Drought and Big Oil kill Niger’s addax

This is a video about addax.

In the present world of imperialist capitalism, not just its uranium has become a curse for the African country Niger.

Its oil has become a curse as well. From Wildlife Extra:

Niger’s addax hit by drought & oil

15/11/2010 23:43:53

Courtesy of the Sahara Conservation Fund – By John Newby, CEO

November 2010. The failure of the rains in 2009 was a disaster for many parts of the Sahel, with countries like Chad and Niger suffering major crises, widespread famine and loss of livestock.

Although highly adapted to cope with extremes of heat and aridity, desert wildlife, too, suffers when drought is severe and pastures poor in quality and quantity. For the first time in several years our project team in Niger witnessed firsthand the impact of drought on Termit’s addax, with several dead animals found. Surviving addax were dreadfully thin and as such at greater risk from other impacts on their survival, such as the exploration and drilling for oil in their Tin Toumma stronghold. The construction of drilling sites and the constant heavy vehicle traffic is keeping the addax out of many key areas of pasture.

One of the multinational corporations with their fingers in Niger oil is ExxonMobil.

Already the indelible and totally inadmissible smudge of oil spills is polluting an environment that has remained pristine since its creation eons ago. On raising the issue with one person, I was told glibly that it didn’t matter because it was only a desert!

Another significant impact of prolonged drought or poor grazing on desert ungulates is a reduction in breeding. Not only do pregnancies fall off but foetuses are aborted and young calves abandoned. Luckily, these same gazelles and antelopes seem capable of switching the reproductive process back on rapidly when conditions improve. We sincerely hope to see a bumper crop of young animals following this year’s excellent rainfall.

As we recently saw in Chad, not only has the rain brought on a major crop of annual plants but has also kick-started a new age class of perennials that will hope-fully grow rapidly, establish themselves and prosper. Once well established, the tussock grasses and thorny shrubs will often last many years, providing addax and gazelles with food, moisture and even protection when big enough to provide shelter against the wind and sandstorms.

From daily The Independent in Britain:

Niger Wildlife: In search of the addax

Playboy hunters with helicopters and Kalashnikovs are driving the Sahel’s fragile population of wild animals to extinction. Stanley Johnson travelled to Niger to witness the devastation.

From Wildlife Extra:

Chad’s Dama gazelles surveyed

21/11/2010 08:47:50

Dama and Dorcas gazelle in Chad

Courtesy of the Sahara Conservation Fund

November 2010. In August this year an SCF Pan Sahara Wildlife Survey team carried out a highly productive and exciting three week fieldtrip to western Chad. The mission, lead by Dr. Tim Wacher, was a return to one of the first areas surveyed by the fledgling SCF in 2001, and thus an important opportunity to see how rare Saharan wildlife had fared over the intervening years. As before, the mission was conducted in close partnership with Chad’s Environment Ministry.

GUATEMALA: Legal Battle Over Wetland Oil Drilling: here.

USA: Revised Drilling Plan Protects Some Areas, Leaves Polar Bears Vulnerable: here.

Help protect Africa’s critically endangered hirola antelope from extinction: here.