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By Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Dilguerian De Oliveira Conceição Anti-poaching rangers often face dangerous and unpredictable situations in the field. While they may be armed, close-quarters confrontations with poachers will sometimes render firearms useless. In such scenarios, proficiency in unarmed combat techniques enables rangers to subdue poachers without escalating
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The Northern Cameroon savannah faces a severe poaching crisis, devastating its unique wildlife and ecosystems. Species such as the giant eland, found only in a few countries, are particularly at risk, with their poached meat fetching a fraction of hunting safaris' revenue. These safaris provide significant conservation funding and
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By Prof Brian Child Farming has a massive environmental footprint, and it is difficult to discuss wild species and spaces without some understanding of agriculture. The strength and weakness of agriculture is that it greatly simplifies ecological systems. It replaces multi-species ecosystems with crop monocultures or near monocultures and
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By Zig Mackintosh One of the key takeaways from the Snare Mitigation Symposium held in Pretoria in September 2024 was the issue of the prosecution and sentencing of snare poachers in South Africa. High-profile cases of rhino horn and elephant ivory trafficking are headline-grabbing, but meat poaching using
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Professor Richard Fynn from the Okavango Research Institute in Maun, Botswana, specializes in rangeland ecology, wildlife ecology, and conservation science. He believes that Western-based conservation paradigms, such as the idea that the African wilderness was once a vast, untouched wilderness with no influence of people, are spurious. History shows
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The Alistair Group is committed to conservation in Tanzania. The company provides a free helicopter and pilot to safari operators and conservation agencies for anti-poaching and related activities. They concentrate their efforts primarily in Western Tanzania during the wet season, during which the use of the chopper has the
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By Prof Brian Child There is no doubt that intact natural systems and wildlife are in serious trouble. Man’s impact on the planet is summarized by an article in Science in 2011 entitled ‘A Global Perspective on the Anthropocene’. People and farming have expanded into most corners of the
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By Hank's Voice Jaguars (Panthera onca) are the largest native felids in the Americas and third largest globally, behind tigers and lions. However, they occupy only 51% of their historical range. Although classified as "Near Threatened" on the IUCN Red List, most subpopulations outside the Amazon
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When Mayo Oldiri first started hunting in the savannah regions of Northern Cameroon, poaching was not a serious problem. Supervised by the professional hunter, unarmed game scouts were employed and were sent out in groups of six to eight carrying only machetes and axes. As the poaching increased, it became
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The Pandamatenga farming project began in 1984 when the Government of Botswana allocated an initial 25,000 hectares of virgin bush to pioneering commercial farmers. The aim was to increase the country's cereal production and boost food security. With fertile black cotton soils and an annual rainfall of
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By Prof. Brian Child As conservationists, we rush with great passion in new crusades to ‘save’ the next in a long line of threatened species or ecosystems. We lay the blame for environmental destruction at the foot of human greed, population growth, trade, or poaching and see its salvation in
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By Zig Mackintosh African traditional healer Gogo Nomsa Sibeko, who heads Nature Speaks and Responds (NPC), an organization founded in 2022 predominantly comprised of traditional female healers, was one of the speakers at the recent Snare Mitigation Symposium in Pretoria, South Africa. While traditional healers are often viewed with skepticism