Police are yet to issue an official statement however, it is believed that it is to do with the wildlife smuggling trade which is widespread in the Balkan region.
The illicit trade of wild and rare animals remains a pressing issue in the Balkan region, as evidenced by a recent incident in northern Serbia. On September 21, 2023, a Lion cub was discovered wandering on a local road near Subotica, a town situated near the Hungarian border. This incident sheds light on the pervasive problem of wildlife smuggling in the region, as well as the dire circumstances faced by these majestic creatures.
The female Lion cub, who was only a few months old, was in a horrible state when she was found. Malnourished and weak, it was apparent that the cub had faced significant challenges in the wild. Fortunately, a Subotica resident spotted her on the road and promptly alerted the police. Authorities intervened swiftly, ensuring the cub’s safety and its transfer to the Palic Zoo in the region.
Upon arrival at the Palic Zoo, the cub was examined by Sonja Mandic, a representative of the zoo. She noted that the cub was in “pretty poor shape” and immediately initiated necessary medical treatment. This included rehydration through infusion and nutritional support to improve the cub’s condition. Mandic stated that it was challenging to determine the cub’s exact age due to its malnourished and possibly underdeveloped state, but it was clear that the animal needed urgent care and attention.
Reports indicated that the Lion cub displayed an unusual degree of friendliness and did not appear to be afraid of humans. Video footage circulating on social media showed the cub emerging from the grass and confidently stepping onto the road. In other videos and photos, police officers and residents could be seen interacting with the cub, offering it affection and comfort.
The cub appeared to be very confident around humans
While the circumstances surrounding this lion cub’s appearance on a Serbian road remain unclear, it underscores a broader issue: the illicit trade of wild and rare animals in the Balkan region. A report by the World Wildlife Fund on wildlife crime in the area revealed alarming trends. Songbirds from the Finch family, locally protected Brown Bears, and Forest Turtles were among the most targeted species in Serbia.
Furthermore, cases involving the smuggling and illegal possession of exotic species, such as Pythons, are disturbingly common. In 2020, investigative efforts exposed the rampant illegal wildlife trade in Eastern Europe. This report raised concerns among conservationists that smugglers may be exploiting countries in Eastern Europe with less stringent law enforcement to avoid scrutiny.
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We believe EVERY animal should be treated with respect, empathy, and understanding. We raise awareness to protect and conserve wild, captive, companion and farm animals.
It is vital that we protect animals against acts of cruelty, abuse, and neglect by enforcing established animal welfare laws and, when necessary, take action to ensure that those who abuse animals are brought to justice.
Protect All Wildlife are involved in many projects to protect animals’ rights, welfare, and habitats. Money contributed to Protect All Wildlife supports ALL of our worthy programmes and gives us the flexibility to respond to emerging needs. Your donations make our work possible.
A Mozambican national serving a prison sentence for Rhino poaching has been slapped with another lengthy jail term after being convicted of killing a second Rhino in the Skukuza National Park.
Convicted poacher Lucky Mabunda
The National Prosecuting Authority said 47-year-old Lucky Mabunda, was sentenced in the town’s Regional Court on Thursday to ten years direct imprisonment.
NPA spokesperson, Monica Nyuswa, said he was already serving a 19-year jail term for Rhino poaching and was convicted and sentenced for the second incident in 2019.
She said the court heard that Mabunda had entered the Skukuza National Park between February and September 2019. Field Rangers were patrolling and found the accused in possession of a firearm, axe, ammunition, and other items geared for hunting. They also found the carcasses of two Rhinos.
Nyuswa said he pleaded guilty to killing one rhino, before ballistic evidence taken from the Rhino killed in February, later provided the link back to him.
“It confirmed that the bullets found on the carcass were fired from the rifle found in the accused’s possession,” she said.
State prosecutor Lot Mgiba underscored the gravity of the offense, advocating for an appropriate sentence in court.
Consequently, the accused was found guilty and received a ten-year jail term. The importance of such legal actions in combating poaching, which poses a severe threat to endangered species and the potential for species extinction, was highlighted by Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Nkebe Kanyane.
SANParks spokesperson, Ike Phaahla, says they welcome the sentence.
“We are elated at the sentencing, which is in addition to the 18 years he has already served since he was found inside the park. In this instance, a projectile was discovered next to the carcass and taken for ballistics. They came back pointing towards the accused, and he was requisitioned from the Department of Correctional Services to get an additional 10-year sentence. It’s a well-known fact that we still have people who, around this time, want to come in, but we want to warn them that Kruger National Park is a dangerous place to come.”
