Mike Shanahan's Blog – October 2012 Archive (5)

An obituary for long-dead elephants

My girlfriend and I found these four elephants framed in a photograph in a bar last week in London. It was clear to us that the animals had…

“Banditry, robberies, infiltration of small arms, poaching in the region’s game reserves and national parks and frequent outbreak of livestock diseases are now being attributed to the uncontrolled movement of pastoralists and their animals.”

This sentence, from a 2006 article in Kenya’s The Nation newspaper, encapsulates the way the country’s nomadic herders have been — and continue to be — portrayed in the media there. It echoes…

It’s a sad reflection of reality that my first reaction to the news of Hang Serei Oudom’s murder was not one of shock or surprise.

The Cambodian journalist’s body was found last week in the boot of his own car. He had apparently been axed to death just days after reporting on links between the military and illegal logging there.

Oudom’s story…

Dear colleagues

I have created a new group on this site for anyone who will be at (or is especially interested in) the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity -- or COP11 -- which takes place in Hyderabad, India.

You can view or join the group here. The official COP11 page is here:…