April 5, 2011
Popular domain registrar Namecheap.com has today announced that it raised $20,000 for Save The Elephants via a campaign which offered users a special discounted domain transfers in response to a recent video showing the CEO of GoDaddy shooting elephants in Zimbabwe.
The registrar allowed GoDaddy customers to transfer their com/org/net domains onto Namecheap’s servers for just $4.99 per domain, donating 20% from each transfer to Save The Elephants.
It is estimated that over 20,000 GoDaddy customers decided to migrate their domains to Namecheap, earning the company $80,000 for facilitating the transfers in just a few days. Spurred by messages of outrage posted on Facebook and websites, GoDaddy also dominated the trending topics on Twitter for all the wrong reasons.
Even though Namecheap’s campaign kicked into life from a sensitive issue, you have to hand it to the registrar for acting so quickly to capitalise on the outrage whilst giving back to a charity that protect the animals killed in the video.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Use technology to safeguard wildlife
Tanzania 2011
President Jakaya Kikwete yesterday expressed dismay over the slow pace by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism in curbing massive poaching of wildlife in national parks and game reserves.
“Gangsters (poachers) are killing wild animals…the gravity of criminal acts in our game reserves is quite alarming,” he said during a visit to the natural resources and tourist ministry in Dar es Salaam.
He said incidents of wildlife killing and poaching in national parks and game reserves by gangs or illegal hunters were on the increase, but the responsible ministry has not launched effective measures to redress the situation.
“To be frank, I am not impressed by your response to the killings of the precious resource,” he noted.
The President’s observation came after the Natural Resources minister; Ezekiel Maige said that the ministry had tried to enhance security in the country’s national parks and game reserves to protect wildlife.
He said that poaching has been greatly reduced in many national parks and game reserves after the ministry installed strategic and comprehensive security systems in the areas.
But the president criticised the ministry’s game security control measures saying that protection efforts don’t match the speed of poachers.
“You claim to have launched strategies to enhance security in the game reserves but a lot of animals are being killed daily,” he said.
In short, he said, the natural resources ministry was not capable of protecting wildlife.
Kikwete asked the ministry to be open and seek support of other state organs to save the wildlife from decimation.
He promised to support the ministry to embark on a major and long-term crackdown against poachers in the national parks and game reserves.
“I am ready to direct the military to intervene in the protection of wildlife in controlled national parks and game reserves,” said the president. “We have to be serious about this ….we have to stop massive poaching, otherwise we will spoil our reputation in wildlife conservation,” he noted.
Instead of sticking to old and traditional security methods, President Kikwete challenged the natural resource ministry to employ advanced and satellite technologies in checking underground movements of poachers in national parks and game reserves.
He said the ministry should consult international experts to set up satellite monitoring systems to locate illegal hunters in national parks and game reserves, thus enabling game wardens to easily nab the culprits.
“I believe that with the application of satellite systems, you will do wonders in a span of only six months,” he stressed.
The President proposed extensive review of wildlife conservation Act 2009 to stiffen penalties against poachers.
“Currently, penalties ….12 months or three years in jail, as provided in the law are not enough, when compared to the benefits these gangs get from the resources,” he said.
Please review the Act and increase the penalties to at least five years in jail.
“The current Act is so lenient, you cannot halt poaching in our parks and reserves,” he added.
President Jakaya Kikwete yesterday expressed dismay over the slow pace by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism in curbing massive poaching of wildlife in national parks and game reserves.
“Gangsters (poachers) are killing wild animals…the gravity of criminal acts in our game reserves is quite alarming,” he said during a visit to the natural resources and tourist ministry in Dar es Salaam.
He said incidents of wildlife killing and poaching in national parks and game reserves by gangs or illegal hunters were on the increase, but the responsible ministry has not launched effective measures to redress the situation.
“To be frank, I am not impressed by your response to the killings of the precious resource,” he noted.
The President’s observation came after the Natural Resources minister; Ezekiel Maige said that the ministry had tried to enhance security in the country’s national parks and game reserves to protect wildlife.
He said that poaching has been greatly reduced in many national parks and game reserves after the ministry installed strategic and comprehensive security systems in the areas.
But the president criticised the ministry’s game security control measures saying that protection efforts don’t match the speed of poachers.
“You claim to have launched strategies to enhance security in the game reserves but a lot of animals are being killed daily,” he said.
In short, he said, the natural resources ministry was not capable of protecting wildlife.
Kikwete asked the ministry to be open and seek support of other state organs to save the wildlife from decimation.
He promised to support the ministry to embark on a major and long-term crackdown against poachers in the national parks and game reserves.
“I am ready to direct the military to intervene in the protection of wildlife in controlled national parks and game reserves,” said the president. “We have to be serious about this ….we have to stop massive poaching, otherwise we will spoil our reputation in wildlife conservation,” he noted.
Instead of sticking to old and traditional security methods, President Kikwete challenged the natural resource ministry to employ advanced and satellite technologies in checking underground movements of poachers in national parks and game reserves.
He said the ministry should consult international experts to set up satellite monitoring systems to locate illegal hunters in national parks and game reserves, thus enabling game wardens to easily nab the culprits.
“I believe that with the application of satellite systems, you will do wonders in a span of only six months,” he stressed.
The President proposed extensive review of wildlife conservation Act 2009 to stiffen penalties against poachers.
“Currently, penalties ….12 months or three years in jail, as provided in the law are not enough, when compared to the benefits these gangs get from the resources,” he said.
Please review the Act and increase the penalties to at least five years in jail.