Kruger has lost 70% of ITS Rhinos in 10 years
The Decline In Rhino Populations In KNP Graph: Save The Rhino
Rhino populations in the Kruger National Park have dropped by about 70% in the past decade because of the onslaught of poaching and prolonged drought. In its 2019-20 annual report, SANParks said that only about 3 549 White Rhinos and 268 Black Rhinos remain in the Kruger.
The environment department said poachers killing cows also ultimately kill dependent calves and cause future loss of calves — this effect equates to an additional five rhinos lost to the population per loss of one cow, now and in future. “Poaching also causes factors such as social disruption of Black Rhino societies. Cows then conceive less often.”
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You can support our work by donating as little as £5 – It only takes a minute but it can last a lifetime for an animal in need.
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The Mission of Protect All Wildlife is to prevent cruelty and promote the welfare of ALL animals.
We believe EVERY animal should be treated with respect, empathy, and understanding. We raise awareness to protect and conserve wild, captive, companion and farm animals.
It is vital that we protect animals against acts of cruelty, abuse, and neglect by enforcing established animal welfare laws and, when necessary, take action to ensure that those who abuse animals are brought to justice.
Protect All Wildlife are involved in many projects to protect animals’ rights, welfare, and habitats. Money contributed to Protect All Wildlife supports ALL of our worthy programmes and gives us the flexibility to respond to emerging needs. Your donations make our work possible.
A Texas couple was arrested for selling protected wildlife, marking the first case in the U.S. filed under The Big Cat Act.
On Wednesday, 29-year-old Rafael Gutierrez-Galvan and his wife Deyanira Garza, 28, had their initial court appearances in McAllen, as U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani announced.
Based on the criminal complaint, Gutierrez-Galvan was accused of selling a Margay cub for $7,500 in a parking lot of a local Academy Sports and Outdoors on Aug. 24. Later on Sept. 26, he tried to sell a Jaguar cub to the same buyer. He instructed his wife to bring a case filled with cash from their home to the meeting point. However, the police stopped her on the way and found the money.
According to the criminal complaint, Rafael Gutierrez-Galvan tried to sell this Jaguar cub. Credit: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Neither Gutierrez-Galvan or Garza possess a license to buy, sell, trade or transport exotic animals such as Margays and Jaguars, federal authorities said.
In December 2022, the Big Cat Act was put into effect, which made it illegal to import, transport, sell or possess any wildlife species that are prohibited. This includes Jaguars, which are considered a prohibited species.
The rescued Margay cub. Credit: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Gutierrez-Galvan and Garza face up to five years in federal prison and a possible $20,000 maximum fine if convicted.
Authorities said they were able to recover both animals in the case.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP ANIMALS IN NEED
You can support our work by donating as little as £5 – It only takes a minute but it can last a lifetime for an animal in need.
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The Mission of Protect All Wildlife is to prevent cruelty and promote the welfare of ALL animals.
We believe EVERY animal should be treated with respect, empathy, and understanding. We raise awareness to protect and conserve wild, captive, companion and farm animals.
It is vital that we protect animals against acts of cruelty, abuse, and neglect by enforcing established animal welfare laws and, when necessary, take action to ensure that those who abuse animals are brought to justice.
Protect All Wildlife are involved in many projects to protect animals’ rights, welfare, and habitats. Money contributed to Protect All Wildlife supports ALL of our worthy programmes and gives us the flexibility to respond to emerging needs. Your donations make our work possible.
In a press statement Thursday, the animal rights organization said the Waccatee Zoo in Horry County will be permanently closed. Additionally, as part of the settlement, per PETA, the operators of the South Carolina facility are banned from owning or exhibiting wild or exotic animals, breeding domestic animals, exploiting domestic animals for profit, and working or volunteering at other roadside zoos.
In its lawsuit filed under the federal Endangered Species Act and South Carolina’s public nuisance law in April 2022, PETA described Waccatee Zoo as “one of the worst roadside zoos in America.” The complaint alleged the zoo’s operators confined and exhibited more than 460 animals and that the facility’s conditions deprived them of “adequate veterinary care, shelter, food, and water.”
An attorney for the Waccatee Zoo and the defendants, Reese Boyd III, told theMyrtle Beach Sun News that the lawsuit has been settled and the facility will be shut down. He said that his client’s agreement to the settlement terms was not an admission “to the exploitation of animals in their care” – adding that a number of PETA’s accusations were “factually untrue,” per the newspaper.
PETA also said in the lawsuit that it regularly received complaints about Waccatee from zoo visitors.
“Day after day, animals at Waccatee sway and pace back and forth—unnatural behaviors that signify the animals’ needs are not being met,” read PETA’s lawsuit. “Many animals experience negative stress due to small, insufficiently enriched spaces that provide little to do, offer inadequate opportunities to socialize, and are affirmatively dangerous.”
