‘The images are confronting’: Q&A with animal photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur
On the title page of Hidden: Animals in the Anthropocene is a black-and-white portrait of a lamb. The little animal, probably only a few weeks old, stands alone on the…
Faroe Islands to evaluate traditional hunt after slaughter of 1,400 dolphins
The recent killing of 1,428 white dolphins in the Faroe Islands has brought renewed scrutiny to the island nation’s long-held tradition of driving cetaceans into shore and butchering them for…
‘What’s your real footprint on the animal world?’: Q&A with author Henry Mance
Many of us love animals. At least, we think we do. We may serve our cats gourmet food and let them sleep in our beds. We may buy our dogs…
‘Animal rights will be part of our DNA’: Q&A with Bogotá councilor Andrea Padilla
BOGOTÁ — Andrea Padilla is a 42-year-old Bogotá city councilwoman. She has a Ph.D. in law, two master’s degrees in criminology and philosophy, and an undergraduate degree in psychology. Her…
Two suspected poachers arrested for killing of Sumatran elephant
Authorities in Indonesia have arrested two of four suspects alleged to have killed a rare Sumatran elephant and hacked off one of its tusks last month. Police in East Aceh…
Poachers blamed in second Sumatran elephant death this year
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Authorities in Indonesia have blamed poachers for the death of an elephant found with one of its tusks hacked off, in one of the world’s most…
Thai police bust leading wildlife trafficker
Police in Thailand last week detained a key figure in one of the world’s most notorious wildlife trafficking syndicates, accused of smuggling large numbers of rhino horns and elephant tusks…
Poachers blamed as body of Sumatran elephant, missing tusks, found in protected forest
PALEMBANG, Indonesia -- Wildlife activists in Indonesia suspect poachers poisoned an elephant found with its tusks hacked off in a protected forest in southern Sumatra. The body of the male…
Indonesian NGOs lawyer up against environmental crimes
MEDAN, Indonesia — Several NGOs in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province have established a joint team of legal experts to focus on addressing environmental crimes in the region. “This team is…
Apply Animal Welfare Act rules to recreational hunting, says advocacy group
An animal advocacy group wants landowners with captive wildlife for hunt to be governed under the same rules that govern humane and legal treatment of animals in the US. A…
Nature’s right to exist gets a boost from key organizations
In 2008, Ecuador became the first country to enshrine in its constitution the right of nature to exist and thrive. Then Bolivia passed its Law of the Rights of Mother…
Trapped between zoo and sanctuary: the dilemma of the institutionalized ape named Sandra (commentary)
Argentina Justice Elena Amanda Liberatori has the difficult and unprecedented task in the next few months of 2015 of deciding the basic question of whether the orangutan Sandra would be…
Zimbabwe selling baby elephant calves to China, says environmental group
Frightened and malnourished female elephant calf in an enclosure in Zimbabwe prior to exportation to China. Photo courtesy of ELEPHANTS DC. A hundred thousand African elephants were killed by poachers…
When apes have choices and preferences (commentary)
An orangutan in the forest of Central Kalimantan. Photos by Rhett A. Butler One question that desperately needs to be asked when we talk about the rights of an…
Infamous pet and zoo supplier lost 3,500 animals a week (photos)
Company supplied Petsmart, Petco, as well as some zoos Nearly five years ago, a seven month long investigation, led by PETA, into an exotic animal wholesaler finally came to a…
Sold into extinction: great apes betrayed by protectors
In what appears to be corruption in high places, the international body charged with protecting endangered species has turned a blind eye to massive illegal trade of endangered Great Apes.…
Epidemic of elephant calf kidnapping hits Sri Lanka, say conservationists
In Sri Lanka, an underground wildlife racket has been simmering for a while. And a recent incident has brought it to a boil. On the night of May 1st, a…
Using stories to connect people to biodiversity: an interview with Tara Waters Lumpkin, PhD
In a world where extinctions are almost commonplace and global warming barely raises an eyebrow, very few of us can return to find the places we grew up in unsullied…
The swan song of India’s dancing bears
India’s last dancing bear has retired. As the stars of their cruel little roadshows, sloth bears danced to the piercing sounds of the damru for hundreds of years. Orphaned by…
The brown bears of Bulgaria – life after dancing
A rehabilitation center for retired dancing bears sounds like a typo. Yet this is exactly what the animal rights NGOs Four Paws and Foundation Brigitte Bardot created 13 years ago…
