Adam Cruise

Cape Town

Journalist at Freelance

Wildlife Journalist & author

Articles

Crisis in Madikwe: Too many elephants or just an excuse to hunt them?

1 week ago | africanelephantjournal.com | Adam Cruise

By Adam Cruise – Daily Maverick:At a recent Parliamentary Committee hearing the tourism board claimed that there are too many elephants in Madikwe and that overpopulation threatens biodiversity and leads to habitat degradation. And yet, there is no published scientific data on whether that translates as ‘too many’ or whether there is indeed a negative impact on Madikwe’s biodiversity. ephants face a grim future in the Madikwe Game Reserve amid claims that there are too many.
Too many elephants or just an excuse to kill them?

1 week ago | dailymaverick.co.za | Adam Cruise

Elephants face a grim future in the Madikwe Game Reserve amid claims that there are too many. The North West Parks and Tourism Board has proposed the imminent culling of 500 elephants and up to 1,200 out of a population of about 1,600 elephants over the next decade. However, this is a plan that is opaque, onerous and lacking scientific basis. Don't want to see this?
Call to halt proposed removal a rallying cry

2 weeks ago | dailymaverick.co.za | Adam Cruise

ANIMAL WELFARE OP-ED A Seaforth, Cape Town, baboon named Mary. Her youngster, Shadow, was killed in a September 2023 shooting.
Ukama: the interdependence of all that exists

1 month ago | africanelephantjournal.com | Adam Cruise

By Adam Cruise – The BateleursMany years ago, while camping in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, I discovered a relatively unknown African philosophical concept that epitomises how we should look at the natural environment. Ukama. I had arrived at a remote camp deep in the park to find an old Shona man living there.
SA government continues to defend odious trade in tigers

2 months ago | dailymaverick.co.za | Adam Cruise

BIG-CAT MISERY OP-ED A tiger in the wild. Between 2016 and 2021 nearly 200 live tigers were exported from South Africa.
Pie in the sky - why South Africa’s Draft Elephant Heritage Strategy won’t work

Mar 19, 2025 | africanelephantjournal.com | Adam Cruise

By Adam Cruise – Daily MaverickThe draft strategy is skewed in favour of anthropocentric benefits – economic, spiritual and cultural – and cannot function in practical terms. South Africa’s Draft National Elephant Heritage Strategy, which closed to public comment at the end of February, demands that South Africa’s elephants must depend on human social and economic development for their future survival.
SA’s Draft Elephant Heritage Strategy

Mar 19, 2025 | dailymaverick.co.za | Adam Cruise

WILD IDEA OP-ED The draft strategy is skewed in favour of anthropocentric benefits – economic, spiritual and cultural – and cannot function in practical terms. South Africa’s Draft National Elephant Heritage Strategy, which closed to public comment at the end of February, demands that South Africa’s elephants must depend on human social and economic development for their future survival.
Wildlife conservation: The silent, unseen, unknown and unvalued majority

Mar 13, 2025 | africanelephantjournal.com | Adam Cruise

By Adam Cruise – The BateleursOne of the central pillars of wildlife conservation, particularly in southern Africa, is the notion that if wild species are to be conserved, they must have economic value. The basic thinking behind this concept is that if animals such as elephants, sable antelopes or lions could earn people money, they would tend to be preserved.
WWF Helping Facilitate Trade in Polar Bear Fur, Investigation Reveals

Feb 21, 2025 | rsn.org | Adam Cruise

Wildlife charity backs policy of exploitation of small number of some endangered species for economic purposes – such as trophy huntingThe wildlife charity WWF has been maintaining policies that work to support the trade in polar bear fur at the same time as using images of the bears to raise money, it can be revealed. Polar bears are severely affected by the loss of Arctic sea ice, which makes seeking prey harder and forces the bears to use more energy.
WWF helping facilitate trade in polar bear fur, investigation reveals

Feb 15, 2025 | theguardian.com | Adam Cruise

The wildlife charity WWF has been working to support the trade in polar bear fur at the same time as using images of the bears to raise money, it can be revealed. Polar bears are severely affected by the loss of Arctic sea ice, which makes seeking prey harder and forces the bears to use more energy. In some regions, polar bears are showing signs of declining physical condition, having fewer cubs, and dying younger.