The lawsuit cited the case of Lila, a tiger who either died in late 2020 or 2021, saying that she “became so emaciated that much of her skeleton—including her vertebrae, scapula, shoulder, hip, and other joints—was visible through her skin.” The complaint also alleged that other animals at the zoo experienced hair loss and emaciation—adding that “isolated, frustrated, and bored animals exhibit alarming and repetitive behavior, indicating that they are experiencing psychological distress.”
Emaciated Lila suddenly disappeared resulting in PETA asking for a necropsy report.
Lila passed away after a fall from old age, zoo owner Jeff Futrell said.
According to a letter PETA sent to Waccatee Zoo on Feb. 25, the organization wanted answers to the whereabouts of Lila after she was the subject of a PETA campaign because of her ill health.
“After months of wasting away, losing fur, and turning in endless circles in her dismal cage, Lila has disappeared—and PETA is asking whether she died, in pain and in the cold, and if her death is being covered up,” says PETA Foundation Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Michelle Sinnott. “Nothing can undo Lila’s suffering, and PETA is calling on Waccatee Zoo to release the other big cats before they suffer as she did.”
And now, PETA is asking the owners of the zoo to release the necropsy report.
In a press statement, Brittany Peet, PETA’s general counsel for captive animal law enforcement, responded to the settlement: “This victory blocks Waccatee’s operators from ever again mistreating wild animals as they did for decades. PETA is delighted to see the survivors thriving in their new sanctuary home and will continue to ask everyone to help us advocate for all animals still trapped in roadside zoos by never patronizing such operations.
In May, PETA and The Wild Animal Sanctuary (TWAS) rescued nine remaining animals left at the Waccatee Zoo. Among the animals retrieved were a llama, two North American black bears, and six emus. PETA said the rescued animals would head to a TWAS sanctuary in Colorado.
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We believe EVERY animal should be treated with respect, empathy, and understanding. We raise awareness to protect and conserve wild, captive, companion and farm animals.
It is vital that we protect animals against acts of cruelty, abuse, and neglect by enforcing established animal welfare laws and, when necessary, take action to ensure that those who abuse animals are brought to justice.
Protect All Wildlife are involved in many projects to protect animals’ rights, welfare, and habitats. Money contributed to Protect All Wildlife supports ALL of our worthy programmes and gives us the flexibility to respond to emerging needs. Your donations make our work possible.
The South Plateau project proposes to clearcut more than 5,500 acres of pine forest in the Custer-Gallatin National Forest. The project also calls for logging on an additional 9,000 acres and bulldozing up to 56 miles of roads, many through mature, old-growth forests.
“This reckless project was approved without considering its threats to Grizzly Bears, Lynx, and other wildlife,” said Kristine Akland, Northern Rockies director and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The fragile Yellowstone ecosystem surrounding this iconic national park is vital for Montana’s rich biodiversity and climate. This project must be stopped before our beautiful backcountry forests are bulldozed.”
The Forest Service approved the logging project without identifying the locations, timing or scope of the logging units or roads. Instead, the agency said it will make those decisions when crews are on the ground, which inhibits analysis of potential harm to protected species and prevents public involvement.
“The Forest Service needs to drop the South Plateau project and quit clearcutting old-growth forests,” said Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “Especially clearcutting and bulldozing new logging roads in grizzly habitat on the border of Yellowstone National Park.”
“Clearcutting high-elevation lodgepole forests across thousands of acres is not going to improve ecological conditions and will not help protect communities from wildfire as the Forest Service claims,” said Adam Rissien, a rewilding advocate at WildEarth Guardians. “Rather, this is another misguided, old-style timber sale that will undermine the forest’s ability to store carbon.”
The project allows for significantly more logging and road building than is authorized by the Custer-Gallatin Forest plan. The notice also says that the South Plateau project will destroy and remove thousands of acres of habitat for Grizzly Bears and Lynx, which are both listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
You can support ‘Protect All Wildlife’ by donating as little as £1 – It only takes a minute but it can last a lifetime for an animal in need. Please donate below.
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The Mission of Protect All Wildlife is to prevent cruelty and promote the welfare of ALL animals.
We believe EVERY animal should be treated with respect, empathy, and understanding. We raise awareness to protect and conserve wild, captive, companion and farm animals.
It is vital that we protect animals against acts of cruelty, abuse, and neglect by enforcing established animal welfare laws and, when necessary, take action to ensure that those who abuse animals are brought to justice.
Protect All Wildlife are involved in many projects to protect animals’ rights, welfare, and habitats. Money contributed to Protect All Wildlife supports ALL of our worthy programmes and gives us the flexibility to respond to emerging needs. Your donations make our work possible.
