Puppets with a purpose: new film highlights dangers of mass elephant culling

Mbalenhle Zuma, Magzter (U.S.), July 19, 2026

A compelling new short film warns that over 2000 elephants could be culled despite the availability of proven non-lethal alternatives, highlighting what conservationists consider to be one of the worst dangers to South Africa’s elephant population in decades. The film, which was commissioned by Humane World for Animals South Africa, depicts the catastrophic effects that a mass slaughter could have on elephant herds using enormous, life-size elephant puppets. The poignant production coincides with ongoing provincial and national government debates on controlling elephant populations.

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After poaching shattered her family in Kenya, one elephant was adopted by another herd

Ray Brennan, The Cool Down (U.S.), July 18, 2026

In Kenya's Samburu ecosystem, an elephant named Ringlet endured more than the loss of relatives. After poaching destroyed her family line, she was taken in by a different elephant family in a rare, closely documented case of adoption across family groups. A recent Save the Elephants Instagram post describes how researchers in Samburu watched Ringlet's life take a different turn. "When Ringlet lost her family, the Butterflies, during the 2009–2012 poaching crisis, her story could have ended there." Instead, she gradually became part of the Artists 2 family.

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As climate change intensifies, animals need the freedom to move

Fred Kockott, Ground Up (South Africa), July 17, 2026

A collared desert elephant bull in Namibia moved north into communal conservancies and then Etosha National Park. “He moved through commercial farms, broke through many, many, many fences … In two weeks, he moved about 600 kilometres in a very targeted way,” says conservation scientist Morgan Hauptfleisch. Hauptfleisch believes the journey was shaped by inherited patterns of movement that long predate modern borders. “Perhaps there’s a memory, there’s an old memory of a certain plant that fruits at a time, where there’s been a particular type of rainfall,” says Hauptfleisch.

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Territorial Conflict Between Humans and Elephants Is Predicted to Escalate in Southern Africa

Anna Tkach, Inkorr (Ukraine), July 16, 2026

Researchers from the United States and Namibia are warning that clashes between people and animals in southern Africa are likely to worsen, driven by land development, population growth, and climate change. By 2085, the area at risk for such confrontations could expand by 33% to 100%. This issue is becoming increasingly urgent as wild lands in Namibia, Botswana, Angola, and Zambia have been rapidly converted over the past two decades.

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CSOs urge DPP to recuse himself from Chinese trafficker’s case

Wilfred Golden, Nyasa Times (Malawi), July 17, 2026

A coalition of civil society organisations focused on climate change and conservation has called on Malawi’s Director of Public Prosecutions to recuse himself from all decisions relating to corruption charges against Lin Yunhua, a Chinese national convicted of running a transnational wildlife trafficking syndicate. The organisations noted that before his appointment to the post in late 2025, the DPP, Fostino Maele, had reportedly served as legal counsel for Yunhua.

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Elephants can send messages through the ground over vast distances

Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com (U.S.), July 17, 2026

Elephants can hear something humans can’t: conversations traveling through the ground beneath their feet. Along with trumpets and deep rumbles that travel through the air, elephants produce low-frequency sounds that send vibrations into the Earth. Other elephants can detect these seismic signals from kilometers away. The vibrations travel through their feet and legs before reaching the skull and inner ear, allowing elephants to effectively “hear” through their bodies.

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