Marine Protected Areas ~ Conserving the Seas

The BBC's Ade Adepitan visits the coast of Gabon which has implemented a substantial Marine Protected Area off its coast. I've been moved by the idea that half of Earth should be set aside in nature protection reserves. That is, half for animal kingdom, half for humanity. Right now, there's a lot more work to be done. Here's the biggest of the MPA's...

Poacher Hell ~ Saving & Breeding Black Rhinos

Thanks to Weather Channel for sharing BRINK video Poacher Hell on the saving and breeding of endangered Black Rhinos...

Conservation Militias ~ Stop Elephant Holocaust...

Jeffrey Gentleman writes in the NYTimes that To Save Wildlife, and Tourism, Kenyans Take Up Arms...

"...destitute villagers have seized upon an unconventional solution that, if replicated elsewhere, could be the key to saving thousands of elephants across Africa, conservationists say. In a growing number of communities here, people are so eager, even desperate, to protect their wildlife that civilians with no military experience are banding together [...] risking their lives to confront heavily armed poaching gangs. It is essentially a militarized neighborhood watch [...] These citizen-rangers are not doing this out of altruism or some undying love for pachyderms. They do it because in Kenya, perhaps more than just about anywhere else, wildlife means tourists, and tourists mean dollars -- a lot of dollars."

See also photoessay by Tyler Hicks. And illegal trade infographic...

Qumquat Killed ~ Poachers Slaughter Elephants

NYTimes DotEarthling Andrew Revkin shares the sad news that Africa’s Ivory-Driven Elephant Slaughter Continues -- A Family Falls...

"Qumquat, one of the best-known matriarchs in the elephant population of the Amboseli ecosystem on the Kenya-Tanzania border, was photographed with her family on October 27 by Nick Brandt. Just 24 hours later, the old female and most of the others were gunned down by poachers."