In May 2019, Botswana’s President Masisi justified the decision to recommence trophy hunting by emphasising that local communities will be guaranteed more than just menial jobs and enjoy sustainable wildlife management’s economic benefits.
A Bull Elephant shot in Botswana – a so-called ‘100 pounder’.
As the passage of the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill moves to the Committee Stage of the House of Lords, a suite of amendments has been tabled for deliberation. These amendments include amending the Bill from a blanket ban to a case-by-case assessment of trophies imported into the United Kingdom based on whether they contribute to the conservation of wildlife and human economic upliftment.
For example: Amendment Clause 2(d) states that hunting imports may only be granted if:
“a hunting area where the hunting operator can demonstrate that financial or non-financial benefits of trophy hunting materially contributes to the conservation of the trophy hunted species, including habitat protection, anti-poaching measures, and support for community livelihoods.”
A Shopping List For Trophy Hunters
At face value, this appears to be equitable. Ignoring the obvious ethical dispute, if trophy hunting can be proven to benefit the conservation of wildlife and human livelihoods, then perhaps it may be a case to consider. However, the problem in the majority of trophy hunting cases, and in most countries where trophy hunting takes place, the activity not only is wholly unable to benefit wildlife and human communities, but precipitates the opposite.
Botswana, one of the major destinations for trophy hunters, is a particular case in point.
The southern African nation has been promoted by some in the House of Lords as an example of a trophy hunting ‘success.’ So much so that a high-level delegation of government officials from Botswana, including a minister, an ambassador and a wildlife department head of authority were invited to the House of Lords in June 2023 to make a case for the benefits of trophy hunting in their country. Yet, serious questions surround Botswana’s ability to adequately regulate trophy hunting and provide any meaningful benefits for communities living among and alongside wildlife.
Field investigations, in-person interviews and literature, financial audit, international policy document reviews have been undertaken over the course of a year to assess the validity that Botswana can provide meaningful and tangible benefits to its wildlife and people. This is a summary of the results:
On an international level, the country has been flagged for non-compliance under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) due to its failure to submit annual reports, which provide crucial information for validating offtake of elephants for trophies for the international trophy trade. This indicates that the wildlife conservation in Botswana is not adequately managed.
Hunting quotas are not based on scientific data. A total quota of 356 Elephants and 74 Leopards are on the Wildlife Hunting Quota List for 2023. These figures are regarded as abnormally high. The list also includes Zebra, Buffalo, Ostrich, Wildebeest, Kudu, Eland, Gemsbok, Warthog, Baboon, and Lechwe.
There is evidence of widespread unethical hunting practices including over-use of already overly high quotas, fraudulent practices, corruption, baiting, and hunting near and within photographic tourism zones. As well as the deployment of aerial support to search for large tuskers and killing Elephant bulls near artificial waterholes.
Trophy hunting activities in Botswana are forcing communities, which are expected to rely on the proceeds of trophy hunting, into a perpetual cycle of impoverishment and economic disenfranchisement. Trophy hunting obstructs the development of more meaningful activities like photographic tourism while the proceeds from trophy hunting are so miniscule that individual community members are practically receiving nothing.
There is also widespread evidence of corruption and mismanagement of funds generated by the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) system in areas centred on trophy hunting as the main economic activity. The mismanagement and corruption are directly linked to trophy hunting.
The current government has revoked scientific research permits of organisations that have been committed to providing peer reviewed scientific data on the conservation status and ecology of Elephants and suppress those that have dared to voice concern over unsustainable and unethical hunting practices.
An aerial photograph of a butchered Elephant, shot by trophy hunters in Botswana.
The adult Elephant Bull (above) has been stripped of its body-parts. The trunk has been hacked off. There are large portions of the Elephant’s skin cut off. All four feet have been removed – presumably to make foot / table stools (the Botswana president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, (in)famously gave Elephant foot stools to the presidents of neighbouring countries at an Elephant Management meeting in Kasane in 2019). The tusks and skull have been taken to a taxidermy. These body parts represent the prize – the trophy – that the hunter was after, and which will be displayed on a wall in their home in Europe or America or Asia. There is also some flesh cut off on the flanks of one side, possibly to provide some meat for the trackers and skinners as a ‘tip’.
It has been claimed in Botswana that trophy hunting is only undertaken in ‘marginal’ wilderness areas that are not deemed viable for photographic tourism. It is also claimed that attempts to convert trophy hunting areas not viable for photographic tourism into photographic tourism areas is a challenge. Areas that are deemed not viable for photographic tourism are remoteness, lower densities of wildlife and monotonous natural landscapes. In these spaces, trophy hunting becomes a necessary evil as the sole provider of revenue for remote communities living within and alongside wildlife.
