African Savannah Elephant

African Savannah Elephant

There are three species of elephant, the African savanna elephant, African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. 

With the African species, Forest elephants have declined 86% between 1986 and 2015, African Bush elephants declined 60% 1965 and 2015 leaving just over 400,000. 

One of the other issues with poaching is that elephants are very intelligent, and can communicate over long distances. As a result if for instance an elephant is killed in the north of the Kruger, elephants hundreds of miles south will become far more aggressive towards humans and cars. This in turn reduces the number of tourists that are willing to visit the reserve.

Perhaps one encouraging fact, is that the African savannah elephant has enough space for a far larger population if only poaching can come to an end. It is also a simple fact, that any reserve with elephants (like lions) can attract visitors- provided it is well run.

Limpopo Transfrontier park including Kruger sabi sands and other conservation areas
Greater Serengeti

A fine is handed down for another car emission scandal.

Volkswagen had to pay a huge amount of money in the USA for cheating on their car emissions. It would appear that they did not learn their lesson.

A group of car companies including Volkswagen BMW and Daimler have been colluding on emissions tech

The German car companies were fined £750 million for agreeing to not compete on AdBlue tech, which is designed to clean emissions.

Daimler avoided fines as it was the company that admitted to the con.

Rather disgustingly, the companies in question did not agree and are still complaining,

My feeling is that given this is not the first time, the car companies have got away easy, or indeed too easy.

The move to electric cars does seem impossible to stop now, though these and other companies are still trying to slow the move. My thoughts are that fines need to grow over the next decade or less, to the point where if you are caught taking part in a scheme like this it is likely to mean bankruptcy. Shareholders and boards must also make sure that chief executives know that if they set up or partake in a scheme it will hit their money personally even after they have retired.

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