At about 07:00 on the morning of Thursday 31 December, a group of assailants in 5 - 7 fishing boats launched a violent attack on Sea Shepherd vessels Farley Mowat and Sharpie inside the Zero Tolerance Area of Mexico’s federally-protected Vaquita Refuge. The incident began as the crew of the Farley Mowat undertook efforts to retrieve a gillnet from the protected region, home … [Read more...]
Fracking threatens Africa’s last elephant stronghold
The fate of one of Africa’s most valuable ecosystems may depend on results from wells being drilled deep into the bedrock beneath the Kalahari of northern Namibia and Botswana in the hunt for a petroleum reservoir. For a distance of some 150km, Canadian company ReconAfrica’s oil and gas prospecting concessions border the Okavango River, a crucial source of water in a … [Read more...]
National shark conservation plan of action released
The Department of Environment Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) recently released the official report on the National Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (NPOA-Sharks) in South Africa. In May 2020, following public concern about shark populations along the South African coast, the Minister of (DEFF), Ms Barbara Creecy, appointed an Expert Panel to … [Read more...]
‘Protecting forever, together’ more important than ever
The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is proud to share with you their 2020 Integrated Report, which provides an overview of the EWT’s conservation impact throughout the region in the previous financial year. Here is the intro by EWT CEO Dirk Ackerman: 2020 will go down in the annals of history as the year of the pandemic, as COVID-19 dominated the news agenda. One of the … [Read more...]
Protecting South Africa’s sardine run
With billions of spawning sardines travelling north towards Mozambique, the annual sardine run is one of the planet's biggest migrations in terms of biomass. In a report for Call to Earth, CNN reports on the event, which runs along South Africa's east coast between May and July. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the annual sardine run would attract tourists from across the … [Read more...]
Family owned Bottelary wine farm puts conservation first
Mooiplaas Wines recently became the first World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Conservation Champion in the Bottelary ward of Stellenbosch. This outstanding achievement follows the submission of their latest IPW-audit (Integrated Production of Wine), which acknowledges the environmental responsibility of their production practices. The audit includes factors such as carbon … [Read more...]
Community owned reserves collaborate to protect elephants
In a historic translocation in 2016, Somkhanda Community Game Reserve welcomed a herd of 13 elephants donated by Nambiti Game Reserve. This was hailed as an epic collaboration, as, for the first time, two community owned reserves had successfully worked together to extend elephant range and distribution. This illustrated the importance of community conservation, not only in … [Read more...]
Help stop the controversial African crude oil pipeline
Oil giant Total is about to build the biggest heated oil pipeline in the world - right through the heart of Africa! It will rip through some of the most important elephant, lion and chimpanzee reserves on Earth, displace tens of thousands of families, and tip the whole planet closer to full-blown climate catastrophe. Local communities are doing all they can to fight the … [Read more...]
New spots for frogs in the Western Cape
In a bid to better understand the distribution and threats facing several highly threatened and endemic amphibians, the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Threatened Amphibian Program recently launched a project in the Western Cape, focusing on five of the most range-restricted frogs of the region. This work is being done in partnership with the Bionerds, supported by the Whitley … [Read more...]
Much celebration as cheetah returns to Rietvlei
After a gruelling 14-hour journey, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) successfully relocated a female cheetah from the Western Cape to Rietvlei Nature Reserve in Gauteng. The City of Tshwane approved the relocation of wild Cheetahs to Rietvlei, as well as a donation of 250 blesbok, springbok, red hartebeest, black wildebeest and zebra to Rietvlei Nature Reserve, also made … [Read more...]
NPO’s take a stand to halt offshore oil drilling
WILDOCEANS is one of several organisations including Oceans Not Oil, South Durban Community Environmental Association and Green Connection, who have submitted comment opposing the proposed offshore exploration drilling and associated activities by oil company TOTAL. There are procedural, climatic, socio-economic and ecological concerns that WILDOCEANS have raised linked to … [Read more...]
EWT needs your donations to fight poaching
The “storm” that is COVID 19 has arrived in South Africa and by all accounts, we have weathered it better than many had predicted. I like to put this down to the resilience and fighting spirit of South African people from all walks of life. We are certainly a nation of survivors! The lengthy lockdown has not however been without severe, and in some cases, catastrophic … [Read more...]
Place your bid with purpose for conservation
WILDLANDS, a programme of the WILDTRUST, recently launched an online auction to raise funds for the Somkhanda Community Game Reserve anti-poaching unit. This 12 000-hectare reserve which was formally proclaimed through the Land Reform process in 2005 by the local Gumbi community, has become one of the only community owned reserve success stories in South Africa. The … [Read more...]
