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FacebookTwitterWhatsAppFlipboardLinkedInRedditEmailShare The government is considering culling its elephant population to address food shortages and combat the effects of an El Niño-induced drought. Farai Maguwu, Director of the Center for Natural Resource Governance, expressed concerns that the proposal to cull elephants would attract widespread condemnation, much like Namibia's decision. Zimbabwe has about 100,000 elephants with a carrying capacity of about 45,000 and is unable to sell some of the jumbos because of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The country is among five southern African nations heavily impacted by the drought, leaving millions food-insecure. Namibia's decision to cull...

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) today confirmed a single case of monkeypox virus infection in an adult male with recent travel to Canada. Initial testing was completed late Tuesday at the State Public Health Laboratory in Jamaica Plain and confirmatory testing was completed today at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). DPH is working closely with the CDC, relevant local boards of health, and the patient’s health care providers to identify individuals who may have been in contact with the patient while he was infectious. This contact tracing approach is the most appropriate...

Police may bring criminal charges over a Cincinnati Zoo incident in which a gorilla was killed to rescue a 4-year-old boy who had fallen into its enclosure, a prosecutor said on Tuesday. The death of Harambe, a 450-pound (200-kg) gorilla, also prompted the animal rights group Stop Animal Exploitation Now to file a negligence complaint on Tuesday against the zoo with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The group is seeking the maximum penalty of $10,000. The group said in its complaint letter that the child's ability to get past the barrier was proof the zoo was negligent and should be...

Bushmeat -specifically bats known to carry strains of the deadly Ebola virus- is now believed to be behind the start of today's unsettling Ebola crisis.  The first victim of the current outbreak in humans was a two-year-old child in Guinea -who’s family hunted bats for food- and it's starting to look like the common African practice of eating bushmeat could very well be responsible for the mess we now find ourselves in. The family said to have introduced the disease to the human race are from the village of Gueckedou in SE Guinea, where bats known to carry the Ebola virus are...

Bushmeat is believed to be the origin of the current Ebola outbreak. The first victim's family hunted bats, which carry the virus. Could the practice of eating bushmeat, which is popular across Africa, be responsible for the current crisis? The origin has been traced to a two-year-old child from the village of Gueckedou in south-eastern Guinea, an area where batmeat is frequently hunted and eaten. The infant, dubbed Child Zero, died on 6 December 2013. The child's family stated they had hunted two species of bat which carry the Ebola virus. Bushmeat or wild animal meat covers any animal that...

<p>Vivian Koshefobamu, a 45-year-old vendor, speaks in front of dried meat, at the Ajegunle-Ikorodu market in Lagos on August 13, 2014.</p>

As a hub of international shipping and travel it stands to reason that Miami might be at a higher risk to report a case of ebola. It also stands to reason that since Miami's economy is dependent on tourism a reported case of ebola could have serious business consequences. So it's not surprising either that Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and the county commission are taking extra precautions to prepare for the possibility of ebola in the 305. Come to think of it actually, it's not that surprising that they seem to have no idea what they're talking about either. The...

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa may have surprised most of the medical establishment – this is the first such outbreak in the region – but the risk had been steadily rising for at least a decade. The risk had grown so high, in fact, that this outbreak was almost inevitable and very possibly predictable. All that was needed was to see the danger was a bat’s eye view of the region. Once blanketed with forests, West Africa has been skinned alive over the last decade. Guinea’s rainforests have been reduced by 80%, while Liberia has sold logging rights to...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke about six patients in New York City that were tested for Ebola and one who had recently traveled to Africa that is undergoing tests for the Ebola virus on Monday’s broadcast of “Wolf.” Gupta said, “I would guess by tomorrow sometime we'll have a better idea” what malady the individual has. He also pointed out that even though the patient isn’t in isolation, “This isn't the kind of thing that they worry about spreading to other patients in the hospital, spreading to people who are walking around the hospital. This is not an airborne virus....

In a program called: 'Death in the Desert,' CNN docunmented (Nov. 2011): African [mostly Sudanese and Eritrean] refugees, who are escaping in order to get to (democratic and free) Israel, in crossing the Sinai desert, they are raped, tortued, murdered, organs sold by Arab [Egyptian Bedouins, some activities linked to "Palestinians" in Gaza] enslavers. An Egyptian eyewitness described their plight, [more] 'Worse' than slavery. The Egyptian doctors buy from the Sawarka tribe for 1,000 to 2,000 dollars an organ. Thousands have died, many of electrecution and of 'failed' organ harvesting. Egyptian police have not made one single arrest. Worse thing...