And yet, this Elephant was shot in a hunting concession (NG41) that is neatly wedged between two national parks – Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe National Park. These two parks are globally renowned for photographic tourism and are consequently brimming with tourists wanting to photograph what Botswana showcases best – wildlife. The fact that that this Elephant was shot right in the middle of these tourist hotspots makes a mockery of the claim that trophy hunting in Botswana only takes place in marginal areas.
The Wall Of Death: A Hunter’s ‘Trophy’ Room
The standard narrative from hunters and their proponents is that trophy hunting is an essential conservation tool that, if conducted ‘ethically’, preserves endangered wildlife and provides revenue for impoverished communities living in marginalised areas where photographic tourism is absent. Yet as this case shows, as they all do, that narrative is a false one. Stripped of its protective fairy-tale veil, the true face of trophy hunting lays bare, a narcissistic bloodlust of a few depraved individuals who care little for ethics, community upliftment or wildlife conservation. ~ Adam Cruise.
In The Trophy Hunter’s Sights: Botswana’s Elephants
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We believe EVERY animal should be treated with respect, empathy, and understanding. We raise awareness to protect and conserve wild, captive, companion and farm animals.
It is vital that we protect animals against acts of cruelty, abuse, and neglect by enforcing established animal welfare laws and, when necessary, take action to ensure that those who abuse animals are brought to justice.
Protect All Wildlife are involved in many projects to protect animals’ rights, welfare, and habitats. Money contributed to Protect All Wildlife supports ALL of our worthy programmes and gives us the flexibility to respond to emerging needs. Your donations make our work possible.
The Environment Secretary offered assurances about the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill in a letter to campaigners.
The Government has pledged to do “all we can” to ensure a ban on trophy hunting imports becomes law amid fears pro-hunting peers could “wreck” the reforms.
Environment Secretary Therese Coffey said the Government will not support any further amendments to the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill.
The proposed legislation would prohibit bringing into the country body parts from species deemed of conservation concern.
The Bill, introduced by Conservative MP Henry Smith, has already cleared the House of Commons.
But a group of peers have raised concerns and tabled amendments that threaten to derail the proposals.
Time is running out to consider the Bill and it will fall if it does not receive royal assent before the current parliamentary session stops ahead of the King’s Speech on November 7.
Ms Coffey, in a letter to the Humane Society International/UK dated August 17, wrote: “It is a manifesto commitment to ban the import of hunting trophies from endangered animals and we are working hard to deliver.
“The Bill passed the Commons in March, with the Government’s support, and we will do all we can to support its progress through the House of Lords working with Baroness Fookes.
“I can confirm that we will not be supporting any further amendments to the Bill. I expect committee stage to progress next month.”
Conservative peer Lady Fookes is the Bill’s sponsor in the House of Lords.
Claire Bass, senior director of campaigns and public affairs at Humane Society International/UK, said: “There is a small and vocal group of pro-hunting peers doing their best to wreck this Bill, but we need the Government to remain focused on the almost 90% of the public who want this ban on the import of hunting trophies.
“The timing for this Bill is indeed extremely tight but we were encouraged to receive a letter from Environment Secretary Therese Coffey yesterday.”
No Friday sittings to consider private members’ bills are expected in the House of Lords in September, according to the Government whips’ office in the Lords.
With the party conference recess running until October 16, there are expected to be just two possible Friday sittings before the parliamentary session ends.
Mr Smith, MP for Crawley, said he is speaking with the Government in a bid to secure more parliamentary time for his Bill.
Conservative peer Lord Mancroft, who opposes the proposals, said amendments have been tabled in a bid to “clean up” or clarify parts of the “badly drafted” Bill.
He acknowledged it is “very possible” the amendments could halt the Bill’s progress and rated its chances as “less than 10%”.
Mr Smith said the planned legislation is about UK import policy, adding opponents have pressed “spurious arguments” about how trophy hunting helps conservation.
A House of Lords briefing paper on the Bill stated: “According to figures from the Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna) trade database, 190 hunting trophies from Cites-listed species were imported into the UK in 2020 (the most recent complete year for which figures are available).”
Through Philanthropy and Activism, Bob Barker Fought Animal Cruelty.
All about Bob Barker’s animal activism — from refusing fur prizes to launching a non-profit charity that funds Spay & Neuter clinics.
Bob Barker, an affable fixture on US television for half a century who hosted the popular game show The Price Is Right for 35 years and was a committed animal rights activist, has died at age 99, NBC News and Fox reported on Saturday.
Barker died on Saturday morning of natural causes at his Hollywood Hills, California, home, his publicist Roger Neal said.
