In a major investigation undercover reporters from the Ecologist Film Unit exposed the brutal hunting and killing of dolphins for use as shark bait off Peru’s Pacific coast. Experts interviewed as part of the investigation claim it is the first time that the Peruvian dolphin hunt – by far the biggest such hunt in the world – has […]
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Undercover on the world’s ‘largest dolphin hunt’
Jim Wickens reports on the brutal killing of dolphins for use as shark bait off Peru’s Pacific coast The car glided swiftly out of Lima, skimming past brightly-lit barrios before plunging into the darkness of the desert road. We were heading for a midnight rendezvous with a shark fishing boat. The owner of the rough and […]
Sumatran elephants suffer in the palm oil gold rush
Western consumers are inadvertently driving the Sumatran elephant to extinction by eating, washing and wearing – in cosmetics – the derivatives of a fruit that is destroying the animal’s last remaining forest habitat. Jim Wickens reports Everyday we read about the tragic death of another African elephant slaughter, the world watching in horror at the […]
‘Dissident’ farmers speak out against UK badger cull
A growing number of farmers are now questioning the nature of the cull and its effectiveness. And some are blaming poor biosecurity and intensive farming for the spread of TB in the UK cattle herd. Andrew Wasley and Sarah Stirk report To passers-by, the red-brown earthy mound rising up from the path would probably warrant […]
Shades of the gray: America’s wolf dilemma
Reviled by ranchers and fawned over by conservationists, the Gray wolf is highly controversial in the US. Jim Wickens travels to Montana and Wyoming to unravel the complex arguments surrounding plans to cull the animals. The elk carcass glints in the overhead sun, it’s ribs picked clean, poking out of a tangled mess that lies […]
UK tourists fuelling Burmese elephant trade
An illegal cross-border trade in endangered wild Asian elephants to serve Thailand’s tourist industry is threatening the future of the species, an undercover investigation by the Ecologist Film Unit (EFU) has revealed. A new film, produced by the EFU in association with Link TV and the NGO Elephant Family, has uncovered how at least 50-100 […]
Coastal privatisation threatens Indonesian communities
Working in conjunction with the Forest Peoples Programme and KIARA in Jakarta, Ecostorm has carried out an investigation in Sumatra that lifts the lid on plans to privatise the entire length of Indonesia’s 80,000km coastline. If the coastal privatization law known as HP-3 is ratified, vast coastal concessions will be granted to industrial prawn farms, […]
Cruelty of Namibian seal hunt exposed
Secret footage obtained by an Ecologist Film Unit reporter in Namibia has revealed – for the first time – the brutal reality of the Namibian seal hunt and followed an unprovoked attack on investigators Jim Wickens and Bart Smithers. The dramatic film shows seals being killed by hunters during a hunt at the Cape Cross Reserve in […]
Revealed: the companies at centre of global trade in seal skins
An investigation by The Ecologist has discovered that London is at the hub of an international trade in controversial Canadian seal skins – the subject of this week’s EU vote to outlaw their sale across Europe. Campaigners have long suspected that UK-based dealers are playing a central role in the international trade of seal skins, […]
Ecologist Film Unit 