Thousands of people from all walks of life today joined conservation partners and the government to raise their voices against extinction and champion the protection of wildlife in what is considered to be the biggest Global March For Elephants, Rhinos, Lions and other endangered species. Global March is an annual worldwide event that takes place in more than 130 countries - including Kenya - which hosted the largest march in the world in 2017.
A new weekly series called Wildlife Warriors will premiere on East Africa’s largest channel, Citizen TV, on Sunday, April 7, 2019 at 5PM. Development of this series was funded by the U.S. Government, through USAID, in partnership with U.S. Department of the Interior, Wild Lives Foundation, and National Geographic.
A Tanzanian court has sentenced Yang Fen Glan popularly known as ‘Ivory Queen’ to 15 years in jail. The 69 year old Chinese national, was charged along with two Tanzanians with offenses of unlawful dealing in collecting, selling and transporting more than 706 pieces of elephant tusks weighing 1889 kilograms in 2014.
A court in Tanzania has convicted and sentenced Yang Feng Glan, infamously named ‘The Ivory Queen’ and two of her associates to 15 years in prison. This is welcomed news signaling an end to a 5 year protracted case where Ms. Yang and two Tanzanians were charged with economic crimes for trafficking in more than 706 pieces of elephant tusks in 2014.
On August 30, WildlifeDirect hosted Richard Turere and Tiassa Mutunkei, two amazing youth who represent the younger generation in Kenya that are passionate about conserving our wildlife. Over the years, WildlifeDirect has walked with these young wildlife warriors over the years and supported them in their quest to pursue conservation goals and inspire others to follow suit.
A High Court Judge set free a convicted ivory trafficker, Feisal Ali Mohammed, who was serving a 20 year sentence and a penalty fine of 20 million shillings (USD 200,000). Feisal had already served two years of his sentence after being found guilty of trafficking in 2,152 kilograms of elephant ivory before the High Court reversed his conviction and sentence.
There are three Kenyans on INTERPOL’s worlds’ most wanted criminal list. They are not terrorists with ties to Al Shabaab or ISIS, neither are they drug traffickers. They are not even human traffickers or illegal arms dealers. They are all elephant ivory traffickers.
On June 23, the Great Grevy's Rally results were released at the Great Grevy's Ball 2018 in Laikipia. Despite many challenges that faced Kenya, Grevy’s zebras have weathered the prolonged drought, increased competition with livestock and increased poaching and disease.
As the first quarter of 2018 comes to a close we reflect on the highs and the lows for conservation. Poaching is down and our court monitoring work reveals greater number of convictions and jail sentencing.
Today is International Women’s Day. We can’t keep complaining about how men treat us when we don’t treat each other fairly, with compassion and empathy. Let’s do something to make it mean something.
