Elephants
National Geographic: Test drilling for oil and gas begins in Namibia’s Okavango region
This month, ReconAfrica’s multimillion-dollar drilling rig pierced a riverbed in elephant habitat some 160 miles from the wildlife-rich Okavango Delta. BY JEFFREY BARBEE AND LAUREL NEME PUBLISHED JANUARY 28, 2021 – National Geographic WALVIS BAY, NAMIBIAThe search for oil and gas in the watershed of the world-famous, wildlife-rich Okavango Delta moved one step closer to reality when a…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Oil Drilling, Possible Fracking Planned for Okavango Region—Elephants’ Last Stronghold
Hundreds of oil wells could come to cover a huge expanse in Namibia and Botswana, in what has been called possibly the “largest oil play of the decade. BY JEFFREY BARBEE AND LAUREL NEME PUBLISHED OCTOBER 28, 2020 – National Geographic JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Conservationists and community leaders in the spectacular Okavango wilderness region of Namibia and Botswana…
Read MoreNew Yorker: Bill McKibben column: Annals of a Warming Planet: Our Best Chance to Slow Global Warming Comes in the Next Nine Years
By Bill McKibben January 7, 2021, THE NEW YORKER The events of the past few days are shocking in their novelty—the glory of seeing the !rst Black Democrat ever elected to the Senate from the South, the shame of seeing a President incite a mob to storm the Capitol. Who knows what drama will come next, except…
Read MoreMuse Magazine: Advocates for Elephants – Kids on Different Continents are Working to Protect Pachyderms
by Laurel Neme, published in MUSE magazine Read this story as a pdf – Advocates for Elephants – Kids on Different Continents are Working to Protect Pachyderms
Read MoreMongabay.com: Sudden Death of Juvenile Zoo Elephant Raises Anew Issues of Life in Captivity
by Laurel A. Neme on 4 October 2017 Warren, a young male elephant, died recently during a dental procedure at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo. Warren was one of 18 wild elephants captured from Swaziland 18 months ago and brought to three U.S. zoos in a controversial move. Shortly after Warren’s arrival in March 2016, he lost a…
Read MoreThe Revelator: Elephant Ambassador in Chad: A Conversation with Stephanie Vergniault
Courtesy SOS Elephants The founder of SOS Elephants works to save elephants from poachers and other threats. June 12, 2017 – by Laurel Neme On her first visit to the Republic of Chad in 1995, Stephanie Vergniault fell in love with the country’s elephants. Plentiful and easy to see at the time, they gave her…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Exclusive Look Into How Rare Elephants’ Forests Are Disappearing
Wildlife Watch In violation of a moratorium, oil palm grower clears vital habitat in Indonesian biodiversity hot spot. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED March 8, 2017 A high-stakes game playing out in a remote biodiversity hot spot pits the palm oil industry against the ecological integrity of the last place on Earth where critically endangered Sumatran elephants, tigers,…
Read MoreNational Geographic: One Country Will Destroy Its Ivory—and Pray for Elephants
Sri Lanka also becomes the world’s first country to apologize that elephants are being killed for their ivory. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED Mon Jan 25 12:04:00 EST 2016 During the past several years, I’ve watched country after country destroy their stockpiles of confiscated elephant ivory, preventing that ivory from somehow slipping back into the black market and…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Elephants Win as Hong Kong’s Leader Says It Will Ban Ivory Trade
Shutting down the world’s largest legal ivory market would be a conservation milestone. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED January 14, 2016 Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, Leung Chun-ying, announced plans to ban the domestic ivory trade during his 2016 Policy Address. The annual speech lays out the year’s policy agenda. In the middle of the two-hour monologue, between statements on…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Hong Kong ‘Open-Minded’ to Banning its Ivory Trade
In a major policy shift, the world’s largest legal ivory market pledges new efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and may end ivory sales. By Laurel Neme, for National Geographic PUBLISHED October 28, 2015 Hong Kong—the world’s largest retail market for elephant ivory—says it may now consider banning its ivory trade. Hong Kong is also a major transit hub for…
Read MoreHuffington Post: How Legal Markets Fuel Ivory Smuggling in Hong Kong
Posted: 10/27/2015 Hong Kong’s legal ivory market fuels ivory smuggling and elephant poaching says a new report by WildAid, an international nongovernmental organization that aims to eliminate illegal wildlife trade. Together with undercover video by independent investigators provided to WildAid and WWF-Hong Kong, the report, Illusion of Control, released Oct 23 in Hong Kong, reveals that ivory traders…
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