Latest Ivory Stories

BRINKLEY, Ark. -- If the ivory-billed woodpecker is getting a "second chance," as U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton put it, then so is the depressed part of Arkansas where the bird was rediscovered after being thought extinct for 60 years.The Brinkley area, where poverty is prevalent and agriculture the mainstay, has become a tourist destination in the year since Cornell University researchers made the announcement. The town is holding a celebration of the bird this...

BY Irwin Arieff UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Four U.N. Security Council members have submitted a list of three Ivory Coast political figures to be hit with asset and travel freezes for blocking the peace process, diplomats said on Friday. The list, prepared by Britain, Denmark, France and the Slovak republic, would now be circulated among the 15 members of the council's Ivory Coast sanctions committee, they said. Under committee procedures, the sanctions would kick in on Tuesday if no...

By Ed StoddardJOHANNESBURG -- Africa's elephant herds are being targeted by poachers feeding a booming market for ivory in emerging colossus China, wildlife groups say."The major driving force for illegal ivory is demand in China which is facilitated by unregulated markets," said Jason Bell-Leask, the southern African director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).Analysts say China's briskly growing economy is creating an insatiable demand for ivory, mirroring its...

By Deborah ZabarenkoHICKSON LAKE, Arkansas -- Nathan Banfield knew he looked like some swamp creature, in head-to-toe forest camouflage with all-over feathery fringe and a camo-mask that revealed nothing but his eyes.This is what you wear when your job is to search for the ivory-billed woodpecker, perhaps the only species in U.S. history to come back from presumed extinction. The ivory bill woodpecker was believed extinct for 60 years until a positive sighting in February 2004 in an Arkansas...

By Deborah ZabarenkoBAYOU de VIEW, Arkansas -- Among ancient cypress swamps, bird experts and wildlife officials searched on Tuesday for the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker, focusing on irregularly shaped holes in some of the biggest trees."These would be C holes," said Ron Rohrbaugh, an ornithologist at Cornell University who is one of the leading scientists in the search for the bird that was previously presumed extinct.Rohrbaugh noted that possible ivory-billed woodpecker nesting...

By Deborah ZabarenkoBAYOU de VIEW, Arkansas (Reuters) - Among ancient cypress and tupelo trees, bird experts and wildlife officials searched high and low on Tuesday for the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker, peering first into big messy holes in the ground and up at towering limbs."These would be C holes," said Ron Rohrbaugh, an ornithologist at Cornell University as he led a team in Arkansas in search of the bird previously presumed extinct.Rohrbaugh noted that possible ivory-billed...

By Deborah ZabarenkoBRINKLEY, Arkansas -- A hunting lodge with antler chandeliers and stuffed ducks on the walls seems a strange place to celebrate the comeback of the ivory-billed woodpecker, but wildlife officials are doing exactly that.They credit hunters in particular with helping bring the rare bird back from presumed extinction in the Big Woods section of Arkansas."The people of Arkansas, the hunting and fishing community, conserved these woods," Scott Simon of The Nature...

By Deborah ZabarenkoWASHINGTON -- It has starred in a video, been widely recorded and graced the cover of a prestigious magazine.But to dispel any doubt the ivory-billed woodpecker -- the Elvis of the bird world -- is back from extinction, searchers are combing a corner of Arkansas in an intensive six-month hunt.On foot, in canoes and kayaks, even using cherry-picker vehicles that tower over the forest canopy, teams of volunteers and paid workers have been looking for traces of the big bird...

By Deborah ZabarenkoWASHINGTON -- It has starred in a video, been widely recorded and graced the cover of a prestigious magazine.But to dispel any doubt the ivory-billed woodpecker -- the Elvis of the bird world -- is back from extinction, searchers are combing a corner of Arkansas in an intensive six-month hunt.On foot, in canoes and kayaks, even using cherry-picker vehicles that tower over the forest canopy, teams of volunteers and paid workers have been looking for traces of the big bird...

By Nita Bhalla NAIROBI (Reuters) - West African states emerging from years of civil strife have pledged to conserve and protect dwindling elephant populations, a Liberian government official said on Thursday. Experts say elephants in West Africa died by their thousands in the 19th century ivory trade and as a result of the construction of roads and railways following the arrival of European colonial powers. In the 20th century, elephant numbers continued to decline with more ivory...