Lion Ark

"The human race should be 

completely ashamed of itself "

- Jan Creamer, Lion Ark (ADI)

Some of you may have heard of Animal Defenders International (ADI), particularly if you're from the UK, you may have seen the campaigns to free Anne the Elephant (Bobby Roberts Circus - 2010) or the infamous Chipperfield court cases in the late 1990's (The Ugliest Show on Earth); and if like me you turn Hulk at the sight of someone stabbing a pitchfork into the side of an elephant, or repeatedly beating chimpanzee's with riding crops, then Lion Ark is a film you must see. 

Lion Ark isn't the desperate plea you see in so many other animal related documentaries. The Cove, Food Inc., Blackfish, Earthlings, Speciesism: The Movie are all incredible and incredibly important documentaries - they really are and I urge you all to watch them - however, for me at least, I watch them and despair at the human race; how I cannot relate to my own species?

A pride of lions found in squalid conditions
unknowing and unaware of the life that await them

How can I love my fellow earthlings, but so many, many more of my kind are willing to commit heinous, abhorrent and just cruel acts against animals and the natural world, and for what? 

Personal gain? Greed? Entertainment?

I was expecting to see the worst prior to taking my seat in The Light Cinema (not in terms of terrible film making, by the way; in fact, its beautifully shot); I was expecting to see inbred lions, open and bleeding wounds, beatings, starvation and malnutrition, dirty, tiny enclosures and the loss of willingness to live in the eyes of the lions.

And I did see that (I'm not going to lie!). 

Three stunning boys imprisoned behind rusting red bars

But, more importantly, I saw dedication, cooperation, teamwork and camaraderie, decisiveness and fierceness, courage and enormous willpower, and action from a government that I've never seen in any other country (ahem*crappyUKgov*ahem) to ban animal circuses and to succeed

ADI petitioned to get wild animals circuses banned in Bolivia. 

With a land surface area 5 times that of the UK, and a population of just 9 million, you would imagine that banning wild animal circuses wasn't a great priority or even possible to track down travelling circuses, but when legislation is passed it must be acted on within a year. And that is exactly what happened.  

Lion Ark follows a small ADI team of staff and dedicated volunteers as they track down 25 lions in 7 circuses across Bolivia; there are bumps in the road, and some treacherous driving too... 

As much as I would love to divulge the wonderfulness, hope and inspiration that is Lion Ark, I cannot - I would not want to take that away from anyone... 

... I'll just say that I adore Campeon...

I was lucky enough to meet and speak to the inspirational Tim Phillips (ADI VP) after the film and finding out that there is currently an ADI team in Peru rescuing 30 lions after wild animal circuses were banned there too. 

With more bans being pushed through across South America the world needs to take note: the next evolution of man is our attitude to the species we share the planet with - they are not commodities to be paraded around for entertainment, they are sentient, charismatic earthlings that demand and deserve the respect that they are owed. 

Mexico banned wild animal circuses just on Thursday (coincidentally, the night I went to see Lion Ark!) and the Netherlands (my country of origin) banned wild animal circuses just yesterday (13th December) - I couldn't be more proud! 

Now that's a proud and handsome lion!

ADI needs your help - volunteering opportunities are available in the UK and abroad, whilst locally, letter writing and petitioning to your MP to finally push through the UK animal circus ban cannot come soon enough (if you have an MP like mine, it's harder than it looks, but visit their offices and surgeries and knock on as many political doors as you can!).

Nature is speaking

I'm not going to say too much about this, because if you watch these shorts by Conservation International (CI), then it will say much more that I can - much more powerfully too. 
If you want to know more about CI and their work, please go to click here

Blood and Ivory *Graphic Images*

Global March for Elephants and Rhinos

4th October 2014

133 global marches to end the illegal ivory and horn trade

Start of the Liverpool march outside St. Lukes a.k.a The Bombed-Out Church;
at the top of Bold St., around the corner from China Town! 

Whether you're a passionate wildlife nerd like me, or an admirer of the natural world (just not if its raining), or someone who has just been bombarded with pictures and posts on Facebook or twitter, about some nonsense to do with elephants and rhinos and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Welcome!

One hundred and thirty three marches took place around the world yesterday, to raise public and political awareness of the plight of elephants and rhinos. 

Those who do not know, you may be thinking "bloody hell, haven't they saved them yet??", the answer is we're trying - desperately. 

Over the last 10 years, sales in ivory and rhino horn have grown exponentially; in order for these 'products' to be obtained, elephants and rhinos are killed and their faces are hacked off. Sometimes, they're still alive. 

