Preferences for lion and tiger bone wines amongst the urban public in China and Vietnam

August 4, 2020

Since 2008, over 6000 captive-bred lion skeletons have been legally exported from South Africa to South-east Asia; giving rise to one of the most high-profile and contentious issues in contemporary felid conservation. WildCRU, along with partner NGO TRAFFIC, has pioneered investigations into the lion skeleton trade, and in 2015 published the first report on international ... Read full story

COVID-19 impacts on wildlife conservation and the need for new conservation models

July 31, 2020

A new paper out in Nature Ecology and Evolution, whose authors include WildCRU’s Amy Dickman and Peter Tyrrell, highlights the devastating impact of the current pandemic on wildlife conservation. Travel restrictions and unprecedented socio-economic shocks reduce funding for conservation, as wildlife-based tourism and foreign investment decline, and domestic priorities change. This limits ... Read full story

Congratulations to Akchousanh Rasphone, a rising WildCRU star that has now risen to be Conservation Science Director, WCS Lao PDR.

July 30, 2020

We first met Akchou when she was GIS expert, blossoming into a Spatial Landscape Ecologist. In 2012 she joined our Post-graduate Diploma at the Recanati-Kaplan Centre in International Wildlife Conservation Practice. She graduated with a Distinction, and launched into a doctorate within our Clouded Leopard Programme. In 2019 she became the first Laotian woman ... Read full story

New paper highlights the need for a nuanced approach to wildlife trade

July 31, 2020

Calls to ban wildlife trade have gained momentum recently, as the coronavirus causing COVID-19 is commonly thought to have emerged in a wildlife market in China.  However, a recent paper out in World Development, co-authored by WildCRU’s Amy Dickman, highlights that indiscriminate trade bans could have unintended negative consequences for conservation, human rights ... Read full story

Research findings on the accuracy of spoor surveys as a method of calculating carnivore populations

July 31, 2020

A study led by Dr Egil Dröge, WildCRU’s Lead Tutor for the Recanati-Kaplan Centre Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice, in collaboration with researchers from WildCRU, the Trans-Kalahari Predator Programme, the Zambian Carnivore Programme and Montana State University has been published in Ecology and Evolution. The study presents findings on ... Read full story

Ranching ball pythons in West Africa to supply the global exotic pet trade

July 29, 2020

By Lauren Harrington and Neil D'Cruze. Ball pythons are a hugely popular pet here in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, North America and Asia. Pet shops are supplied by in-country captive breeding, but perhaps what most ball owners are not aware of is that considerable numbers are also still exported from range states ... Read full story