News

Latest Events:

* EWB welcomed sponsors: Brett Warren & Peter Bauer; the Swiss BMW Dealership Association; and San Diego Zoo's Tour Group to Botswana

* Mike Chase and Kelly Landen were happy to visit their collaborative partners from various departments at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park.

* This month EWB will be conducting a follow-up to 2008's aerial survey of the Okavango Panhandle in collaboration with Anna Songhurst of the Okavango Elephants and People Research Project

* Mike Chase gave a presentation at a workshop hosted by Conservation International, "Working towards coordinated regional approaches in Human-Elephants Conflict management" held in Maun. Attendees represented 4 southern African countries; Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa; and various organizations and government departments including: Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Ministry of Environment Wildlife and Tourism, Namibia Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation, Elephant Pepper Development Trust, and World Wildlife Fund.

* EWB successfully deployed another satellite data collar on a bull elephant in Chobe National Park, Botswana. This collaring unit is the first of it's kind, providing a 5 year battery life span with data readings taken every half hour. The information this unit will provide will be incorporated and compared to the data collected for the elephant walking study that is now being conducted, led by Dr. Matt Anderson, at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park. Three more similar collars will be deployed within a months time.

* EWB will be conducting a follow-up to last year's dry season aerial survey, now a wet-season wildlife count in the Chitabe region of the Okavango Delta!
* EWB welcomes Prof. Rudi Van Aarde, chair of the Conservation Ecology Research Unit at the University of Pretoria, who will be visiting our new farming and outreach project.
* Don't forget April 22nd is Earth Day!... what will you do to try and make a difference?

The Elephant Conservation and Community Outreach Farming Project is in need of the following:

* 10 000 litre water storage tank, with a pressure pump, and simple irrigation system to supply water to the trail fields
* Funding to construct viewing platforms to monitor elephant crop raiding activity.
* Base camp needs an ablution facility with running water, a solar geyser, new generator and solar power for electricity
* Basic camping supplies to expand the base camp for visitors and possible research collaborators

Remember, your contribution to EWB is tax deductible! To donate (click here)

Latest Posted Reports and Maps, can be viewed and downloaded on our Downloads Page, (click here):

* Conservation Without Borders, Kelly Landen, ZooNooz, May 2010
* Cushman, S.A., M.J. Chase and C. Griffin. (2010). Mapping Landscape resistance to identify corridors and barriers for elephant movement in southern Africa. In S.A. Cushman and F. Huettmann (Ed.), Spatial Complexity, Informatics, and Wildlife Conservation, (pp. 349-367). Springer Japan.
* Fixed Wing Aerial Census of the Chitabe Concession, Okavango Delta, November 2009.
* Elephant movement maps for the months of Jan., Feb., Feb Elephant Movements in relation to Vet fences, and March 2010