Smuggled elephant tusks hidden under snail shells

September 30th, 2009 New postage stamps highlight the kelp forestWASHINGTON — The post office is taking a dive for its latest postage stamps. A set of stamps depicting plants and animals that live in the ocean's kelp forest will be released Thursday in underwater ceremonies at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California.

September 30th, 2009 Kenya, Ethiopia authorities seize ivory stashNAIROBI, Kenya — Authorities in Ethiopia and Kenya have seized more than 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms) of bloodstained ivory from about 100 illegally killed elephants at airports, the head of Kenya's Wildlife Service said Wednesday. Julius Kipng'etich said trained dogs sniffed out a consignment of bloodstained tusks at Kenya's national airport late Tuesday.

September 29th, 2009 LONDON - The traditional 'Ask A Stupid Question Day' in America has now made its way into Britain's schools, encouraging pupils to ask teachers the daftest things they can think of. The practice, which dates back to the 1980s, took place on September 28, which was the last day of the school year.

September 13th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Scores of elephants statues are to come up in a memorial park here in the Uttar Pradesh capital city at a cost of tens of crores of rupees. But for creation and maintenance of a special elephant reserve, the state government can spare only Rs.50 lakh.

September 9th, 2009 Kenya's famous elephants die of drought, poachingNAIROBI, Kenya — Poaching and drought-related hunger have killed more than 100 of Kenya's famous elephants in the north of the country so far this year, conservationists say. Zoologist Iain Douglas-Hamilton, who founded Save the Elephants, said the drought is Kenya's worst in 12 years.

September 1st, 2009 PATNA - An elephant Wednesday trampled a young man to death in a village in Saran district of Bihar, police said. Madan Thakur, in his 20s, was killed by the elephant near Chamrahiya village in Saran.

August 20th, 2009 Thai elephant damages newly fitted artificial limbBANGKOK — An elephant fitted with an artificial limb 10 years after stepping on a land mine has had a minor setback, damaging the device attached to her left front leg. Soraida Salwala of the private group Friends of the Asian Elephant said Thursday that 48-year-old Motola bent the prothesis when she lay down on it.

August 16th, 2009 KOLKATA - A four-month-old sick elephant calf, which was rescued from a riverside in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district last month, died Sunday at a wildlife camp, a senior state forest department official said. "The young pachyderm, named as Aranya by the forest department officials, died early Sunday," a senior state forest department official said.

August 15th, 2009 KOLKATA - An adult female elephant was killed after getting entangled in electified fencing at an army cantonment in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district late Friday night, a forest department official said Saturday. "An elephant was electrocuted when it entered an army cantonment near Binnaguri forest area and got entangled in electrified fencing.

July 18th, 2009 LONDON - Terry the snail was declared the World's fastest of his kind Saturday, slithering to victory in an annual race in eastern England, taking two minutes 49 seconds to cover 33 centimetres. His owner, 27-year-old nurse Claire Hopkins, had purchased him for 20 pence (around $0.35) shortly beforehand from race organiser Neil Riseborough.

July 14th, 2009 Kenya seizes ivory, rhino horn heading to AsiaNAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya seized more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of illegal ivory and black rhinoceros horn — some of it still bloody — on a cargo plane headed to Asia on Tuesday, wildlife officials said. The blood on some of the 16 elephant tusks and two rhino horns suggested the animals had been killed recently, said Patrick Omondi of the biodiversity and research division of the Kenya Wildlife Service.

July 1st, 2009 Enraged elephant stomps 3 Thai workers to deathBANGKOK — A rampaging elephant stomped three rubber tappers to death in southern Thailand on Wednesday after it was left to wander freely by its handler, police said. The 38-year-old domesticated elephant is believed to have attacked the workers in three separate plantations in Trang province before it was recaptured.

June 15th, 2009 Official: Sumatran elephant poisoned in IndonesiaJAKARTA, Indonesia — An endangered Sumatran elephant found dead with its tusks removed in northwestern Indonesia may have been killed by poachers using poisoned pineapples, conservationists said Monday. It was the ninth dead elephant found in that region of Sumatra island in three months.

May 9th, 2009 2 rare elephants found dead in Indonesian junglePEKANBARU, Indonesia — Two rare Sumatran elephants believed to have been poisoned with cyanide-laced pineapples were found dead in the jungles of northwestern Indonesia with their tusks removed, a conservationist said. The giant males aged 16 and 23 were discovered Thursday near Pekanbaru, Sumatra, about 560 miles (900 kilometers) from the capital, Jakarta, said Muslino, a spokesman for the Conservation and Natural Resources Agency.

April 27th, 2009 2 men plead guilty in Kenya to possessing ivoryNAIROBI, Kenya — Two men pleaded guilty in a Kenyan court Monday to illegally possessing 1,500 pounds (700 kilograms) of elephant tusks in what was believed to be the largest seizure of illegal ivory in recent years, a Kenyan official said. The two were charged with illegal possession of ivory and failure to report their ivory stock, said George Osuri, the senior warden of Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya, where the seizure was made.