In the News...
March 2008
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This month's stories:

Pygmy Hippos "Rediscovered"

Pygmy hippos have been “rediscovered” in the Sapo National Park in Liberia.  The sudden appearance in Liberia's Sapo National Park of a pygmy hippopotamus thought to be dwindling in population has ignited hope and high expectations in the minds of many conservationists that all was not lost at all for the survival of one of the most elusive and secretive large mammals on the earth.  After, two civil wars, illegal logging and poaching - it was thought this was more than enough to wipe out Liberia's population of pygmy hippos.

But this rare and endangered species has survived against the odds and there are photographs to prove it.  It all started when a team comprising the Zoological Society of London - ZSL - led by Dr. Ben Collen, Flora and Fauna International - FFI, and Liberia's Forestry Development Authority (FDA), undertook extensive monitoring of the Sapo National Park in Liberia to find the endangered pygmy hippopotamus.  They were delighted to discover that, despite their fears, the hippo population had not been wiped out.  Just three days after setting up hidden cameras in the Liberian forest, the team of zoologists were amazed to capture the pygmy hippos on film.  Ben Collen of the London Zoological Society said he remained highly concerned about the survival of the little hippos because they still face the threat of deforestation and bushmeat hunters.  Sapo Pygmy Hippo

FDA Managing Director John T. Woods, having received the information couldn't conceal his excitement when he remarked, "Until this camera trap experience I was pessimistic about the existence of the presence of the pygmy hippopotamus at Sapo. The results only confirm the richness of the biodiversity of the Liberian forest. We finally recognize and preserve the true worldwide biological value of Liberia's forests."

The pygmy hippo (Hexaprotodon liberiensis) is classified on the IUCN Red List as endangered, with its rapid decline put down to habitat degradation and bushmeat hunting.  During the wars, hungry groups of displaced people, rebels and child soldiers ate anything that came their way - Liberia after the conflict was virtually devoid of animals, domesticated or wild. 

It is believed that less than 3,000 of them remain in their natural habitat, the Upper Guinean forest which covers parts of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.  As only 10% of the original forest is left, the pygmy hippos live in a shrinking world.  Although war is now over in Liberia, the challenge will be to control illegal logging and poaching, which continue to put the pygmy hippo at risk.

For more information, please visit the Zoological Society of London website

Source: Multiple including, AllAfrica.com (31 March 08); Busari, S. of CNN.com (10 March 08) & Harper, M. of BBC.co.uk (10 March 08)
13/4/08

Hippos to be Included in Mozambique Census

Lack of proper planning in the use of natural resources worsened animal-human conflict in Mozambique, Agriculture minister, Soares Nhaca, told the national broadcaster on Monday.
Nhaca who was speaking at the official launch of a national animal census was quoted by Radio Mozambique as saying the census would enable authorities to demarcate enough land for animals, thereby reducing incidents where people are killed by animals.

The national animal census will be funded by the government to the tune of $800 000 (about R6-million) over a period of one year.

At the end of January, local media reported the death of three people and the serious injury of two others when they were attacked by crocodiles near the Chemba administrative post in central Mozambique.  In October 2007, authorities of the same district said that since the beginning of 2007, they had collected more than 13 000 crocodile eggs before they hatched as a way of combating human-animal conflict.

Also in 2007, 17 crocodiles, two hippopotamuses and an elephant were killed after the animals tried to attack officials patrolling the area.  Central Mozambique tops the list of places where people are attacked by wild animals.  In 2007, infuriated by the increase in the number of attacks on people, the government authorised the national army to shoot problem animals.

Sources: SAPA via news24.com and iol.co.za of South Africa (online) (3 March 08)
13/4/08

Berlin Zoo Questioned Over Missing Hippo & Other Animals

The director of the world famous Berlin Zoo has been accused of overbreeding animals – and selling the "spares" to be slaughtered and used in Chinese sex potions. 

Bernhard Blaszkiewitz is under pressure to quit following the criminal complaint by a leading Green politician that he illegally sold animals for slaughter for profit. He vehemently denies the allegations but they are now with the Berlin public prosecutor who will decide on whether charges will follow. A pygmy hippos, tigers and other big cats as well as a family of bears are said to have been involved.

Claudia Hämmerling, a Green party politician, backed by several animal rights organisations, alleges that the zoo's director, Bernhard Blaszkiewitz, sold the animals to traders. "He must go," she said of the zoo director. Haemmerling and prominent German animal rights activist Frank Albrecht say some of the animals were supposedly sold to a zoo in the Belgian town of Wortel.
But the town has no zoo - and they actually went to a slaughterhouse there to be killed before the body parts were sold to China and other parts of Asia where they are highly prized for use in aphrodisiacs and other sexual potions.

Hämmerling said the systematic "overproduction of animals" at zoos, designed to attract more visitors, was to blame.  She said she also knew of several tigers and leopards from Berlin that ended up in a tiger breeding farm in China that promoted itself as a purveyor of traditional potency-boosting medicines made from the bodies of big cats. She alleges the animals' remains were pulverised and turned into drugs.

Blaszkiewitz has strongly denied the charges. Responsible for 23,000 animals and credited with turning Berlin zoo into the city's most popular tourist attraction, Blaszkiewitz believes his detractors are spreading "untruths, half-truths and lies". He said: "The stories of slaughter have been invented. We only work with respectable zoo dealers."

He added that while animals were sent to China in the 1990s, their transfer was approved by the Federal Office for Nature Protection. Further, he said, rearing animals was central to his work. He denied claims that money making was the motivating factor. "It's good for the animals, and of course our visitors should also have the chance to observe the rearing process," he said.
A spokeswoman for Hämmerling said yesterday the MP was prepared to press charges. State prosecutors will soon announce whether the case goes to court.

The zoo has been unable to shake off the charge that it has been encouraging animal births so as to boost visitors keen on "cute offspring". It is believed by some that it is standard practice for zoos to kill "surplus" animals. Nuremberg zoo's deputy director, Helmut Mägdefrau, was recently reported as saying: "If we cannot find good homes for the animals, we kill them and use them as feed." Recently an antelope in Nuremberg was fed to caged lions in front of visitors, causing outrage.

Source: Connolly, K of The Guardian (online) (28 March 08) and smh.com.au (29 March 08) and Hall, A. of The Daily Mail (online) (20 March 08)
13/4/08

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