Bob Barker with Nancy Burnet, president of United Activist for Animal Rights, in front of a Fifth Avenue furrier in New York in 1988. Credit…Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times
Barker was known for pro-animal causes and campaigned for them into his 90s. He would end episodes of The Price Is Right by urging viewers to get their pets spayed and neutered to control the animal population and began a foundation to subsidise the practices. He also spoke out against the treatment of animals in zoos, rodeos and circuses.
Over decades as the host of The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in American television history, Mr. Barker, beginning in the 1980, used his pulpit to remind millions of viewers to “help control the pet population; have your pet spayed or neutered.”
He put $25 million into founding the DJ & T Foundation which finances clinics that specialize in spaying and neutering. The foundation was named after Mr. Barker’s wife, Dorothy Jo, and his mother, Matilda Valandra, who was known as Tilly.
In 2004, he donated $1 million to Columbia University School of Law to further the study of animal rights law.
“The Law School is extremely grateful for this generous gift,” said Dean David M. Schizer. “And we look forward to giving our students exposure to this growing area of legal scholarship.”
In 2010 he donated US$5 million for a 1,200-ton ship named the Bob Barker that was operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to stop Japanese whaling ships from killing whales off Antarctica.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Anti-Whaling Ship ‘Bob Barker’
In 2012 Bob funded the travel costs for three Elephants to travel from the Toronto Zoo to a sanctuary in California aboard a private plane.
A spokesman for the TV icon says Barker offered to fund the $880,000 flight after learning that one of the Elephants wasn’t well enough to withstand the long trip by truck.
Henri Bollinger said that the Toronto Zoo agreed to move Thika, Iringa and Toka to the Performing Animals Welfare Society Elephant sanctuary in San Andreas, Calif., but that one of the animals suffers from “a serious foot problem.”
Barker described the Elephants’ new home as a “paradise” and said “to think that one of them might not survive the trip in a truck touched my heart and purse strings.”
Bob Barker with one of the Elephants that he helped travel to PAWS sanctuary
“It is money well-spent. I don’t know where you get more for your dollar, so far as protecting animals is concerned, than you get from PETA,” Barker said.
Bob Barker and Ingrid Newkirk at the opening of the PETA Bob Barker building in Los Angeles
In 2015, he stood behind a podium in an eleventh-floor conference room at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. His mission: to publicly shame Foster Farms — among the biggest poultry producers on the West Coast — for cruelty toward animals.
Reporters at the event were shown a secretly taped video, narrated by Barker and shot in May and June at two Foster Farms slaughtering plants in Fresno, Calif. The video showed scenes of thousands of chickens being carelessly hung by their legs on conveyor belts. Factory workers execute the process with brutal efficiency, occasionally punching live birds and plucking out their feathers.
Bob Barker speaking for Mercy For Animals in Los Angeles in 2015. Barker criticised poultry producer Foster Farms after an animal-rights group released video showing chickens being shackled, punched and having their feathers pulled out while still alive. Photo: AP
Julie Woodyer, campaigns director at Zoocheck, knew Barker for years as they collaborated on both successful and failed efforts to free animals from captivity at Canada’s zoos.
She says Barker brought a determination and generosity that was unmatched by other celebrities, often opening his chequebook to support the cause and willingly making public appearances to raise awareness.
“I just can’t imagine there will be somebody to replace that ever,” Woodyer said in a phone interview.
Woodyer first connected with the TV host and his partner Nancy Burnet over email in 2010 as Zoocheck — in co-operation with other animal rights organizations –attempted to free Lucy the elephant from the Edmonton Valley Zoo.
In 2011, Barker appeared on CTV’s “Canada AM” morning show where he explained that elephants were not adapted to brave Canada’s harsh winter climate and Lucy’s health was deteriorating.
While the campaign to relocate Lucy was unsuccessful, Woodyer said a bond was formed with Barker over their shared interest in animal rights.
Together, they were involved in a controversial and years-long effort to move three elephants — Toka, Thika and Iringa — from the Toronto Zoo to a sanctuary in California. The campaign included Barker making public appearances and mingling with local city councillors to explain his view in hopes they would lend their support.
Ultimately, Barker donated $800,000 to the Peoples Animal Welfare Society for the successful transport and care of the animals.
“It would have been years and years for us to try to fundraise that,” Woodyer said, “And it would’ve been too late for some of those elephants.”
Barker later donated $50,000 to help build Manitoba’s first black bear cub rehabilitation centre.
“Lending his celebrity voice … really boosted those campaigns significantly and allowed us to have a broader audience,” Woodyer said.
“He was the funniest man I’ve ever met, extremely sharp, even in his very late years, and he could always come up with something funny, and make us all laugh even in the midst of difficult times in our campaigns.”
