Leading elephant conservationist shot dead in Tanzania | Hacker News Reader

Leading elephant conservationist shot dead in Tanzania

theguardian.com

128 pointsadamnemecek31 comments

You guys should consider donating to anti poaching foundation https://www.iapf.org that does a great job fighting these poachers. There's also David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust which takes care of elephant and rhino orphans https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org. Most of them are orphaned due to poaching

Daphne Sheldrik do really good work. They also it effort into training people I rather than importing them.

Oops! The poachers basically opened the season on themselves.

After this, no radical conservationist on the planet is going to have any lingering shred of remorse in going after their lives.

Hopefully they still will. An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.

The sweet spot for deterrence comes in the form of punishment that is swift and certain, not necessarily dire.

I'm sorry, no. I must respectfully disagree here - death to poachers is fair when we're talking about the extinction of species, and certainly of some of the most majestic creatures on our planet. We have 7+ billion humans and fewer than 500 thousand elephants in Africa and fewer than 30,000 rhinos left. They are more valuable than gold - literally priceless. Everything and anything must be done to protect and ensure the survival of the species.

> Everything and anything must be done to protect and ensure the survival of the species.

That's your value judgement. Others may have a different judgement. How do you decide who's right?

(Just for clarification: I think poachers are the scum of the earth, but there's a long way from that to what you're proposing, AFAIUI.)

In Kenya they kill rhino poachers on site.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35503077

This is incredibly sad news. My thoughts are with his family. What a sad world we live in sometimes.

I agree. But man, what an incredible world we live in that we have people literally willing to put their life on the line for causes like this.

sad but the reality is that if you're going to cost organized criminal groups millions of dollars...you risk your life. Just business, and life is pretty cheap in some parts of the world.

I agree with the sentiment that there are systemic problems. But I disagree with tone of resignation.

I feel like growing up in that environment breeds résignation around the frankly pretty common deaths that crop up.

i recently went on my first safari in Sabi Sands in South Africa. It was an incredible experience. I intend to see more of Africa. Hopefully, enough tourism to Africa will encourage more protection of the animals. Riding around in an open jeep taking pictures like these is a unique experience:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVrIQXLF1uF/?taken-by=mmellinger...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVtxGoVlh6E/?taken-by=mmellinger...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVty4K8FjBG/?taken-by=mmellinger...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVtyQxHFYCa/?taken-by=mmellinger...

> Riding around in an open jeep taking pictures like these should be on everyone’s list

That does not scale. It's much better to buy a magnifying glass and go on safari in your yard or park.

Silly hackers ;)

HN doesn't understand irony.

How about a microscope, and then in a swab from your mouth.

I looked into doing an African safari a couple of years back, but for the places I really wanted to visit I was surprised at just how damn expensive they are. It's not uncommon to be spending over $1,000 per night at some of the established camps in places like the Okavango.

Not sure what places you are referring to but I did a self-driven safari early this year in Kruger (South Africa) and even though it was definitely an expensive experience compared to the rest of my trip, it was well below that amount. These are approximate amounts, but I think that including the car rental, the daily entrance fee to the park and staying overnight, all together was around 50-60euros per day. Guided tours that span over multiple days tend to get quite expensive, I agree. And there's plenty of high-end accommodation and travel packages. But there are also ways to experiencing it without spending a fortune.

Safaris are a great experience, but if everyone starts doing them, there are certainly some ecological problems. It needs to remain the fun for the few rich and privileged.

Yes, I changed what I said. I didn't actually think everyone on the planet should head over. I was simply trying to convey my enthusiasm. Should have known I was going to get nailed by that nerd response: "Well, ya know if everyone ..."

The fact that it's $1000/night per person sort of limits the problem.

From my experience visiting Kruger earlier this year, the overcrowding problem is fixed by simply closing the gate after a certain quota is reached. I was there during a local holiday and they closed the gate at around 11am as enough people entered already by that time.

I'm not sure if I'm confusing what you mean with 'Safari' with something else, but entering the park and driving around to spot and see wildlife, is not that expensive. Entrance to Kruger is under 5euros for South Africans for instance, definitely not for the rich and privileged only.

You are right of course, a safari is not that expensive once you have traveled to the place. I myself was 3 weeks ago on a one-day trip from Johannesburg to Pilanesberg. The cost was USD 250 for a trip for two people, with pick-up from hotel, transport, entrance to park, game rides, lunch and drop back to hotel. Anyone who can afford to travel to Johannesburg from Europe, Asia or America can afford that.

The ride around the park is not that bad for nature (it's on roads built around the area, no-go outside vehicles) but if the number of visitors increases a lot, I can see the pressure definitely is a problem (more and more people want to come, so maybe the gate needs to be open for a few more people? And so on.)

I saw many of the impressive big animals there, elephants, giraffes, zebras, GNUs, etc, and to top it all, a leopard waited behind a bend on the road, and walked right next to our jeep so that we could just observe it. It was not bothered by our jeep at all. Even cell phone camera pictures are very good.

It was great to see it. But somehow I felt not comfortable about it. Why's that great animal not afraid of people that drive this ugly jeep right next to her hunting grounds?

In 5 days I found only one leopard, and it was fairly distant, I'm glad you could see one up close!

I understand the pressure factor you mention, but at the same time I don't think that making it an exclusive expensive experience only for a few is really a solution (as parent was hinting to). One possible solution that comes to mind is Machu Picchu: you want to go there? You need to buy a ticket months in advance.

About your last comment, on why are animals not afraid of us: I've been talking with a Park Guard, and he mentioned that people in cars are not seen as humans but as a big harmless object moving. When in a car we are just like other animals. Once you are out of the car the scenario completely changes as you are identified as human and animals either move away or charge you. It kind of all made sense once I took a walking tour in the park, and I could clearly see that animals were moving away as we were approaching, keeping a very large distance between them and us. Not sure what's the percentage of truth in this but it makes quite some sense.

Yes, that "they think cars are just big harmless animals" is of course what everyone says. But still I somehow felt it wasn't right.

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