Big Game Archive
Dumb Roper Nabbed
Posted by jimheck in Big Game, Big Game Hunting, Hunting, Poaching, Uncategorized on May 21, 2013
Many Americans don’t care if something’s going extinct: it’s just “the way it is.” So it’s no surprise that big game poaching is as much an American problem as it is an African one. “Put bluntly,” writes Australian ecologist Euan Ritchie, current species extinction is an ecological “avalanche” with current rates 1000 to 10,000 times [...]
Terrifying Nairobi Commute
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Big Game, Nairobi on May 17, 2013
The picture of lions disrupting traffic on the Ngong side of Nairobi is all over the internet, and it’s one of the best examples to date of the terrible predicament big game has in modern Africa. I must have received the photo above a dozen times from my loyal readers, so thank you! You can [...]
NPR Rhino Preview
NPR’s series this week on rhino poaching is probably worth paying attention to. Here’s some background before listening today to All Things Considered: Be cautious. John Burnett’s terrible reporting for NPR on elephant poaching not too long ago set me ablaze. He fouled up the numbers completely, came from the wrong perspectives and reduced a [...]
Mother’s Day in Africa
Anthropomorphization of African animals is one of my pet peeves, but it’s Mother’s Day for god’s sake! Here is my best attempt at doing exactly what I don’t think anyone should! The Mother of Mother’s has got to be the elephant, because from the moment of puberty to the moment of death this poor sop [...]
Elephant in a Texas Circus
Posted by jimheck in Arts and Culture, Big Game, Ecology, Poaching on May 7, 2013
It’s likely there is a greater percentage of Chinese who wish to end the ivory trade and save elephants than there are Texans who believe in evolution. Think about that, please. Yesterday, the Chinese actress Li Bingbing – who has 20 million followers and counting on her social media – made a highly public visit [...]
Serengeti Playground
What do the President of Botswana and I have in common? We have both sustained cheetah injuries this year! His to his face. Mine to my car. The Botswana government confirmed today that President Ian Khama had been scratched by a cheetah and had received several stitches in his face. Not a wild cheetah, but [...]
Man vs Beast … Again
Invisible fences for pet dogs are common in the U.S., but they’re used with opposite purpose in Africa: to keep the unwanted out. Africa’s big game parks are mostly huge tracts of uninhabited wilderness but increasingly sophisticated agriculture and ranching impinges on many of the borders. There is the obvious social/political human/animal paradigm to work [...]
On Safari: Animal Paradise
Posted by jimheck in Big Game, Ngorongoro Crater, OnSafari on April 9, 2013
Our game drives in Ngorongoro Crater were exceptional, but in the course of my career they always seem to be. It’s an absolute wildlife paradise. We actually visited the park twice, because our game drive to Lake Manyara was prevented by terrible floods. But the crater although beautifully green had wonderful roads and tracks and [...]
On Safari: Fatal Blow to Manyara
Global warming is devastating earth, and it ruined a day on safari and possibly ruined one of Tanzania’s best game parks for a long, long time. Worldwide weather is become more and more extreme. In East Africa we have more droughts that are drier and more floods that are heavier, and the frequency at which [...]
On Safari: Tarangire at its Best
Posted by jimheck in Big Game, OnSafari, Tarangire, Wildlife Management on April 5, 2013
Tarangire proved as exciting as I expected, and we dodged the heavy rain, and as a result we achieved the optimum experience of the year for this wilderness. You can go on safari virtually at any time of the year to East Africa and with good planning have the most memorable trip of your life. [...]
On Safari: Dead Elephant Walking
Chobe’s elephants are legendary, but what I saw this time is disconcerting. They are tame, inbred, their many broken tusks are like toothpicks, their family behaviors have broken down and they are destroying the Chobe forests. Is it time to cull? There is a growing consensus in the affirmative. Even the conservation organization Elephants Without [...]
Cheetah on Car!
Cheetah jumping on cars went YouTube viral this holiday season, and traditional criticisms from wildlife managers was starkly absent. Is this OK? The newest video had nearly a quarter million hits this morning but it is hardly the only one. I stopped counting at 20 separate YouTubes of cheetah on cars, and there are countless [...]
Maul Special
Posted by jimheck in Amboseli, Animal Attacks, Big Game, Economy, Kilimanjaro, Wildlife Management on December 13, 2012
Pretty story but not very effective: recruit Maasai morani – the legendary warriors that are expert lion killers – to protect lions. Sort of like hiring the ultimate teenage hacker to protect HSBC. Lion numbers are dropping alarmingly, and better than any other great African savannah animal lion are a true indicator of the health [...]
Blood All Over the Place
Posted by jimheck in Big Game, Big Game Hunting, Wildlife Research on December 6, 2012
A good scientific paper on lion population declines embarrasses NatGeo and provides evidence that recreational hunting of lion may soon be illegal. The excellent scientific survey by Duke scientists published Tuesday in the journal of Biodiversity and Conservation shows serious contractions of African wilderness with lion decline as the principal indicator. But NatGeo’s exaggeration of [...]