CABS video shows Maltese shooting rare birds in Egypt

The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) has called for an end to   uncontrolled hunting tourism.

It  uploaded video footage taken a few years ago showing a group of Maltese hunters shooting protected birds on Lake Nasser, Egypt and said it was backing Egyptian conservationists who wanted to put an end to this 'crazy' practice.

The film shows birds, including numerous Pelicans, Spoonbills, Glossy Ibis, Egyptian Vultures as well as an Osprey, a Lanner Falcon and a Bonelli’s Eagle being shot - accompanied by cheering and laughter as the birds are hauled into the hunters’ boat.

The footage was taken by the hunters themselves and handed anonymously to CABS and its Maltese partner organisation International Animal Rescue Malta.  

CABS said it will send a team to Egypt during the next hunting season to monitor important rest areas around Lake Nasser for migrant birds on passage. “As on Malta we will work closely with local ornithologists and law enforcement agencies” states CABS spokesperson Axel Hirschfeld.

 In order to protect the identity of the hunters and their local guides the faces of the hunters have been blurred and their voices edited.

The footage can be seen at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34GPawd-Hu0&list=UUUkFKi7SBhwgh1dn7YOEu-w&index=1&feature=plcp

http://www.anhourago.eu/show.aspx?l=57166421&d=504

Al-Sayed al-Essawy, Egyptian 'Gladiator,' Fights Lion In Effort To Boost Country's Waning Tourism Trade

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/27/al-sayed-al-essawy-egyptian-gladiator-fights-lion-boost-tourism-_n_885416.html?ir=Weird+News

A self-styled Egyptian "gladiator" lived up to his vow of fighting a lion in a much-hyped effort to lift his country out of its post-revolution downturn, but whether his feat had any significant impact remains questionable.

Read on...

New Protests in Egypt: Activists to Picket Cairo Zoo for Animal Rights

11 April 2011
By: Erin Skarda

The Egyptian uprising was enough to wrestle a dictator from his long-held post and bring shadows of democracy to a Middle Eastern nation. But can people power also be utilized to elicit support for an animal-rights movement?

A coalition of organizations and activists in Egypt have banded together to demand an overhaul of animal treatment within the country, and just as weeks of protests forced the resignation of former president Hosni Mubarak in February, they hope that a citizen demonstration will bring a renewed focus to the issues that have long plagued the country and seem to only get worse over time.

The Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals (ESMA), along with the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends (ESAF) and Animal Welfare Awareness Research (AWAR), announced over the weekend that a protest will take place outside the Giza Zoo on April 16 to bring to light matters ranging from the state of the zoo itself to illegal wildlife trades, unregulated pet breeding and the government's propensity for shooting or poisoning homeless animals in order to control their population.

(More on TIME.com: See the fate of Cairo's many cats)

Mona Khalil, ESMA co-founder, said in a press release announcing the protest that now is the time to seek rights for Egypt's animals, as the nation is currently focused on building a more humane society overall.

"The way Egypt treats animals is a shame. The Giza Zoo is a national disgrace, Egypt has become known as a hub of the international illegal trade in wildlife, and the municipal policy of controlling street animal populations by shooting and poisoning is deplorable," Khalil said in the release. "At the root of all this is a not only systemic corruption but also policy failure, as Egypt is lacking even the basic animal welfare legislation that would enable the prosecution of violators."

As a new, democratic government is being constructed within Egypt, these organizations and their supporters have outlined specific (and likely controversial) demands, including launching investigations into corruptions at the Ministry of Agriculture and enacting legislation that will provide legal standards on how animals should be treated within the country. But while Egypt has a history of respecting — and even revering – animals like cats and camels, the current environment is a far cry from ancient times.

Whether or not the demands of these demonstrators will be met remains in question, but NewsFeed agrees with the group's effort to piggyback on the country's newly-united spirit. After all, if you're going to reform a nation, why stop at its human citizens?


http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/04/11/new-protests-in-egypt-activists-to-picket-cairo-zoo-for-animal-rights/

Millions of Mummy Puppies Revealed at Egyptian Catacombs

Dog remains in the catacomb uncovered beneath the Egyptian desert.
CREDIT: Scott Williams, Cardiff University

Wynne Parry, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 30 March 2011 Time: 11:01 AM ET

The excavation of a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the Egyptian desert has revealed the remains of millions of animals, mostly dogs and jackals. Many appear to have been only hours or days old when they were killed and mummified.