“The current Act is so lenient, you cannot halt poaching in our parks and reserves,” he added.
Elephant Hunt Controversy Surrounds GoDaddy.com CEO
The social network web site Twitter is all abuzz because of a trip GoDaddy.com CEO Bob Parsons went on and a video he posted online.
The video shows Parsons on a trip to Zimbabwe and an elephant hunt he went on.
On the video, Parsons talks about rogue elephants in the African nation and how they cause damage to local crops.
He went on a night hunt and killed an elephant, chronicling the adventure in a 4-minute vacation video.
Five shots from the team lead by Parsons, and the bull elephant went down. Parsons later posed with the animal.
The villagers celebrated the next day as they divided up the meat.
On his blog, Parsons explains that he only hunts where it's regulated.
In these areas, there is no concern about the elephants becoming extinct. In fact, the bigger problem is that there are too many of them, but that's not a good enough reason for the many tweets circulating the web as many people are upset with the hunt.
Many of the tweets are critical of Parsons and some animal rights activists are calling for a boycott. Some people want to know why such a successful businessman would want to use his vacation time to shoot elephants.
One activist called the video a" gruesome elephant snuff film."
FOX 10 talked to Parsons by phone on Tuesday. He told us, "I kind of figured that this might happen. So be it, I'm not ashamed of what I did... all these people that are complaining that this shouldn't happen, that these people who are starving to death otherwise shouldn't eat these elephants, you probably see them driving through at McDonald cutting a steak. These people don't have that option."
Parsons says it was "rewarding" to help the villagers and he plans to go next year.
Director of Conservation at the Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park, Ariz. - Dr. Grey Stafford's statement:
"The human-elephant conflict is real. About 75-100 elephants A DAY have been killed at human hands worldwide over past 40 years. And about one person a day loses their life due to the increasing numbers of conflicts between animals searching for food and poor communities trying to survive. The ever expanding human population on a shrinking planet makes these deadly conflicts more likely in the future and while elephants may "win" a few battles, their species most certainly will lose the war unless we humans change our ways fast. Otherwise the extinction of the largest land animal on earth is inevitable."
"While some hunting organizations are fabulous conservationists (e.g., ducks unlimited), many countries do a poor job of managing their natural resources and wildlife in a sustainable way. Corruption is rampant."
"As for hunting an endangered species, just because something is deemed legal to do, it doesn't mean it is the wisest thing to do. Perhaps those with financial means can fund greater security protection of wildlife parks that are woefully underfunded or pay to relocate troublesome animals away from rural communities. They might even get to fire at an animal using a dart gun but without the lethal consequences. Everybody wins."
The video along with article can be seen at the link below.
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/morning_show/godaddy-ceo-shoots-elephant-03292011
The video shows Parsons on a trip to Zimbabwe and an elephant hunt he went on.
On the video, Parsons talks about rogue elephants in the African nation and how they cause damage to local crops.
He went on a night hunt and killed an elephant, chronicling the adventure in a 4-minute vacation video.
Five shots from the team lead by Parsons, and the bull elephant went down. Parsons later posed with the animal.
The villagers celebrated the next day as they divided up the meat.
On his blog, Parsons explains that he only hunts where it's regulated.
In these areas, there is no concern about the elephants becoming extinct. In fact, the bigger problem is that there are too many of them, but that's not a good enough reason for the many tweets circulating the web as many people are upset with the hunt.
Many of the tweets are critical of Parsons and some animal rights activists are calling for a boycott. Some people want to know why such a successful businessman would want to use his vacation time to shoot elephants.
One activist called the video a" gruesome elephant snuff film."
FOX 10 talked to Parsons by phone on Tuesday. He told us, "I kind of figured that this might happen. So be it, I'm not ashamed of what I did... all these people that are complaining that this shouldn't happen, that these people who are starving to death otherwise shouldn't eat these elephants, you probably see them driving through at McDonald cutting a steak. These people don't have that option."
Parsons says it was "rewarding" to help the villagers and he plans to go next year.
Director of Conservation at the Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park, Ariz. - Dr. Grey Stafford's statement:
"The human-elephant conflict is real. About 75-100 elephants A DAY have been killed at human hands worldwide over past 40 years. And about one person a day loses their life due to the increasing numbers of conflicts between animals searching for food and poor communities trying to survive. The ever expanding human population on a shrinking planet makes these deadly conflicts more likely in the future and while elephants may "win" a few battles, their species most certainly will lose the war unless we humans change our ways fast. Otherwise the extinction of the largest land animal on earth is inevitable."
"While some hunting organizations are fabulous conservationists (e.g., ducks unlimited), many countries do a poor job of managing their natural resources and wildlife in a sustainable way. Corruption is rampant."
"As for hunting an endangered species, just because something is deemed legal to do, it doesn't mean it is the wisest thing to do. Perhaps those with financial means can fund greater security protection of wildlife parks that are woefully underfunded or pay to relocate troublesome animals away from rural communities. They might even get to fire at an animal using a dart gun but without the lethal consequences. Everybody wins."
The video along with article can be seen at the link below.
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/morning_show/godaddy-ceo-shoots-elephant-03292011
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- Pat Dewil and Call of Africa Safaris
- Professional wildlife guide, conservationist, student of Africa politics and observer of human foibles. My stamping grounds are the wilds of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Botswana, Madagascar and Cameroon and the Central Africa Republic. "Walking on the Wildside" is an attempt to share the stories of the adventures and anecdotes about the interesting people and animals I've collected along the way. www.callofafrica.co.za