The year 2012 is off to a good as as we have launched our first conservation campaign highlighting the plight of endangered species throughout South Africa. The campaign will be subscription based and it will allow all subscribers to contribute to our conservation efforts simply by photographing endangered species. We are hoping for some amazing photographs from our subscribers, so please register and subscribe if you would like to participate!
Britain has secured international agreement to clamp down on the illegal trade of rhino horn, which has become so sought after it is worth more than diamonds, gold, heroin and cocaine.
The UK will lead a global steering group to dispel the myths that rhino horn can cure cancer or help stroke patients, which are fuelling demand for it in Asia and driving up its price to £50,000 a kilo.
Countries and conservation groups will share intelligence and policing tactics and work on public awareness campaigns against the illegal trade. The agreement was reached at the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species in Geneva.
A lioness has attacked and killed a 65-year-old South African zoo keeper at a farm owned by Johannesburg Zoo.
Joe Ramanata, who had worked for the zoo for more than 40 years, was taken to hospital but was declared dead on arrival, the zoo said.
"He was either feeding or cleaning an enclosure when he was attacked by a lioness," zoo spokeswoman, Letta Madlala, told the AFP news agency.
In the fish markets of Asia, the tailfin from a basking shark can fetch nearly 10,000 USD (5,250 UKP), a price tag justified not by its nutritional value, but its desirability as a vast sign on which restaurants can advertise their shark fin soup.
Demand for the delicacy is rising fast, and at up to $100 a bowl, fisheries around the world are in open competition to supply more than 10,000 tonnes of fins to Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan and Singapore every year.
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