Kenya Sets Ablaze Over 105 Tonnes of Ivory and Rhino Horns!

Over $170 million dollars of illicit wildlife goods set ablaze by the Kenyan government in an effort to convey a strong message against poaching.

Most people get it, the astronomical number of elephants lost each year to poachers is insane, over 30,000 elephants lost each year to illegal trade and sadly it's gotten so big that it's run by sophisticated kingpins and each year seems to be getting worse!

South Africa is making an effort to legalize this trade and maybe the idea is sort of like marijuana in Colorado am not sure, I think it's more like if you legalize it then there would be less value for trading it illegally and might not be financially viable for illegal dealers to keep going.

I love animals and am open to ideas that would actually solve this crisis and maybe South Africa's idea would work and maybe not but anything at this point is worth trying because what's not declining is the number of elephants and rhinos lost each day and as a matter of fact it's increased substantially.

So what's the solution and it's not elephants or rhinos only but in case you didn't know the pangolin has a lot of demand in Asia as well and poachers aren't discriminating and probably many more wildlife are at risk of extinction!

Do I think it's a good idea to burn the largest stockpile of these illegal wildlife goods ever burnt in history, no I don't think so and I completely disagree that it would solve the core problem as far as poaching.

The demand for ivory is going up regardless and to burn it is just likely to increase the prices even more and just to give you an example, there was a time when we heard in the news when some oil production facilities burnt in the middle east and what happened after that, oil prices skyrocketed.
The same thing is likely to happen here and the publicity of it as well could go either way and probably benefit the illegal trade as well as they realize the scarcity of it, most likely boosting the prices.

Kenya has burnt an enormous amount of ivory and rhino horns over the years starting in 1989 and has it solved the problem, unfortunately not and repeat of the same thing to expect a different result doesn't work on this planet, maybe on a different planet.

Some people might argue sell it and use the money to protect what's left and that sounds like a good idea but it can't be done as most nations including Kenya have signed an agreement not to do so and not only that but also corruption might get in the way of making that a success.

So my personal opinion just keeps it in a public museum and have government and independent overseers that publicly keep track of the goods and update it and even put the records on government websites.

Why I think this is a better idea which isn't perfect but there will come a time when the wild has no more elephants and rhinos and unfortunately it's going to happen if this trend keeps up. It will be impossible to keep carcasses in a museum but of course much more sensible to keep the ivory and rhino horns as a constant reminder of the magnitude of wonderful wildlife lost and probably much more effective to future generations and burning them I think will be such a short-term memory that I doubt in two weeks anyone would remember this story, sadly!


http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/30/africa/kenya-ivory-burn/

Notch Boys Turned Expert Hippo Hunters!

These photos were taken just a few days ago of the remaining Notch boys on yet another hippo kill and this is the second documented hippo kill in the last four months and later after getting their fair share from the humongous kill as you can imagine it ended up feeding a lot more Savannah dwellers.

For many years the Notch boys have lived in the area amongst hippos and in the process evolved to take down one of the most dangerous animals in Africa.

What's so amazing about lions is they possess such a different level opportunistically that the slightest error or disadvantage by prey automatically becomes the lion's biggest advantage and they will instantly act on it.
When you hear that comment people say all the time when you see an opportunity grab it because it might never come again and lions have evolved to be experts at spotting an opportunity and grabbing it right away. For people it's obviously different in the sense that opportunities for survival are different but the idea isn't so different and this is just a personal take, any successful society if anyone told me they weren't opportunistic and better at it than the rest I would disagree and history has shown that but the story is just about how life has such general principles that we overlook all the time.

Back to lions though because this is the part I would rather be talking about and one more photo of notch boys chilling and the power that comes through their eyes.

Am fascinated by lions and some of the reasons is just their ability to adapt so quickly in taking advantage of what they have, they're really good at studying their prey and I always say when you see a lion sleeping like we mostly assume be cautious because they might not.
They're totally aware of their surroundings and that's the time they take to study their prey's daily movements!

I had written a story before about the Notches and how strong they have been for longer than most coalitions and for the three out of five left and still going strong is amazing and I would challenge anyone to give me a lion coalition that lasted that long in the African Savannah.

Hippo is the last animal you would want to mess with in Africa, they're extremely dangerous and one single bite from a hippo is enough to kill a fully grown lion and I can only imagine how hard it would be hunting one. The hippo's neck is so big that a lion has no choice but avoid that area all together and focus on their behind and possibly the spine,when you see lions jumping on the back of an animal that they can't take down they bite the backbone and constantly do it to try and damage the spine and not easy but if it works it would bring down the prey and that's the one thing I could see happening here but would definitely want to know more about how they've been doing it for years.

Big pride have been known to occasionally take down hippos but for this male lions to consistently do it at least every few months is very intriguing.

Refreshing Sunset.

 

The weather today was rather crazy, windy and rainy and somehow at around 7pm for at least half an hour this amazing sunset appeared in the Palouse hills out of nowhere and I have to say it felt like the best thing that ever happened, so refreshing and I just couldn't resist taking a few photos.

The Random Recipe!

Have you ever just sat there and you don't feel like making anything for dinner but suddenly there's an urge to create something! I wasn't sure if it would work but I just threw stuff together and hoped for something edible and eventually it turned out better than I expected.

This is what I had,
-Instant mashed potatoes
-shredded cheddar cheese 
-butter
-chicken strips
-soysauce
-sweet mini peppers

I put some butter in a pan, heated it up then add chicken and let it nicely brown before flipping it. Dice up the mini peppers and add into the browned chicken then that way they won't be overlooked by the time chicken strips are cooked all the way. You probably might need to add more butter as it tends to dry out then once chicken is fully cooked and peppers cooked as well, add a touch of soy sauce or be flexible with your favorite spices. Then make mashed potatoes which is probably the easiest part just following directions in the package then add butter and shredded cheddar cheese and stir it well.

There it is ready to serve the way you prefer.