Do elephants mourn their dead ? It's a fascinating topic that we humans cannot even begin to understand because we can only view the behaviour through our own prism of emotions and understanding. Clearly elephants have a concept of death when we see them go quiet and nuzzle the bones of one of their own. Recenly I saw a doco that showed giraffe doing very much the same thing, arriving silently at the bones of one that lions had killed, sniffing and touching the pieces left with their noses and mouths then standing quietly looking down at what was left, just a huge leg bone with the hoof still attached. It was clearly some recognition but of what ? death or the familiar scent left of a giraffe they knew ? There is so much about the emotional lives of animals we simply cannot know.

At a time when wild animals need our greatest protection and care the news that US president Donald Trump is lifting a ban on the import of trophies. It shouldn't be any surprise to any one who has watched with horror the disregard this president has shown for the environment. His own sons have been photographed with leopard trophies so it's clear they weren't raised with any appreciation of nature or the animals in it. Elephants already facing their greatest battle to survive, lions at the mercy of psychopaths like Palmer the dentist, along with many other species targeted as trophy animals will be affected by the ruling. It is truly shameful and regressive at a time when the animals deserve and need our protection to help them survive against increasingly overwhelming odds that this president would condemn so many to ultimate slaughter and all within the law. Shame shame shame on you Trump and may your reign as president be short. A few days later and Trump has had a change of heart it seems but I wonder for how long.

Looks like New Zealand is getting serious about dealing with their cat problem. Even a cat lover like me can't disagree that something has to be done about domestic cats roaming at will that inevitably leads to hunting of indigenous animals and birds. Australia has one of the worst feral cat problems in the world and it's out of control so I applaud any government prepared to do what should be done before it's too late. Surely it's not too much to expect that people who have a cat get it microchipped to identify it. Clearly asking people to take responsibility isn't enough to safeguard the wildlife from their cats, it has to be made into law for it to be effective. New Zealand policy means that any cat found roaming free that is not microchipped will be euthanised. Hash but necessary especially when the statistics deliver the shocking numbers on how cats impact on wildlife.