This is one of the best news coming out of Congo and the bloody war that has plagued the nation and its borders now for long. Africa is a continent of amazing natural resources and some very special animals which are rare and amazing. It is only stupid for the nations of the continent to engage in never ending, meaningless conflicts when the whole of Africa has greater demons to deal with- Poverty, disease and ignorance. In a positive move in all this, Congo’s government chose to withdraw more than 1,000 troops from an area in eastern Congo near Virunga National Park.

There are only about 700 mountain gorillas left in the wild, and Virunga National Park is thought to provide homes to around 72. The threat to their survival is ever-present as ten mountain gorillas were killed last year. While the rebels still take shelter in these forests, it is a giant step by the government in an attempt to demilitarize the land and protect some of the most magnificent animals of the African jungles. The rebel group, led by Nkunda, still roams these lands and its time they took a step from their side to help save the rare species.

The Congo government receives plenty of slack for lot of stuff and rightfully so, but in this case credit must go to them for thinking of the larger cause. Hopefully common sense will prevail and the park will be demilitarized very soon so that the park staff can get back to protecting and studying the rare Mountain Gorillas.

Via Ecoworldly

We have celebrities across the world shooting animals for fun and often getting themselves in all kinds of mess for hunting animals. But Vladimir Putin is a real wise man and irrespective of what much of the West thinks about him, he comes off as a very charming and multi-talented bloke. He is one politician who has seriously impressed many across the planet with his ways over the years. He can get down and do most stuff but even for Putin you would say it is tough to tag and place a collar on a Tiger… Or so you would think.

Putin put on a cameo and embarked on a visit to the Far East, home of the rare Ussuri tiger. He participated in a hunt to track down an escaped 5-year-old female tigress after it had freed itself from a restraint. But the Tiger managed to surprise the Television crew who were playing in its home turf now and was charging to take them down. But Putin would have none of that and just like an Olympic marksman shooting for the gold he shot a perfect shot and tranquilized the Tiger.

It is not often that politicians shoot for a good cause and it is not often that it ends up pretty. But in this case Putin just went on to tag the Tiger and placed a tracking device on it. The Ussuri Tiger’s are endangered and it seems Putin just saved one of them and also a TV crew from getting severely injured. All in a day’s work for Vladimir! So, why was he not at the Beijing Games shooting for gold? I suggest you enroll for London 2012 Mr. Putin… Job Well Done.

Via Ecorazzi