Elephant tusks - ivory -  is made into ornaments and is a symbol if wealth within Asian, though predominantly, Chinese communities (North American is actually the second largest consumer of ivory - this must not be forgotten in this campaign). Last year, the Chinese government authorised the creation of new ivory carving factories and new outlets to sell the finished products in; despite turning up for the United for Wildlife conference earlier this year, very little has been heard about what China is doing to combat this issue. 

The word 'issue' makes it sound trivial... 

In 2013, 33,000 elephants were slaughtered for ivory.

83,000 elephants were estimated to have been poached between 2011-2013

                                One every 15 minutes.

Within Africa, we're facing the same crisis as the culls of the early 1990's (Kruger and Pilanesberg) experienced; calves are losing their families. They heavily rely on their mothers and maternal families for the greater part of their early life - for females, their entire life; without this support and knowledge passed to the next generation, calves are growing up (if indeed, they survive) to uncertain and potentially conflict-ridden futures. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is just one organisation that fosters these orphaned calves, with the hope of returning them to the wild. 

It doesn't stop with African elephants; Asian elephants are being targeted too. Within the four subspecies of Asian elephant (Sri Lankan, Indian, Sumatran and Bornean pygmy), females do not produce tusks (some produce tushes - teeny, tiny tusks), males can produce tusks, but not all do (not that its a choice!). 

This may not seem like such a grave situation, as the one faced by Africa's savannah and forest elephants; yet, there are only around 40,000 Asian elephants across all four subspecies, and this targeting of males with tusks means there will be a higher ratio of female to male elephants, they then cannot pass on the 'tusk' gene. Asian elephant families are also being targeted for their calves for the tourism industry - please. do not give money for a street-begging elephant, or visit elephant camps for rides; you're simply fueling this unethical industry.

The role elephants and rhinos play within their habitats, ecosystems and environments is enormous. 

Linked are videos to two brilliant and inspiring talks by Dr Ian Redmond: from London GMFER and his Ted talk on the Gardeners of the Forest. 

Whilst elephants are losing their tusks, rhinos are losing their horns.  

Rhinos are losing their horns to pseudo beliefs that it can cure cancers and ailments, as well as being used as an aphrodisiac. 

If that were true, science and research would have found a positive correlation between people who bite their fingernails and being the healthiest people on the planet, with no problems between the sheets (for want of a better word).

After all, rhino horn is made from the same stuff as your fingernails are - keratin. 

Between 2011-2013, it has been estimated that 2,120 rhinos were poached; during this time, the Western Black Rhino was declared extinct in the wild. 

How does that make you feel?

It is estimated, that at the current rates of poaching, rhinos will be extinct in the wild by 2020 - that's just five and a half years away.

It is estimated that elephants would have been poached to extinction by 2025, if the current poaching rates continue -10 years.

Nevermind people saying this will affect your grandchildren, or this will affect your children's future - 

Extinction is in your lifetime... 

How does that make you feel?

How do you feel about losing two of the planets most awe-inspiring animals?

I know how I feel. 

I feel sick. I get chills. I get uncomfortable in my skin, that this could so easily happen on my watch. I feel ashamed that I am apart of the species that would allow this to happen. I feel disgusted that we could allow this to happen. 

I'm part of the species that is financially profiting from the extinction of two of my fellow earthlings. 

For a conservationist, for an environmentalist, for an animal-lover, it feels like your standing in the middle of a packed room, screaming at the top of your lungs and no-one turns to look. 

I'm one of the lucky ones; I've watched elephants in their natural habitats.  

I, however, refuse to allow this to happen on my watch. 

I will not be part of the generation that stood back and watched. 

Global March for Elephants and Rhinos 

Liverpool, UK

Of the 133 marches that took place around the world, I attended my local one which, for a change, actually was local! 

It was the first time the march has gone through Liverpool - organised by the incredible Hazel Jones - the turn out was brilliant, amazing local support, and a lot of videos and photos were taken by passing tourists and residents! 

Tim Ellis read out his inspiring poems ('Rhinoceros' and '600 elephants' were incredible!!).

We even had a song especially written and performed for our event - End the Slaughter by Dvid Beethoven; it is absolutely fantastic, please, please, please check it out and share share share!!!

Andrew Foreshaw did a sterling job as chant leader, and Ray Knowles gave a wonderful speech about working with the late David Sheldrick, to name but a few contributors. I met some incredible people and new friends, and I know that we're all going to keep marching to save elephants and rhinos, right to the end. 

To march with people to the beat of the same drum, allows you to feel as though there is still hope. There is still a chance the people who write the laws, can change things, all with the stroke of a pen. Knowing that thousands upon thousands are marching to the beat of the same drum across the world, gives you goosebumps - the good kind. 