The Dog Catacombs, as they are known, date to 747-730 B.C., and are dedicated to the Anubis, the Egyptians' jackal-headed god of the dead. They were first documented in the 19th century; however, they were never fully excavated. A team, led by Paul Nicholson, an archaeologist at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, is now examining the tunnels and their contents, they announced this week. [Image of mummified puppy remains]

They estimate the catacombs contain the remains of 8 million animals. Given the sheer numbers of animals, it is likely they were bred by the thousands in puppy farms around the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, according to the researchers. The Dog Catacombs are located at Saqqara, the burial ground for the ancient capital Memphis.

"Our findings indicate a rather different view of the relationship between people and the animals they worshipped than that normally associated with the ancient Egyptians, since many animals were killed and mummified when only a matter of hours or days old," Nicholson said. "These animals were not strictly 'sacrificial.' Rather, the dedication of an animal mummy was regarded as a pious act, with the animal acting as intermediary between the donor and the gods." [Prehistoric Cemetery Reveals Man and Fox Were Pals]

In 1897, the French Egyptologist Jacques De Morgan published a map of the necropolis of Saqqara, which included a plan for the Dog Catacombs, but no information about the date or circumstances of their discovery, Nichols wrote in the September/October 2010 issue of Archaeology Magazine.

"In fact, virtually nothing is known about these catacombs," he wrote.

http://www.livescience.com/13473-mummified-puppies-egyptian-dog-catacombs.html

Cryptic new wolf species identified in north Africa

Grey wolf in Egypt.
Photo credit Lajos Nemeth/Greeneye Tours

The cryptic African wolf: Canis aureus lupaster is not a golden jackal
January 2011. New molecular evidence reveals a new species of grey wolf living in Africa. Formerly confused with golden jackals, and thought to be an Egyptian subspecies of jackal, the new African wolf shows that members of the grey wolf lineage reached Africa about 3 million years ago, before they spread throughout the northern hemisphere. Read about recent sightings.

Egyptian Golden jackal - Looked very wolflike
As long ago as 1880 the great evolutionary biologist Thomas Huxley commented that Egyptian golden jackals - then as now regarded as a subspecies of the golden jackal - looked suspiciously like grey wolves. The same observation was made by several 20th Century biologists studying skulls. Nonetheless, the conventional taxonomy has not been changed.

Grey wolf
A new study, involving a collaboration of biologists from the University of Oslo, Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and Addis Ababa University, has uncovered genetic evidence that unambiguously places the Egyptian jackal within the grey wolf species complex. It is not a jackal, but a wolf, taxonomically grouped with the Holarctic grey wolf, the Indian wolf and the Himalayan wolf. Dr Eli Rueness, the first author of the paper, states that "We could hardly believe our own eyes when we found wolf DNA that did not match anything in GenBank."

Wolf evolution
The genetic data indicate that the Indian and Himalayan wolves evolved as separate taxa within the modern wolf cluster even before the grey wolf radiated throughout the northern hemisphere. Furthermore, not only did these two types of wolves originate before grey wolves radiated in northern latitudes, but the wolfish colonization of Africa took place before the grey wolf radiation as well. The colonization of Africa by the ancestral stock of grey wolves took place about 3 million years ago and is today embodied by the animal that has hitherto been called the Egyptian jackal. Professor Claudio Sillero, of the WildCRU and current Chairman of the IUCN's Canid Specialist Group, added that "Ethiopian wolves split off from the grey wolf complex even earlier than the newly discovered African wolf."

Grey wolves in Ethiopia - Very different from Ethiopian wolves
The Oslo/WildCRU/Addis Ababa team also found genetically very similar specimens 2,500 km from Egypt, in the highlands of Ethiopia. Golden jackals are regarded by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) as not endangered - a "species of least concern" - but the newly discovered African wolf may be much rarer. Certainly, it is a priority for both conservation and science to discover its whereabouts and numbers. Professor David Macdonald, an author of the paper and Director of Oxford's WildCRU, remarks that "A wolf in Africa is not only important conservation news, but raises fascinating biological questions about how the new African wolf evolved and lived alongside not only the real golden jackals but also the vanishingly rare Ethiopian wolf, which is a very different species with which the new discovery should not be confused."

It seems that the Egyptian jackal is urgently set for a name-change, and its unique status as the only member of the grey wolf complex in Africa destines it to be re-named the African wolf.

Lajos Nemeth adds - "I am amazed that none of the press mentions
the obvious nomenclatural changes, that the name of this taxon is not
C. aureus lupaster, but Canis lupus lupaster (comb. nova).
But there is a further question - Is lupaster a subspecies or a fully
recognisable species (Canis lupaster)?"