About 270 tonnes of illegal bushmeat could be passing through one of Europe's busiest airports each year, the first study of its kind estimates. A team of researchers says the illicit trade could pose a risk to human or animal health and increase the demand for meat from threatened species. The figure is based on seizures from searches carried out over 17 days at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. The findings appear in the journal Conservation Letters. A team of researchers from France, Cambodia and the UK said it was the "first systematic study of the scale and nature...

NEW YORK (AP) ― A Liberian woman accused of smuggling endangered monkey meat from Africa to New York has failed to persuade a judge that she shouldn't be prosecuted because she needed the butchered carcasses for religious reasons. ... The dozen boxes containing the skulls, limbs and torsos of monkeys and baboons had been shipped from Guinea and were headed to Manneh's home on Staten Island. Agents who searched her house found 33 more animal parts in her garage.

March 15, 2007 — In 2003, a large suitcase containing the remains of 26 butchered monkeys was confiscated at Logan Airport in Boston on its way from Ghana. The 300 pounds of raw meat, destined to be served as the main course at a wedding in New Hampshire, was "oozing out of its container," said Tom Healy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. [snip]... Cane rat, monkey and bat are the bushmeats most often found being smuggled into the United States, and according to Jennifer McQuiston, a veterinarian at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Global...

Rebels in eastern Congo have agreed to stop killing mountain gorillas and allow government rangers to restart patrols, conservationists said Wednesday. Earlier this month, rebels allegedly killed and ate two silverback mountain gorillas, according to field reports collected by London-based Africa Conservation Fund. Only about 700 mountain gorillas are left in the world, 380 of them spread across a volcanic mountain range in Central Africa that crosses the borders of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. Silverbacks are the older adult males of the species. A rebel leader, Colonel Makenga, agreed to stop the killings and to allow patrols after a meeting...

Congo Rebels Said to Kill, Eat Gorillas Jan 17 3:31 PM US/Eastern By TODD PITMAN Associated Press Writer DAKAR, Senegal (AP) -- Rebels in eastern Congo have killed and eaten two silverback mountain gorillas, conservationists said Wednesday, warning they fear more of the endangered animals may have been slaughtered in the lawless region. Only about 700 mountain gorillas remain in the world, 380 of them spread across a range of volcanic mountains straddling the borders of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda in Central Africa. One dismembered gorilla corpse was found Tuesday in a pit latrine in Congo's Virunga National Park, a...

MADRID - Spain's parliament is to declare support for rights to life and freedom for great apes on Wednesday, apparently the first time any national legislature will have recognized such rights for non-humans. The resolution prompted criticism and ridicule at first. Parliament is to ask the government to adhere to the Great Ape Project, which would mean recognizing that our closest genetic relatives should be part of a "community of equals" with humans, supporters of the resolution said. The move in a country better known for bull-fighting would follow a string of social reforms which have converted Spain from one...

Elephant trunks and smoked gorilla limbs hang from Emile Ndong's stall, "ripening" in the tropical heat. "A good ceremony, a marriage or an initiation is worthless unless you serve game at the table," said Ndong, a hawker at the bustling Oloumi market in Gabon's capital of Libreville. Ndong is one of many profiting from Africa's booming trade in bushmeat -- a blood-soaked business that has serious consequences for the continent's wildlife. Finding ways to curtail this industry will be discussed at an international conference in Madagascar from June 20 - 24, which will seek ways to harness Africa's ecological treasures...

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo Crocodile, boa constrictor, tortoise, and antelope top the menu, served up in banana-leaf sacks with french fries on the side. And for the willing, there's one dish that would make most carnivores squirm: monkey meat. At Mama Ekila's Inzia restaurant, African bushmeat is flown in - and fried up - for discerning diners looking to put a bit of adventure on their plate. "It's flown in fresh from Equator Province," says waitress Julie Ntshila, encouraging an unconvinced diner to try a delicacy from the northeast of the country. "I love it." When it comes...

The controversial bushmeat trade should be tolerated and managed, say British researchers. The market for wild animal meat, which threatens to wipe out a myriad of species such as the great apes, has become a major issue of conservation concern in recent years. But scientists from the Zoological Society of London said too many people relied on the food for survival for a simple ban to be imposed. They argued here for the trade to be controlled in a way that made it sustainable. Only certain critically endangered animals should face a moratorium on hunting, they said. The researchers made...

    Great apes' African stronghold under grave threat   12:21 07 April 03   NewScientist.com news service   The bush meat trade and the Ebola virus are devastating great ape populations in west Africa - their last major refugeThe first major survey for 20 years shows commercial hunters are decimating gorilla and chimpanzee populations near urban centres and logging camps, while Ebola is wiping out large gorilla groups living in remote forests.   Bessie, a western gorilla, suckles her infant at Mbeli clearing in northern Congo (Image: Richard Parnell) The combination could push our closest animal relatives to the brink of...