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Kenyan elephant numbers plummet by 1000 in four years
karl ammann/Naturepl.com
UPFRONT
Poaching on the rise IT’S a case of up then down for Kenya’s second largest population of elephants. After a promising growth spurt, the elephants are now dying faster than they are being born. The decline is being blamed on illegal poaching, driven by Asia’s demand for ivory. The Kenya Wildlife Service recently conducted a census of the Samburu/ Laikipia population, the country’s second largest. It found that the population lost over 1000 elephants in just four years, and now stands at 6361. Previous censuses in 1992, 1998, 2002 and 2008 had revealed a growing population, which appears to have peaked at 7415 in 2008. Poaching is suspected. A July report by three conservation groups found that it has been on the rise across
Africa since 2006. Poaching is also spreading eastwards from central Africa into countries like Kenya, says Richard Thomas of TRAFFIC in Cambridge, UK, one of the three groups that drafted the report. The July report found that more than half of all elephants found dead in Africa in 2011 had been illegally killed. The rise in poaching appears to be driven by increasing affluence in China and Thailand, where ivory is often used to make religious sculptures and other decorations. Organised criminal gangs have capitalised on this increased demand. “If it’s worth someone’s while to smuggle the ivory, they’ll take the risk,” Thomas says. There is evidence that gangs are moving into Kenya to hunt elephants.
Gay ‘therapy’ trial
Meanwhile, advocates for the counselling are trying to block a new California state law that has banned its use with minors. Helen Killaspy of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in London says that there is no scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. “ ‘Treatments’ of homosexuality create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination flourish,” she says. “Sexuality is so hardwired that trying to convert somebody is set up for failure,” says psychologist Mark Griffiths at Nottingham Trent University, UK.
–My what big tusks you have–
Psychiatry failure
“Many people end up being diagnosed with several disorders at the same time” and checklists that attempts to match patients to one of 10 disorders. Many people end up being diagnosed with several disorders at the same time, while 6 | NewScientist | 8 December 2012
EPA/YONHAP /camera press
“A HORRIBLE wasted opportunity.” That’s how Jonathan Shedler of the University of Colorado in Denver described the next edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). After more than five years of wrangling, it seems that psychiatrists have failed to reach consensus on what qualifies as a personality problem. DSM-5 won’t include a planned overhaul of the way in which personality disorders are diagnosed. The system in the current manual, which dates from 1994, is seriously flawed. It features a bewildering set of symptoms
others with serious personality problems don’t get diagnoses at all. Many people never get the help they need. The proposed system was criticised for being too complex for use by busy doctors, and the APA’s board of trustees voted to exclude it from the main text. Andrew Skodol of the University of Arizona in Tucson, who headed the work group responsible for the proposal, hopes that it will be added to the main text after further research. “I have faith the people will see its scientific soundness and clinical utility,” he says.
FROM condemnation to the courts. Gay “conversion therapy”, the controversial counselling for gay people who wish to change their sexuality, is now in the dock. Last week, four men in New Jersey filed a civil suit under the state’s Consumer Fraud Act against a counselling centre called Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing. The men claim that they spent thousands of dollars in therapy fees, only to be told that their continued same-sex attraction was “their own fault”.
Rocket threat NORTH KOREA wants to launch a “bright star”. Japan says it will shoot it down. The US calls it “highly provocative”. China hopes everyone can just stay calm. North Korea says the launch of a long-range rocket between 10 and 22 December will place its Kwangmyongsong-3 Earth observation satellite (the name means “bright star”) in a polar orbit. The flight path was chosen, –Testing times?– it says, to avoid any rocket-booster
UPFRONT
Poaching on the rise IT’S a case of up then down for Kenya’s second largest population of elephants. After a promising growth spurt, the elephants are now dying faster than they are being born. The decline is being blamed on illegal poaching, driven by Asia’s demand for ivory. The Kenya Wildlife Service recently conducted a census of the Samburu/ Laikipia population, the country’s second largest. It found that the population lost over 1000 elephants in just four years, and now stands at 6361. Previous censuses in 1992, 1998, 2002 and 2008 had revealed a growing population, which appears to have peaked at 7415 in 2008. Poaching is suspected. A July report by three conservation groups found that it has been on the rise across
Africa since 2006. Poaching is also spreading eastwards from central Africa into countries like Kenya, says Richard Thomas of TRAFFIC in Cambridge, UK, one of the three groups that drafted the report. The July report found that more than half of all elephants found dead in Africa in 2011 had been illegally killed. The rise in poaching appears to be driven by increasing affluence in China and Thailand, where ivory is often used to make religious sculptures and other decorations. Organised criminal gangs have capitalised on this increased demand. “If it’s worth someone’s while to smuggle the ivory, they’ll take the risk,” Thomas says. There is evidence that gangs are moving into Kenya to hunt elephants.
Gay ‘therapy’ trial
Meanwhile, advocates for the counselling are trying to block a new California state law that has banned its use with minors. Helen Killaspy of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in London says that there is no scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. “ ‘Treatments’ of homosexuality create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination flourish,” she says. “Sexuality is so hardwired that trying to convert somebody is set up for failure,” says psychologist Mark Griffiths at Nottingham Trent University, UK.
–My what big tusks you have–
Psychiatry failure
“Many people end up being diagnosed with several disorders at the same time” and checklists that attempts to match patients to one of 10 disorders. Many people end up being diagnosed with several disorders at the same time, while 6 | NewScientist | 8 December 2012
EPA/YONHAP /camera press
“A HORRIBLE wasted opportunity.” That’s how Jonathan Shedler of the University of Colorado in Denver described the next edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). After more than five years of wrangling, it seems that psychiatrists have failed to reach consensus on what qualifies as a personality problem. DSM-5 won’t include a planned overhaul of the way in which personality disorders are diagnosed. The system in the current manual, which dates from 1994, is seriously flawed. It features a bewildering set of symptoms
others with serious personality problems don’t get diagnoses at all. Many people never get the help they need. The proposed system was criticised for being too complex for use by busy doctors, and the APA’s board of trustees voted to exclude it from the main text. Andrew Skodol of the University of Arizona in Tucson, who headed the work group responsible for the proposal, hopes that it will be added to the main text after further research. “I have faith the people will see its scientific soundness and clinical utility,” he says.
FROM condemnation to the courts. Gay “conversion therapy”, the controversial counselling for gay people who wish to change their sexuality, is now in the dock. Last week, four men in New Jersey filed a civil suit under the state’s Consumer Fraud Act against a counselling centre called Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing. The men claim that they spent thousands of dollars in therapy fees, only to be told that their continued same-sex attraction was “their own fault”.
Rocket threat NORTH KOREA wants to launch a “bright star”. Japan says it will shoot it down. The US calls it “highly provocative”. China hopes everyone can just stay calm. North Korea says the launch of a long-range rocket between 10 and 22 December will place its Kwangmyongsong-3 Earth observation satellite (the name means “bright star”) in a polar orbit. The flight path was chosen, –Testing times?– it says, to avoid any rocket-booster