Bob Barker was a passionate animal rights advocate throughout his life. PHOTO: PAUL ARCHULETA/FILMMAGIC
I’d like to see animals removed from the entertainment business. Chimpanzees and apes won’t perform unless you beat them. Circuses keep elephants in chains 90 percent of the time. Elephants need freedom of movement. In circuses, they live in cramped quarters, which is not the life intended for them by nature. Some are beaten daily, forced to do ridiculous tricks and robbed of every shred of dignity. ~ Bob Barker.
A large group of tourists have been caught on camera at Yellowstone National Park refusing to move away from a Bear, despite intervention from two Park Rangers.
In the video, which you can watch below, at least eight people with cameras and phones are gathered near a Black Bear while Rangers attempt to move them along, explaining that it’s for their own safety and that of the animals, and that the rules apply to everyone. Despite these warnings, a few people refuse to budge until they’re satisfied with their pictures, despite the Rangers standing right in front of them.
“Yellowstone National Park isn’t Disney Land. Everything here is beautiful but has the potential of serious harm or death. This bear was 35 yards off the Road don’t get out of your car. It’s a wild animal and can go from grazing to attack in a moment. A man had his kids out of the car 35 yards from a big Black Bear and accused the Rangers of taking the fun out of it. Yellowstone is not a zoo animals can be unpredictable. Be smart be safe and give the animals their space. Stay in your car when they are close to the road.”
“The lack of respect for the rangers and wildlife is beyond infuriating. These people need to understand Yellowstone is not a petting zoo” said one onlooker.
When I got wind of your courageous exploits, I felt I had to congratulate you. For a start, you are British. We adore the British – they are our second favourite colonialists. The first, obviously, are the Dutch. They gave us the Afrikaners who in turn gave us apartheid. What’s not to love about apartheid, right? Was that the reason your parents moved to South Africa in 1980?
Your efforts to encourage tourism to South Africa in these fraught times are laudable, indeed. It’s not easy these days to find a Brit who is interested in anything other than Brexit and that tawdry harlot, Meghan Markle.
Even though you’re only 46 and hail from Epsom, Surrey, you have your very own company operating out of Johannesburg. It’s called Take Aim Safaris. At first I thought it might be another of those bunny-fondling outfits that think the best way to shoot animals is with a camera. Ha! Poor fools. Unlike you, sir, they have clearly never cradled a 300 Winchester Magnum in one arm and a high-class prostitute in the other.
And you named your eldest son Hunter! You wouldn’t expect a man who enjoys shooting animals in the face to have a sense of humour. Well done.
You spotted a gap in the market. As the plague is still very much with us, people are understandably reluctant to travel. That’s until you reminded them that with fewer hunters around, wild animals have been breeding like, well, wild animals. You can barely walk anywhere in South Africa right now without bumping into an elephant.
So you fired off a newsletter to 3,000 of your clients around the world encouraging them to come here and kill a bunch of stuff for sport. And what a sport it is! Okay, maybe not so much for the animals, but they don’t pay taxes and won’t be missed.
You wrote, “Big elephant and trophy buffalo + hippo, croc are plentiful. The areas are well rested, the animal movement is fantastic.” Let’s see how fantastically they move with a 5.56-caliber bullet lodged in their brain haha.
“I have quota available on the big cats: leopard and lion plus elephant bulls at unbeatable prices.” This is great news. I have never trusted an animal that can’t change its spots. Leopards are duplicitous, violent brutes and I am delighted to hear that they are now on special. Lions, too, will pretend to befriend you, then have your throat out just for the sport of it. They are cats, after all. Did you know this? Or do you simply judge everything with four legs according to the price tag on its hairy ass? Fair enough.
Some of your prices do seem a bit steep. $8 for a guinea fowl? Leave a trail of breadcrumbs into your oven and they’ll cook themselves. $150 for a mongoose? Can’t be much left, especially if you’re using hollow-point ammo. And $75 for a vervet monkey? Daylight robbery, that is. Porcupines are priced right at $300. Even though it’s more of an execution than a hunt, you could still get a quill in the eye if you were very drunk and had to fall on him.
In a recent interview with African Hunting Gazette, you said you shot your first leopard at 16. Impressive! I hadn’t even had my first blowjob by that age and there you were on a wild killing spree. Have you had your first blowjob yet? No matter. It’s the killing that’s important.
I love that you hunted for a Christian drug rehab in the Northern Cape when you were younger. You gave them more meat than they knew what to do with. That’s a David Lynch movie, that is. Produced by Oliver Stone. Featuring a young Sylvester Stallone as you.