Illegally captured parrots finally free to fly
In 2010, Bulgarian airport authorities confiscated 108 African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) from a smuggler. Last month, the 28 parrots who survived the stress of being stuffed into dog kennels,…
Loris champion: conserving the world’s most surprising primate family
The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th—July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com…
A Tale of Two Elephants: celebrating the lives and mourning the deaths of Cirrocumulus and Ngampit
On March 21st, the organization Save the Elephants posted on their Facebook page that two African elephants had been poached inside a nearby reserve: "Sad news from the north of…
Photographers threatening the already-abused slender loris
Slender loris. Photo by: Arun Kanagavel. Caught in a beam of torchlight, the eyes of the slender loris reflect back a striking glow. In an effort to better understand these…
Geneticists discover distinct lion group in squalid conditions
Behind bars and waiting for science: the power of genetic testing for the Addis Fifteen. Male and female Addis lions in the Addis Ababa Lion Zoo. Photo courtesy of: Klaus…
Asian bear farming: breaking the cycle of exploitation (warning: graphic images)
Sun bear in a cage in Indonesia. Photo by: Chris R. Shepherd/TRAFFIC Southeast Asia. In the forests of Asia, bears are being captured. These captives will be sent to bear…
Cute koalas have become ‘urban refugees’
The 3rd Annual New York Wildlife Conservation Film Festival (WFCC.org) runs from January 30 – February 2, 2013. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with…
Landmines, chains, and hope: the elephants of Thailand
The 3rd Annual New York Wildlife Conservation Film Festival (WFCC.org) runs from January 30 – February 2, 2013. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with…
Controversial wolf hunt moves to the Midwest, 196 wolves killed to date
Many top predators worldwide remain hated and feared. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service. The hugely controversial wolf hunt in the U.S. has spread from the western U.S. (Montana,…
‘Where’s my mama?’: campaign targets cruel slow loris pet trade [warning: graphic photo]
Slow lorises like this Sunda Slow Loris juvenile (Nycticebus coucang) have their teeth forcibly removed by animal traffickers in the open-air bird markets of Indonesia. The practice is done to…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Deforestation notches up along logging roads on PNG’s New Britain Island
- Deforestation threatens tree kangaroo habitat in Papua New Guinea
- Fate of Malaysian forests stripped of protection points to conservation stakes
- Deforestation sweeps national park in Brazil as land speculators advance
Oceans
- Changes to global fisheries subsidies could level the playing field for traditional coastline communities
- Two threatened whale groups had a mini baby boom, but not because of lockdown
- Nitrogen: The environmental crisis you haven’t heard of yet
- Sea turtles: Can these great marine migrators navigate rising human threats?
Amazon Conservation
- Amazon, meet Amazon: Tech giant rolls out rainforest carbon offset project
- Rich countries may be buying illegal gold that’s driving Amazon destruction
- New study offers latest proof that Brazilian Amazon is now a net CO2 source
- With their land on the line, Indigenous Brazilians gather for landmark ruling
Land rights and extractives
- ‘On the map’: App shines light on 5,000 ‘invisible’ families in Brazil’s Cerrado and beyond
- As illegal logging route in Peru nears Brazil, Indigenous groups warn of calamity
- Vale told Brazil communities they were in danger. They say Vale wants their land
- With their land on the line, Indigenous Brazilians gather for landmark ruling
Endangered Environmentalists
- The Kichwa woman fighting drug traffickers and loggers in the Peruvian Amazon
- Rights groups demand end to Cambodia’s persecution of green activists
- With Indigenous rights at stake in Brasília, a territory is attacked in Paraty
- Brazil’s Bolsonaro vowed to work with Indigenous people. Now he’s investigating them
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- From Flores to Papua: Meet 10 of Indonesia’s mangrove guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
Conservation Effectiveness
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- ‘Bad science’: Planting frenzy misses the grasslands for the trees
- A Malagasy community wins global recognition for saving its lake
- Scientists in Costa Rica are growing new corals to save reefs
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Deforestation notches up along logging roads on PNG’s New Britain Island
- Plantations and roads strip away Papua’s forests. They’re just getting started
- Indonesian farmers refuse to budge for train line through karst landscape
- UNESCO calls for closure of road running through World Heritage park in Papua
