Last night I barely slept. After watching an incredible documentary about the biodiversity of Costa Rica, where the tiniest frogs filled me with awe, I've struggled with the news from Krugersdorp park in South Africa where the last female rhino met a grizzly death at the hands of poachers. It wasn't the images that rocked me, I've dealt with those most days for years now, it's just part of the job ... but it was the knowledge that the white rhino is in a losing battle right now with a mind blowing spate of killings this year alone.
The burning of over 1200 ivory tusks, as shown in the image below, sent a strong signal from President Bongo of Gabon as he spoke "of the importance of inviting the international community to witness the symbolic act of destroying the country’s ivory, noting it was a matter of national security"... & over in Bangladesh 3 rescued tiger cubs have become a symbol of the fight against wildlife crime, which is an ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME, which affects us all.
We'll have more on these issues in our new format at www.wildtiger.org starting soon ...
I agree, the situation with the Bangladesh cubs and the Gabon ivory burning are both strong symbols of a fight back from countries very much affected by these issues.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ben & here's a link to the Sea Shepherd site with Bob Brown's involvement:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2012/07/17/bob-brown-and-sea-shepherd-launch-operation-kimberley-miinimbi-1407