Thousands of fruit bats in Lebanon were sprayed with shotgun and AK-47 bullets over the weekend. Thousands of fruit bats could have used Batman’s help last weekend when one or more unidentified assailants unleashed a spray of shotgun and AK-47 shells inside a cave in northern Lebanon. This senseless massacre wiped out at least 5,000 […]
While the Arab world has close ties with their hardy camels, Australia considers their 1.2 million population of wild camels to be nothing more than pests. Camels are valued in the Arab world for their meat, milk, and leather, but in Australia, more than one million wild Dromedary camels are considered pests. They are also […]
Although many people in our region revere wildlife, too often we write about egregious abuse. Here are 7 of the saddest wildlife stories from the Middle East, and what you can do to help such harmful practices come to an end. Many people living in the Middle East believe that it is haram to harm […]
Experiencing the incredible bond between game warden Tonie Joubert and Jessica the Hippo, it’s easy to forget that this is Africa’s most fearsome animal. Having grown up to fear hippos more than any other creature on the African continent, it was with great hesitation that I approached Jessica’s giant canine teeth and powerful gaping jaw. […]
Green Prophet recently visited the Hoedspruit Endangered Species center in South Africa to get a better sense of conservation initiatives aimed at restoring the cheetah’s dwindling population. The last cheetah we wrote about was a scrawny, injured juvenile running through the streets of Abu Dhabi – another casualty of the Gulf country’s (illegal) obsession with owning […]
Egypt’s first wildlife sanctuary in the Red Sea will ensure that Hurghada’s Indo-pacific dolphins can rest and socialize in peace! Egypt’s Red Sea Governor Mahmoud Assem has established a safe-zone designed to protect the vulnerable Indo-pacific dolphin (Tursiops aduncus). The move, which bans any kind of vessel from entering the Fanous Reef, has been lauded […]
These tiny Egyptian Tortoises are a hot commodity among illegal wildlife traders. They are also facing extinction in the wild as a result. Fantapants is a “postaholic member” of a reptile forum in the United Kingdom. In January 2008, when gold star member Jay Kickboxer asked where he could buy an Egyptian Tortoise for his “missus” […]
Some people make collages of family pictures, but a group of friends in Kuwait compiled these images after killing a wolf with a shotgun. In response to yesterday’s post about the only two countries in the Middle East that offer wolves any kind of legal protection, a Kuwaiti reader forwarded a link to a story […]
The wolf pictured above is an Iranian wolf, which exists is dwindling numbers throughout Israel, Iran, and Turkey. Our fear of the wolf is historically as deep-seated as our survival instinct, which may explain why only two countries in the Middle East have established official bans against hunting them. Two subspecies of the Gray Wolf […]
According to K's PATH, poaching in Kuwait has reached epic proportions, and it is not uncommon to see men shooting at animals from moving vehicles.
2,000 miles away from the nearest continent, thousands of baby albatrosses are dying. The cause? Plastic. Over the years, we have watched plastic take a terrible toll on our fauna and flora. We’ve seen it kill our camels, pollute our waterways, and fill the belly of a very sick turtle. The plastic issue is so […]
African wild asses in a Basel Switzerland zoo. Perhaps the only hope for their survival of this animal which once roamed North Africa. Wild animals in North Africa and which are/were also found in the Middle East are threatened: there is the Arabian Oryx,a species of leopards and even baby crocodiles. One particular hoofed mammal, the […]
A lion cub belonging to a suspected criminal was shot dead during a police raid in Egypt The Egyptian police officers who raided the house of wanted suspect in the village of Kafr Essam in north Cairo were probably expecting some resistance but they definitely weren’t expecting a lion to be unleashed on them. According […]
We speak to Ibrahim Al Zu’bi from the Emirates Divers Association about why the ban on shark finning in the UAE hasn’t worked and what ordinary people can do to stop the horrific trade In 2008, shark finning in the United Arab Emirates was banned. For many environmentalists and conservationists this was a time to […]
Karl Ammann (center) explains why wildlife trade in the Middle East goes unregulated. In 2007, Karl Ammann appeared on Time Magazine’s Heroes of the Environment List, and for good reason. Since discovering 2,004 smoked primates and 1,000 fresh carcasses on board Zaire river boats in1988, he has devoted his life to exposing both the bushmeat […]