Project news

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January 2012

 

Wishing you all a happy and successful New Year!

The holidays have brought good news for the scouts in Thuma Forest Reserve. We received three donations for the Sponsor-a-Scout program. This will secure the job of three of the dedicated scouts for another year. Thank you all so much, Claudia, Urs and Kiyoko.

In Vietnam we were able to help the Forest Protection Department confiscating another macaque, who was kept in a small cage in a private house. We hope to be able to release him back into the wild soon. Thank you Asli for your donation to help with this.

 

December 2011

WAGI Competes to Win GlobalGiving's Open Challenge

WAGI joined GlobalGiving’s Open Challenge, a fundraising challenge for non-profits, to fundraise for Elephant Protection in Malawi, and also to become eligible for a permanent spot on GlobalGiving’s website, www.globalgiving.org, the internationally recognized marketplace for philanthropy that connects individual donors to the causes they care most about.

 “We are excited for the chance to tap into GlobalGiving’s network of committed donors and corporate sponsors who can support our efforts. Organizations participating in the challenge can also earn a permanent spot on the GlobalGiving website if they successfully mobilize supporters to raise $4,000 from at least 50 unique donors through GlobalGiving during the contest.

Please support by donating on http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/protect-malawi-elephants/

July 2011:

The July newsletter of the Wildlife Action Group in Malawi is available, informing about their curent work in Thuma Forest Reserve. Download here to the Thuma Telegraph (pdf).

May 2011:

With our support the Forest Protection Department Thanh Hoa in Vietnam was able to release a confiscated Pygmy Loris back into the wild on 30 May 2011.

 Pgymy loris are nocturnal animals, living in the tropical dry forests of Vietnam, western Laos, Cambodia and southern China. This loris were nearly wiped out during extensive burning, clearing and defoliating of forests in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

In Viet Nam, the Pygmy Loris is heavily exploited for traditional “medicine” as well as for the pet trade, at levels that are not sustainable; it is also used as a food source by many. The species has been recently transfer from Appendix II to Appendix I of CITES.  

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April 2011:

From WAG Malawi :  There has been repeated crop raiding in and around the villages nearest our camp in Dedza. Over 30 families have been badly affected and their crops damaged. DNPW were called in to assist and the elephants were driven back into the Reserve. However, they were back out within days!  WAG scouts assisted the Ranger to chase them back.

The villagers of Ndola are very unhappy and have not only complained to the DC but spoke to national newspapers. This is the same village that we raided for being in possession and eating elephant meat a few months ago.

Mean while in Thuma, we have found no new signs of any sort of poaching all month. Not even a sign of entry/ footprints, no gun shots. So much so we did not feel the need for a full time ranger to be present and we have been able to go about daily patrols without them.

Elephants are around camp at night a lot and there are many signs of large groups on our daily patrols.

A large herd of buffalo has also been spotted several times.The end of the electric fence at Linthipe River has seen al lot of activity, with some bulls walking around and raiding crops in Imphize and surrounding areas. Several families have also lost al lot of crops here!

A Ranger was sent and left leaving one bull still out!

We urgently need to get funding for the extension of the electric fence!

January 2011:

From the WAG-Malawi Newsletter: On the 11th January 2011, while on patrol up around the plateau area, WAG scouts were on their way back to camp when they got the scent of rotting meat. With Mr Pollah up front they went in search of the source. Some 15 minutes later they were shocked to find the rotting carcass of one of our large female elephant. This beautiful animal was shot and her tusks removed. Her body was carelessly left to rot.

WAG scouts believe that the carcass was approx. 1 month old, which would mean she was killed sometime in December. Historically December and January is the season for poaching of large mammals. As the grass is very long, the smaller game cannot be seen, plus the seasonal financial demands are at a high. Despite us doing several 3 and 4 night anti poaching patrols, camping out to try catch poachers and having armed rangers present we need to do more.

Back in December we started to enroll informers outside the reserve from surrounding villages. By gaining information from outside the Reserve this will allow us to react and plan more effective patrols inside the Reserves and also activate operations in co-operation with DNPW in villages outside the Reserve. This kind of information gathering is very effective, however it is not safe and informers and scouts alike could be putting their lives in danger. But this is our job and we have a lot of work to do.

 Over the last few months WAG have made several very successful and important arrests, however the outcome has not been what we expected:

 Sept 2010 - Our poacher with unlicensed gun and dead bush buck was released on bail for some made up skin infection, the files have gone missing and so has he.

Sept 2010 - three men accused of attacking and looting the camp spent 3 months in the local police cell (that in itself is no joke) were released on 23rd December – suspended.

Nov 2010 – a night time operation in a village raid arrested people with elephant meat in their houses. All five were given a suspended sentence.

Nov 2010 - 2 people were arrested in the Reserve with a man made gun, these also were.

January 2011 - while on patrol we met two armed poachers, one is a notorious poacher and known to both police and ourselves. We made a raid on his home in the village that same day and found 34 used cartridges. This was brought as evidence to the police. A warrant for his arrest given to us to deliver but he has gone into hiding somewhere in.

 These kind of results are very disappointing, however Wildlife law enforcers all over Africa have not only to deal with the poachers as the enemy but corruption also plays a very large role. To deal with some of these issues WAG intend to hold a stake holder workshop with the aim to bring together the relevant wildlife law enforcement partners and improve cooperation in the enforcement of wildlife protection laws.

By doing this we will create awareness amongst our partners and discuss our current challenges and remove barriers. More to come on this over the next month or so.