According to Professor Nils Chr. Stenseth, an author of the paper and the Chair of the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), "This study shows the strengths of modern genetic techniques: old puzzles can be solved." "This shows how genetic techniques may expose hidden biodiversity in a relatively unexplored country like Ethiopia," concludes Professor Afework Bekele at Addis Ababa University.

African grey wolf sightings
After the publication of this news, Lajos Nemeth-Boka, head naturalist and tour leader of GreenEye Ecotours came up with some interesting pictures, believed to be some of the very few pictures, if any, ever taken about this rare species, in a broad daylight.

Lajos wrote: "...-I was happy to read this interesting news! The existence of this cryptic taxa is well-known among Egyptian zoologists, but because of the confusion with the regular Golden Jackal, there are very few people who ever had any field experience. This is something of a ghost, like the "never -seen alive" Sahara cheetahs of the Quattarra depression.

In November 2007 I was on a private birdwatching tour and we were driving slowly along the quite abandoned western bank of the Nile between Luxor and Aswan. The animal, a big male crossed the road in front of us, coming from the Nile shore' bush and plantations, and headed towards the Saharan sands. I immediately shouted "-Wooolffff!!!" and we stopped immediately.

The wolf was running towards the Sahara and I had several opportunities to take pictures and observe its movement, which was absolutely different from that of the classic Golden Jackal. I have seen wolves in Eastern Europe and Golden jackals at several places, and there is a sharp and obvious physical difference between the two.

Later I had a discussion on internet forums with some top local experts such as Sherif Baha ed Din, Richard Hoath and Ahmed Riad. As it turned to be out there were some possible sightings around Quarun Lake, and several around the Sinai and Gebel Maghara. However, the Sinai population clearly belongs to the classic Arabian Wolf (Canis lupus arabs), while the status of Lake Quarun specimens is still unknown. Because the range of the normal Golden Jackal overlaps with this cryptic taxa, the above Norwegian results and our observation support the idea that we are talking about two clearly different species in Upper Egypt.
We also should also mention that there was an interesting observation from Eritrea about an unknown Canid species, which makes the taxonomic debates of the Horn of Africa even more complicated. I have been travelling for 6-7 month each year for some 15 years now, but this observation is still one of the most memorable and breathtaking I ever had..."

If you are interested in more pictures and location of this exciting observation, please click  www.greeneye.org.uk 
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/egyptian-wolf.html

Egyptian jackal is actually ancient wolf

Long suspected by some biologists, genetic research
has shown that the Egyptian jackal is actually a wolf.

Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
January 26, 2011

The Egyptian jackal, which may have been the inspiration for the Egyptian god Anubis, is actually not a jackal at all but a member of the wolf family. New genetic research in the open-access journal PLoS ONE finds that the Egyptian jackal is Africa's only member of the gray wolf family. The new wolf, dubbed by researchers as the African wolf, is most closely related to the Himalayan wolf.

"We could hardly believe our own eyes when we found wolf DNA that did not match anything in GenBank," lead author, Dr Eli Rueness, said in a press release. GenBank is an open-access nucleotide database.

The genetic data also points to an early origin for the Egyptian jackal/African wolf. In fact, researchers believe the animal is older than well-known wolves of the northern hemisphere. According to the study, Indian, Himalayan, and the new African wolf, broke off from the gray wolf before it moved north, colonizing Europe, northern Asia, and the Americas, further subdividing into different subspecies. Ethiopian wolves, which are a unique species of canids, are older still. 

The study does not appear to make a recommendation whether or not this new wolf should be considered a unique species in its own right or another subspecies of the grey wolf (Canis lupus). Currently, gray wolf subspecies number in the thirties, and distinction between species and subspecies continues to be debated for a number of them.

However the new African wolf is classified, researchers argue the discovery must change how the animal is viewed in conservation. The authors call for the African wolf to be assessed individually, especially considering evidence that the animal is rare. The animal is not protected in Egypt and is often persecuted as it is considered a threat to livestock.

In good news, the researchers discovered that the African wolf, previously Egyptian jackal, is actually present in the Ethiopian highlands, expanding its known range considerably. 

"This study shows the strengths of modern genetic techniques: old puzzles can be solved," Nils Chr. Stenseth, Chair of the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES) and an author of the paper, says.

Citation: Rueness EK, Asmyhr MG, Sillero-Zubiri C, Macdonald DW, Bekele A, et al. (2011) The Cryptic African Wolf: Canis aureus lupaster Is Not a Golden Jackal and Is Not Endemic to Egypt. PLoS ONE 6(1): e16385. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016385 

http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0126-hance_africanwolf.html

(Submitted by Chad Arment)

See also: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12298337
(Submitted by Dawn Holloway)

Egyptian jackal is actually ancient wolf

Long suspected by some biologists, genetic research
has shown that the Egyptian jackal is actually a wolf.

Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
January 26, 2011

The Egyptian jackal, which may have been the inspiration for the Egyptian god Anubis, is actually not a jackal at all but a member of the wolf family. New genetic research in the open-access journal PLoS ONE finds that the Egyptian jackal is Africa's only member of the gray wolf family. The new wolf, dubbed by researchers as the African wolf, is most closely related to the Himalayan wolf.

"We could hardly believe our own eyes when we found wolf DNA that did not match anything in GenBank," lead author, Dr Eli Rueness, said in a press release. GenBank is an open-access nucleotide database.

The genetic data also points to an early origin for the Egyptian jackal/African wolf. In fact, researchers believe the animal is older than well-known wolves of the northern hemisphere. According to the study, Indian, Himalayan, and the new African wolf, broke off from the gray wolf before it moved north, colonizing Europe, northern Asia, and the Americas, further subdividing into different subspecies. Ethiopian wolves, which are a unique species of canids, are older still. 

The study does not appear to make a recommendation whether or not this new wolf should be considered a unique species in its own right or another subspecies of the grey wolf (Canis lupus). Currently, gray wolf subspecies number in the thirties, and distinction between species and subspecies continues to be debated for a number of them.

However the new African wolf is classified, researchers argue the discovery must change how the animal is viewed in conservation. The authors call for the African wolf to be assessed individually, especially considering evidence that the animal is rare. The animal is not protected in Egypt and is often persecuted as it is considered a threat to livestock.

In good news, the researchers discovered that the African wolf, previously Egyptian jackal, is actually present in the Ethiopian highlands, expanding its known range considerably. 

"This study shows the strengths of modern genetic techniques: old puzzles can be solved," Nils Chr. Stenseth, Chair of the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES) and an author of the paper, says.

Citation: Rueness EK, Asmyhr MG, Sillero-Zubiri C, Macdonald DW, Bekele A, et al. (2011) The Cryptic African Wolf: Canis aureus lupaster Is Not a Golden Jackal and Is Not Endemic to Egypt. PLoS ONE 6(1): e16385. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016385 

http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0126-hance_africanwolf.html

(Submitted by Chad Arment)

See also: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12298337
(Submitted by Dawn Holloway)

Isreal blamed for Egypt shark attacks

South Sinai governor backs theory that sharks involved in attacks off Sharm El-Sheik are controlled by Israel via GPS


A Sharm El Sheikh marine biologist slammed the conspiracy theory circulating around the country that last week's shark attacks off the South Sinai resort of Sharm El-Sheikh were part of an Israeli conspiracy, but the South Sinai governor supports it.

Mahmoud Hanafy, a professor of marine biology at the Suez Canal University, told Ahram Online that it is "sad," that Egyptian national TV helped perpetuate the theory that the shark attacks, which resulted in one death and four serious injuries this week, may have been controlled by Israel.

Speaking on the public TV program "Egypt Today" yesterday, a specialist introduced as "Captain Mustafa Ismail, a famous diver in Sharm El Sheikh," said that the sharks involved in the attack are ocean sharks and do not live in Egypt's waters.

When asked by the anchor how the shark entered Sharm El Sheikh waters, he burst out, "no, it's who let them in?"

Urged to elaborate, Ismail said that he recently got a call from an Israeli diver in Eilat telling him that they captured a small shark with a GPS planted in its back, implying that the sharks were monitored to attack in Egypt's waters only.

"Why would these sharks travel 4000 km and not have any accidents until they entered Sinai waters?" asked Ismail.

Earlier today, General Abdel-Fadeel Shosha, the governor of South Sinai, backed Ismail's theory. In a phone call to the TV program, he said that it is possible that Israeli intelligence, Mossad, is behind the incidents and that they are doing it to undermine the Egyptian tourism industry. He added that Egypt needs time to investigate the theory.

Marine biologist Hanafy refuted the allegations, saying that the Oceanic White Tip, blamed for the attacks, does indeed exist in Egypt's waters. He also added that the existence of a GPS inside the shark does not mean there is a conspiracy at play, adding that these "tracking devices" are often used by marine biologists to study sea life.

"Here in Egypt we put these devices on turtles, in danger of becoming extinct, so that we can watch their behavior, see where they live, feed and lay their eggs," explains Hanafy. "It sends signals to the satellite every time the creature appears on the surface of the ocean. It is sad that they made a person whose only knowledge of sharks comes from the movie Jaws go on national TV to propagate this mumbo-jumbo."

This morning, a team of Egyptian and foreign divers and photographers started surveying the popular diving spots of Sharm El-Sheikh, the Ras Mohamed Protectorate, and Tiran.

According to General Shosha, the surveillance will be conducted for 72 hours in diving areas and 24 hours in swimming and snorkeling areas.

Shosha added that shark experts from Australia and the US were expected to arrive soon. He also added that several beaches are temporarily closed and tourists are currently redirected to alternative beaches in the Ras Mohamed Protectorate, and for the first time the Nabq Protectorate has been opened to accommodate tourists.

Earlier today, Hisham Gabr of the Chamber of Diving and Water Sports said that Sharm El-Sheikh will be open for diving tomorrow, but only for divers with at least 50 logged dives.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/1343/Egypt/Politics-/Experts-shoot-down-theory-that-Israel-is-behind-sh.aspx
 

Isreal blamed for Egypt shark attacks

South Sinai governor backs theory that sharks involved in attacks off Sharm El-Sheik are controlled by Israel via GPS


A Sharm El Sheikh marine biologist slammed the conspiracy theory circulating around the country that last week's shark attacks off the South Sinai resort of Sharm El-Sheikh were part of an Israeli conspiracy, but the South Sinai governor supports it.

Mahmoud Hanafy, a professor of marine biology at the Suez Canal University, told Ahram Online that it is "sad," that Egyptian national TV helped perpetuate the theory that the shark attacks, which resulted in one death and four serious injuries this week, may have been controlled by Israel.

Speaking on the public TV program "Egypt Today" yesterday, a specialist introduced as "Captain Mustafa Ismail, a famous diver in Sharm El Sheikh," said that the sharks involved in the attack are ocean sharks and do not live in Egypt's waters.

When asked by the anchor how the shark entered Sharm El Sheikh waters, he burst out, "no, it's who let them in?"

Urged to elaborate, Ismail said that he recently got a call from an Israeli diver in Eilat telling him that they captured a small shark with a GPS planted in its back, implying that the sharks were monitored to attack in Egypt's waters only.

"Why would these sharks travel 4000 km and not have any accidents until they entered Sinai waters?" asked Ismail.

Earlier today, General Abdel-Fadeel Shosha, the governor of South Sinai, backed Ismail's theory. In a phone call to the TV program, he said that it is possible that Israeli intelligence, Mossad, is behind the incidents and that they are doing it to undermine the Egyptian tourism industry. He added that Egypt needs time to investigate the theory.

Marine biologist Hanafy refuted the allegations, saying that the Oceanic White Tip, blamed for the attacks, does indeed exist in Egypt's waters. He also added that the existence of a GPS inside the shark does not mean there is a conspiracy at play, adding that these "tracking devices" are often used by marine biologists to study sea life.

"Here in Egypt we put these devices on turtles, in danger of becoming extinct, so that we can watch their behavior, see where they live, feed and lay their eggs," explains Hanafy. "It sends signals to the satellite every time the creature appears on the surface of the ocean. It is sad that they made a person whose only knowledge of sharks comes from the movie Jaws go on national TV to propagate this mumbo-jumbo."

This morning, a team of Egyptian and foreign divers and photographers started surveying the popular diving spots of Sharm El-Sheikh, the Ras Mohamed Protectorate, and Tiran.

According to General Shosha, the surveillance will be conducted for 72 hours in diving areas and 24 hours in swimming and snorkeling areas.

Shosha added that shark experts from Australia and the US were expected to arrive soon. He also added that several beaches are temporarily closed and tourists are currently redirected to alternative beaches in the Ras Mohamed Protectorate, and for the first time the Nabq Protectorate has been opened to accommodate tourists.

Earlier today, Hisham Gabr of the Chamber of Diving and Water Sports said that Sharm El-Sheikh will be open for diving tomorrow, but only for divers with at least 50 logged dives.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/1343/Egypt/Politics-/Experts-shoot-down-theory-that-Israel-is-behind-sh.aspx