16 June 2009. Youth Day in South Africa

This last week we heard of the South African High Court ruling that in the medium to long term could result at last in the end of canned lion trophy hunting in South Africa.(Over 1,000 lions were hunted/shot in South Africa last year alone by trophy hunters, according to one report). Over the years, South Africa has had the sickening title of being “the world capital of canned lion hunting” and this hunting practice has brought our country into grave disrepute. I urge you to read two recent news reports on the home page of my site concerning the recent court ruling. The one is an excellent overview of the canned lion situation in South Africa and the ruling that appeared in the Sunday Independent June 14, 2009.The second is a press release from June 15th by Animal Rights Africa (ARA). What both reports importantly highlight is that though the end of canned lion hunting might be nearing, we in South Africa are facing a potential animal welfare crisis, as some 3,000-4000 captive raised lions are currently caught up in the industry.

From when we first exposed canned lion hunting in South Africa over a decade ago, many others and I have urged the government to have welfare provisions planned for the lions caught up in the lion breeding industry in the event that one day the sordid practice of canned lion hunting will finally be made illegal and banned. Today the government needs to work with all animal protection organizations, locally and internationally, to address this potentially fast looming situation.

Tuli

This last week I saw for the very first time The Search for the Knysna Elephants, a documentary that deals with aspects of my work and findings on the world's most southerly elephants. It was beautifully filmed and directed by my friend Mark van Wijk and tells the remarkable story of these “miracle” elephants. I have just heard this morning that The Search for the Knysna Elephants will premiere on Animal Planet UK on Saturday, 13/06/2009 at 21:00.

Also, last week I was working on photo selection for my new book The Secret Elephants. Going through the various images taken over the past eight years made me wonder how these years of learning about these special elephants have flown by. What a privileged time it has been. The book comes out later this year.

I have a new dog companion and her name is Tuli. Interestingly, I did not name her. She was named by my rhino researcher friend, Jed, and his girlfriend, Jordana, an American elephant researcher based in the Addo Elephant National Park. They found Tuli just days old on the side of a road. They rescued her and raised her to six months before asking whether I would like to take her on as Jed's new research posting unfortunately does not allow for dogs. Tuli is a delight and accompanies me on my rounds as I undertake my remote camera leopard/mammal survey work just beyond the southern boundary of the Garden Route National Park.

Lastly, on a sad note, on Saturday morning, I heard the tragic news that 55 false killer whales had become stranded at Kommetjie's Long Beach, south of Cape Town. People with compassionate hearts flocked to the scene and tried for hours to swim the whales back into the open ocean. Very sadly later that day, 44 of the whales were put down.