London had some incredible talks - as you've already seen Ian Redmond's brilliant speech. Dominic Dyer , Simon Jones and Nicky Campbell gave a passionate and inspiring speeches too, that you need to check out! 

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's iWorry march for elephants and rhinos

I know that this is not a sprint but a marathon, but the stopwatch is set for sprint. We need urgent and immediate action; we need to support our rangers, risking life and limb to save our incredible wildlife; we need to raise awareness in the East and the West; we need wildlife crimes to be dealt with on a global level - as an international crime, from the poachers, to the exporters, to the carvers and consumers, to the law makers - every link in the poaching chain has blood on its hands. 

As controversial as China's one child policy is, it has successfully curbed the population growth of the country (something more countries should be doing, but that's for another time!).

The pen is mightier than the sword.

China could end the poaching crisis overnight. 

Extinction is forever.

Not on my watch. 

We're going on a bear hunt

“You go into the woods, not thinking this will ever happen, legally and humanely go after a bear you shot, and it turned bad,” said Craig Lindstrom, of Wyoming, Minnesota."

Full article here

Ahem "you go into the woods, not thinking this will ever happen"

"legally" 

"and humanely" 

"go after a bear you shot and it turned bad."

For anyone who hasn't read the article, they shot the Bear with a Bow and Arrow. 

Ok so, I'm not the best person to talk about the best way to kill an animal for fun, but I know how big a bear is and I know how accurate you would have to be to kill it with a bow and arrow. 

They clearly weren't accurate or a decent shot.

The article states that they waited 4-5 hours then decided to follow the bears blood tracks, to see if it was dead. 

You know in horror movies, when people go to check if the murderer is actually dead, and they aren't, and then wind up being murdered again. 

Well, this is kind of like that. 

So they p*ssed the bear off by shooting it with an arrow, the bears not dead, then the bear's like "it was you mo'fo'" and goes hellfire on the douche who shot him. Most people would think "hmm, fair do's".

As you would imagine, animals that have been injured show more aggression than those not sporting any injuries. It's kind of like, common sense really! 

The bear mauls its attempted murderer, so then the others decide to stab him with a knife to get him off. Where's the logic?? I know they're 'murican's but still... 

Anyway, I don't think the bear was aware of the 'legality' of being shot; I'm pretty sure he wasn't forwarded hunting legislation for a read through before being attacked.

Also, I wouldn't class bow and arrows or stabbing an animal with a knife, as 'humane'. Craig doesn't seem to understand the word humane, but is using it so the Feds don't knock on his door and say "Now, 'bout your hunting technique... Wasn't really humane was it!.. Or legal for that matter".

And no sh*t Sherlock, it was always going to turn bad. 

I want to say the bear got away but Craig later said in the article, they went on and killed the bear and are hoping to mount it's head as a reminder of their friend nearly being mauled to death. 

They also hope he's going to get better for deer hunting season.

 They also reiterate that it's not about the hunt, it's about being outdoors and camaraderie.

Whatever happened to just camping???

...maybe this would've been a safer option!!!

Climate Change Trews

The more I hear of Fox 'News', the more I'm Pro-Fox newscaster Hunting. 

They cannot honestly believe the bull they're spouting. 

One of 'The Five' said "They're [scientists] all wrong, they just don't want to admit it" - when 97% of scientists are agreeing on something and the other 3% are being paid off, I'm going with the 97%. 

If someone was seriously ill and the drug research came back saying it was 97% effective and in 3% of cases it wasn't, you'd be pretty happy taking that drug to make you better.

If you were a member of Parliament and 97% of the population of Scotland was part of the Yes campaign, you would turn round and say, "actually 3% of you still want to be part of the UK so, we're going to ignore the rest of you" and then wander off whistling with your fingers in your ears. 

If ninety seven percent of climate and earth scientists are saying climate change is happening now, and we are the cause of it and the sixth mass extinction on this planet, and you still didn't believe them  - because of washbags like Fox 'News' and Murdoch -  for the sake of humanity and future of this planet, it would be better for you to err on the side of caution.  

Brand's Daily Trews: Climate Change

So for the sake of a living planet and a livable planet, March this Sunday! 

Trophy hunting continued...

With my last post, I briefly explained each of the three types of legal hunting; in this post, I want to explain why trophy hunters do not contribute to conservation efforts. 

The Actual Conservationist

Conservationists do not want to kill any animal. All animals are incredible, fascinating and play significant roles in their habitats that we're still understanding; however, it may be necessary, when it comes to invasive species who take over and dominate a particular habitat and are out competing the native species within the area, to consider a cull. For example, this could be like the American signal crayfish out-competing the British native white clawed crayfish; other examples of where conservationists have to manage a population would be in areas were, through hunting and human domination over landscapes and habitats, all or most of the large predator species have become extinct in the wild. 

Another British example of this is the UK deer population; due to no large predator species (due to persecution and hunting for furs) deer (red and roe are native, fallow considered native, and other non-native species) have become dominant within their habitats, causing, in some cases, immense destruction to the habitat. Its due to a lack of predators and an overpopulation of deer that has led to a stunted growth of pine forests in Scotland, young trees do not stand a chance against grazing deer and as this is primary habitat for the threatened (in the UK) red squirrel population, their habitat and food source is greatly reduced. 

In this case, an experienced marksman (i.e. someone who can shoot and kill cleanly, first time), who would know the deer populations incredibly well (breeding and non-breeding males and females, which are old, lame, too weak, you need to consider the impact of so many grazers on vegetation and what impact that has on other species sharing the same habitat), would decide which individuals would be culled to allow for a healthier and sustainable population. All of that animal is used (for meat and hide), so there is no waste. 

Obviously, I would advocate the reintroduction of a European predator species into some areas to naturally control deer numbers, and there are tentative talks of it in Scotland.

I'm hoping you can see where I'm going with this... within conservation there is thought, planning, consideration for the wider environment, white rich men (and some women and kids) are not paying for the privilege of gunning down a randomly selected animal (by this I mean the one with the biggest tusks, horns, the biggest male etc); not that this doesn't happen on private estates, but not this is the difference between hunting and conservation.

The Trophy Hunter

Below are a series of images, they are graphic, some faces have been blurred and some haven't; I have taken them directly from a facebook group, who took them from the pages of trophy hunters who have posted them of their own free will. 

Mommy-"Look at the pretty kitty!"

Not the best way to teach a child about death. 

I think if I was taught how to shoot a magnificent elephant
as a child, I would have been gravely scared for life. 

I prefer my giraffes standing, not covered in blood, and generally alive.

Ivan Carter - I asked him to explain how hunting like this (above), contributes to conservation efforts. I thought it was a reasonable question, I prefer shooting animals with a camera and I enjoy learning, I wanted to be 'educated'. He blocked me from his Facebook page and never answered my questions :(

mmmm...okay....???? 

Whenever I see people with a dead animal, and they claim they love these 'beasts', I can't help but think of Lennie in Of Mice and Men

This man is a multimillionaire banker Sir David Scholey “I have been hunting all over the world for many, many years and I have always hunted within the legal arrangements of the country concerned.
I regard that as an entirely personal matter,All the animals I hunt are wild beasts and even I have felt threatened by them at times". 
We all have an opinion on bankers.

The above three images are of the New Zealand Rugby team.
Rugby is meant to be the sport of hooligans played by gentlemen... they seem to be absent from these images.

I always make sure I smile next to my victim. 

I always make sure I give my victims a big ol' hug in the photo too, just so everyone knows what I kind sweet person I am. And how big my victim was... I don't know why I keep saying victim, I mean snarling brute of a  wild beast.

And now for some interior design tips from trophy hunters

Make sure you get a variety of colour to work with your scheme.

If you have a high enough roof, you can't go wrong with a half a stuffed giraffe.
Make sure when you shoot, you get the half you don't want to keep; the blood would just stain and then its a mess. 

Corpse is very much in this season.
Obviously a human corpse very much adds to the decor, but you can get arrested for this.

Notice any themes in these images - apart from that they're all white - they're all smiling. 

I grieve when I've batted away a fly and I've accidentally killed it.

I get upset when I see roadkill; there was a fox whose paw was just on the verge, he nearly made it across the road before being hit. He was there for weeks (the council never took him) and I drove past him every day; I didn't think I was allowed to get out and give him a proper burial - probably would've been flattened too, its quite a busy road.  

I know I would be a crap hunter, I much rather see an animal alive than dead. 

Ivan Carter (whose face you saw earlier over the bloodied corpse of a lion) says this on his page, when asked...

“Ivan you are so passionate about african [sic]wildlife and in particular elephants, how can you hunt them?“ the answer is, I don’t know, but let me make an attempt, not to justify Hunting, but rather to simply try and explain...the ethos of Conservation Through Hunting

You can read all this on his page, FYI, he doesn't technically answer the question, but he goes on to say this ...

"...It’s hard to find this whithin [sic] any other pursuit , be it africa[sic] , hunting the rocky mountains for a sheep or any one of the miriad [sic] of different experiences hunters pursue …and I can truly say, for the true hunter it’s not about the killing, it’s about the hunting, it’s about getting the many moving parts to come together perfectly..."

Apart from truly atrocious grammar and spelling, he says "for the true hunter it’s not about the killing, it’s about the hunting". 

...It's not about the killing...

...It's not about the killing... 

If its not about the killing, then why kill? 

Why not just stalk, track and take a photo? I mean, take a photo of the live animal, not a dead one. 

He doesn't actually go on to say why he can kill an elephant, he goes on to say why killing an elephant can feed a village - a village that is highly unlikely to be hunting elephant for meat in the first place, by the way. 

One area of conservation that I am particularly interested in is community conservation (engaging and educating the local community and involving them in conservation efforts) and capacity building (job creation, creating a better standard of living whilst safe-guarding natural habitats); if you don't have the support of local people in your conservation efforts, then your efforts are futile. This is some great work being done with communities, really it is inspiring, but I'm saving that for a future post. 

What Ivan and his trophy hunting buddies are doing, is not community or in-situ conservation nor capacity building; they may be making themselves 'feel better' or justify to themselves that they're helping, but if it was actually contributing to community conservation, poaching wouldn't be as rampant as it is today, we wouldn't have lost 33,000 elephants last year to poaching, we wouldn't have lost over 1000 rhino's last year to poaching if that money generated by trophy hunting went into community development programmes. 

Ivan can spout all the cherry-picked bits of information he wants, but trophy hunting only serves to fund the game reserve owners and the local government, not the people - not the ones that are themselves poached by criminal organisations to kill elephants and rhinos. 

As I've said in a previous post, I adore elephants, most of what I've done has involved Asian elephants and poaching threatens both African and Asian elephants. For my undergrad dissertation, I sat in a tree hut in Sri Lanka waiting for elephants and watching people, trying to understand the nature of conflict between the revered species and man. 

When you hear that branch snapping, or that gentle rumble behind the tree line, you know you're about to see something incredible. It could be a solitary bull, or a young family herd, but it doesn't matter, you're in their territory; you can barely breath with anticipation. 

This is one of the images I took of a family that emerged from the forest, on their way to the tank (reservoir); there were around 14 members of that family, from the matriarch to calves and it was probably one of the highlights of my life. 

The first wild elephant I saw was in Thailand...but these stories will emerge on my voluntearthling blog soon enough!!

Check out Russel Brand's comments to Fox *rolls eyes* news on "hunting truths". 

Have you ever noticed that whenever Sean Hannity agrees with his guest, he actually lets them speak? If he had a fair and balanced argument on there, with someone representing actual conservation, he wouldn't let them get a word out.  


Just for the record, leopard's and cheetah's are considered vulnerable to endangered with extinction in the wild. This means, there are so few of them, that their future is in the balance - hunting only harms, not protects. 
I will be writing another post about human-wildlife conflict, so keep an eye out for that!

As I've said before, if the money from trophy hunting actually helped the local human population, then poaching would not be as rampant as it is today. 

Humans are the cause of the 6th Mass Extinction.

The Green Alternative

Green hunting has a twist on hunting but combines it with conservation, and its actually a pretty good idea. 
This is happening in South Africa, albeit on a small scale, where animals are targeted for a particular research study; the 'hunter' pays the organisation a fee not too dissimilar to what they would pay to kill. After induction and training, the research team goes out with the hunter, a vet and a tranquilizer gun. 
Shooting a tranq gun is - I've heard - much harder and requires more skill than a conventional gun; once the targeted animal has been identified, the hunter then shoots the animal with a tranquilizer dart, the animal goes down. 
Then its a rush of taking skin and tissue samples, biometric data and fitting a tracking collar. The hunter poses for a photo and plaster casts of the tusks, horn (or whatever appendage is on offer) are taken. The animal has its tranquilizer reversed, comes around and staggers around before finding its feet again, to live the rest of his or her life as it was meant to. 

The hunter has his photo, he's shot an animal and the finished casts of the animal are sent to his address. 

No-one had to die, no-one was harmed - in fact, the data collected on the day and the movements of the animal being received from the tracking device will actually help research and conservation!! Its a win-win scenario!! 

On top of this, the ivory or horn that would have come from a dead animal is no longer on sale in the states (the US being the second largest collector of ivory, after China!) and this in turn pushes down the value of ivory. 

This alternative is pretty new, but knowing that this is available, there really isn't a need to hunt to kill anymore (not that there ever was). 
So, if you get exactly what you got trophy hunting, but no animals have died, my question is to trophy hunters, why don't you pursue this route?