Frédéric Baudron, systems agronomist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and … [Read more...]
Can coronavirus save the African pangolins?
Wildlife conservationists and enthusiasts around the world have been celebrating an apparent silver lining in the latest coronavirus epidemic since the Xinhua News Agency in China reported earlier this month that researchers had found a 99% genetic match between a virus found in pangolins and the new human coronavirus. The hope of this finding is that humans, frightened of … [Read more...]
EWT responds to China’s illegal wildlife trade ban
The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) welcomes the announcement by the Chinese Communist Party to enforce the ban on illegal wildlife trade and increase regulation of wildlife markets. Evidence points to wildlife markets as a source of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which has resulted in human and economic costs. The EWT emphasises their position that these markets pose … [Read more...]