You’ve hunted all over – Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe … you even shot a bear in Russia. I suppose he didn’t understand when you shouted, “Hands up! Don’t move or I’ll shoot!” You also said Namibia is a great place to hunt.
“Namibia reminds me of South Africa 30 years ago with its low human population and massive open spaces.” Yep, there was hardly anyone living in South Africa in 1991. An easy mistake to make, what with 40 million people being tucked away out of sight. As for the massive open spaces, well, you had the Group Areas Act to thank for that.
The magazine asked what’s your favourite animals to hunt and you said, “Dagga Boys!” What? That was the name of my gang when I was growing up. But you were talking about something else. “Such an exciting hunt … it’s kill or be killed when you’re hunting buffalo.” So you engage in hand-to-hoof combat with these brutes? Respect, bro.
Our president is also into buffalo in a big way. Mainly for breeding purposes, though. No, I don’t mean … never mind.
Your greatest trophy was the buffalo you hunted with your dad in Mozambique. “It was, and remains, the fulfillment of a father and son dream hunt in a perfect environment.”
My greatest trophy was for tennis in Standard 8. It was tiny but I was very proud. My father never taught me how to hunt. Instead, he taught me how to play pool. The thrill just wasn’t the same, although people did die in some of the pubs he took me to.
You talk fondly of the “38-inch bull in Mozambique that put me firmly on a path I’m still on”. That’s, like, just over a metre? What kind of small-ass bull is that? You might as well have kicked him to death. Anyway, what do I know. I’m sure you believe your wife when she tells you that size isn’t everything.
So the hippo-humpers are saying that many of the animals on your list are endangered. This is nonsense. There are around 400 000 African elephants left in the wild. If you shot a hundred a day, they would last for ten years. That’s not exactly endangered in my book.
There are also 20 000 lions roaming about off their leashes. That’s more than enough lions for everyone. You can get through five a day at least, maybe more if they stop hiding up trees and in cardboard boxes. Sure, their numbers have plummeted by over 40% in the last three generations as a result of hunting, but our national IQ has dropped 40 points in three years as a result of bad education and too much CNN and you don’t see us shooting our stupid people, do you? Damn, this stuff is strong.
Where was I? Oh, yes. You charge £10,000 to shoot an elephant? That, my friend, is a small fortune in my pathetic currency. And £14,500 to put a bullet into the back of a lion’s head? That’s way too much. Are you on drugs? Tell you what. I’ll give you R10 000 for two baby elephants, three monkeys and a crocodile. You do mix-and-match packages, right? And you do pay your taxes, right?
I see you have lived in Joburg for almost your entire life. It’s completely understandable, then, that you would want to kill everything in sight. And you’ve been organising assassinations ever since 2008? Nice work if you can get it.
I see those gerbil-suckers over at MailOnline have been questioning your ethics. How very dare they. You told them, “We eat what we hunt … we love and conserve animals.” I’ve often wondered what elephant tastes like. Tough, I imagine. Do you make carpaccio out of the leopards? That would be a winner among the Italians.
You also told the running dogs of the media that “I have broken no laws”. Good one, mate. You and me and Jacob Zuma know it’s impossible to break laws in this country. Well, you can break them alright, but there ain’t jackshit gonna happen to you.
That bastion of truth, The Mirror, asked how you felt about the dwindling number of wild animals in SA. You said they were lying, which they obviously were, and said, “In South Africa we have over 20,000,000 wild animals bred and conserved here. The birth rate per annum is around 3,000,000.” You might want to check your science, son. I think you’re talking about our people, here.
By the way, my friend Ted said you look like a bit of a cunt. You’ll be pleased to know that I had one of the servants horsewhip him soundly. Your name is Knight, for heaven’s sake. You’re a member of the realm. And I do mean member.
I liked the way you wrapped up your interview with that hunting magazine: “For my family and I, there is no life without God.” There’s a rich vein of irony in there somewhere.
Did you know that if your Boris Johnson had kept his word and implemented the ban on trophy imports pledged in his election manifesto and repeated in the Commons last year, you’d be back in Surrey organising weasel hunts by now?
Our president also has trouble keeping his promises. Politicians, eh? Long may they lie.
Ben Trovato is the author of thirteen books, although you wouldn’t think so if you had to see his living conditions. His notorious trilogy of letters illuminated the darkest recesses of the human psyche, while his self-help guide went a long way towards boosting divorce and suicide rates. He also wrote a book that almost turned golf into a blood sport and brought out a survival manual that caused more harm than good. With a background in print and television journalism, Trovato’s popular newspaper columns have earned him a wicked reputation and a fatty liver.He can often be found surfing instead of meeting his deadlines. Trovato lives alone with two regrets and a hangover.
PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE 