The buffalo

Buffalos have a few sweat glands which makes it difficult to maintain their body temperatures. Most buffalos have been spotted muddy. This is because they wallow in mud to cool down their body temperatures and to protect themselves from the sun and flies. Our camera spotted these buffalos at Queen Elizabeth National Park recently.

Cop19 votes in favor of rhinos

CITES CoP19 parties have rejected a proposal to allow trade in rhinoceros horn. Similarly, a proposal to allow trade in rhinoceros hunting trophies has been rejected. Parties have allowed trade in live rhinoceros for in-situ conservation in their natural ranges only since such trade allows reintroduction of rhinoceros in countries where they are extinct. We welcome the decisions by the parties. The proposals support our mission of protecting lives of wild animals.

A proposal to reopen elephant ivory trade rejected

The Convection on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) CITES CoP19 meeting of the conference of parties meeting at Panama City in Panama has rejected a proposal by Zimbawe, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia to reopen trade in elephant ivory. We welcome the decision at a time like this when illegal trade in elephant ivory is increasing in Africa. Allowing to reopen trade in ivory would be to increase illegal wildlife trade and may increase slaughters of elephants.

Global Animal Law Handbook

Our founder Ms. Gladys Kamasanyu is at Harvard University attending a conference on Global Animal Law Handbook Country Reports. She wrote and presented a country report on Uganda. The report will be published in the Global Animal Law Handbook by Oxford University Press in the Oxford Handbook Series. What an opportunity to speak on behalf of animals at a global level!

We can save wildlife through capacity building

It was such a privilege for us to interact with Criminal Investigations Officers at Central Police Station, Kampala. Our topics for the day were human rights observance and evidence collection and handling. Such interactions will translate into successful prosecutions of wildlife cases and holding with dignity, those who contravene the law.

We were also able to share copies of our compendium of wildlife laws in Uganda.

Ugandan court sentences an ivory trader to life imprisonment

We commend the Uganda Wildlife Court for a landmark sentence of life imprisonment given to an ivory trader. Mr. Ochiba Pascal alias Ismail aged 62 years was on 20th October 2022 sentenced to spend the whole of his remaining time in prison after he was found guilty of unlawful possession of ivory at Namuwongo in Kampala Central, Kampala district. Mr. Ochiba is a repeat offender having been convicted by the same court of unlawful possession of ivory and a dry okapi skin in 2017. He was sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment in 2017, a sentence he did not learn from.

The sentence of life imprisonment given to Mr. Ochiba is the very first life imprisonment sentence passed by court in Uganda in wildlife cases. While sentencing Mr. Ochiba, the Chief magistrate of the court emphasized that it was necessary to keep Mr. Ochiba away in order to make the world a safer place for humans and wildlife.

World Gorilla Day

We join the rest of the world to celebrate World Gorilla Day. We commend African countries that house the world’s remaining population of mountain gorillas. In a special way, we appreciate Uganda for all the efforts made to protect more than half of the world’s remaining population of mountain gorillas.