Wildlife and Landmines

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Picture of Sama, an elephant injured by a landmine

Still Updating July 15, 1999

Bibliography and Notes on Documentation

Afghanistan

- A WSPA Disaster Aid Program in Afghanistan found that the Kabul Zoo was in a "mine zone" and that unremoved debris contained unexploded rocket-propelled grenades and artillary rounds. (WSPA)

- Landmines are compounding environmental pressures in Afghanistan, increasing the threat of extinction to Snow Leopards and other species. (Roberts and Williams, 1995 p. 93)

Angola

- Anna Richardson Reports:

" Thousands of animals such as antelopes and elephant fell prey to landmines, hunters and hungry soldiers during Angola's long and bitter war."

"He also knows of elephants and other wildlife being maimed and destroyed in this way."

Bangladesh

- Earthwatch reports:

"Two wild elephants were killed by land mines in eastern Bangladesh along the border with Burma." (Earthwatch, Oct. 6, 1996)

"Forest officials say poachers and landmines planted by Myanmar to curtail the movement of separatist militants along its border with Bangladesh have been to blame. Some poachers are believed to come from across the border, although Bangladeshis are also involved."

Bosnia-Herzegowina

- Brown bears have fallen victim to landmines in Bosnia. (Vesilind, 1996)

- Snakes, highly sensitive to soil quality, have almost disappeared due to chemical contamination by landmines. (Faus, 1999)

Cambodia

- From Cambodian Times Online:

"But according to conservationists, the country's tigers and the panthera tigris populations of neighbouring Laos and Vietnam face a major threat to their survival from hunters, traders in animal parts and even landmines.

- Also see Poaching and Landmines

Croatia

- European Wolf Newsletter:

"The Croatian side of the area is covered by several land mine fields which are not entered by people, and represent safe haven for wildlife. In combination with the availability of a sufficient number of unprotected livestock this might have caused the comeback of wolves in the area."

Cuba

Guantanamo Bay

"Occasionally one of our own goes off, usually when a deer or other wildlife creature steps on them. Each incident is investigated,"

Falkland/ Malvinas Islands

"Until minefields made Stanley's beaches once more safe safe for nesting, penguins had sought refuge in other islands." (Hodgson, p. 409)

France

Dominique Berlet on a French demolition site:

"'Also, there's not much animal life in the tidal zone. There are a few clams and shellfish, but the sea here holds very few fish or plants. And anyways' - he shrugs - 'a safer France is worth the lives of a few razor clams'" (Webster, 1996, p.58)

Holland

- A World War II mine exploded in a pond in Enschede, send a colunm of water 100m in the air and raining dead carp, perch and pike on bystanders. (Anon, 2002)

India

- Kiangs , a type of wild horse, are being decimated by landmines.

- Also, the Tibetan's Women Association reports:

"The land mines have another impact. Rare species of animals-barking deer, clouded leopards, snow leopards, and Bengal tigers are killed and maimed as they traverse the mined slopes."

"Says Pemba, a yak herdsman, ''The only shapi I have come across in recent times was one which was blown up after it jumped over barbed wire and into a minefield.'"

"According to the villagers, wildlife herds often charge into minefields when they are attacked by snow leopards, an equally endangered species, which naturally prey on them.
''Both predators and prey get blown up when the chase enters the minefields like those in the Dongkung and Cho Lhamu lake regions,'' says Thupten a yak herder."

"She said villagers have reported seeing herds of wild animals charging across the Tibetan border after being fired at by Chinese soldiers only to meet their end in Indian minefields."

Japan

- Paul Murray of BOMBS AWAY Inc. has informed me that a Hawksbill Turtle was killed by the detonation of ten Japanese depth charces by a US Navy EOD Team.

Libya

"In Northern Africa, for example, gazaelles are reported to have disappeared from sites that were mined during World War II" (Westing, 1985)

"And finally there are the losses, most difficult to quantify, which have been experienced by the regional wildlife." (Sgaier, 1985)

Laos

- See Cambodia

Mozambique

- From Landmines in Mozambique:

"in the mid-1980s, ..., elephants were found maimed by anti-personnel mines and killed outright by anti-tank mines." (Human Rights Watch Arms Project & Human Rights Watch/Africa, 1994, p. 72)

Nepal

- Col. Percy Blasher-Snell reports:

"'And sadly, in March of 1994, he put his foot on a bomb. It blew his foot off, and he walked to the forest pool and lay down, and over the course of four or five days died beside the pool. We were all upset about it, because of all the elephants that this had to happen to, it had to happen to this magnificent animal, Tulahati.'"

Puerto Rico:

- Fernando Reals reports:

"Excess Navy materials are never disposed of, instead they are detonated or buried in the ground. These metals then oxidize and decompose into contaminates that further endanger the lives of wildlife and humans." (Reals, 1999)

Rwanda

- Mkono, a silverback gorilla was killed by a landmine in Rwanda in December, 1994.(AP, Dec. 14, 1994)

Senegel

Matar Gaye writes:

"The war has caused the disappearance of a rare specie of forest buffaloes, 200 bird species, antelopes and panthers. Pythons, vipers, najas which used to haunt the paths are also on their way out because of landmines."

South Africa

- See Mozambique

Sri Lanka

- Charles Santiapillai, a zoologist at the University of Peradeniya, estimates that up to 20 elephants are killed by mines each year in Sri Lanka. (Spinney, 1995)

Also, IFAW is helping Sama, an elephant orphaned an maimed by a landmine in Sri Lanka. Additional Information:

Edmonton Journal, Earthwatch; Feb. 9, 1992, p. D7

The Globe and Mail, May 9, 1994, p. A10

Vietnam

- See Cambodia

Zimbabwe

- This mine field, ..., has killed more than 100 elephants so far." (Pitman, 1983)

"In the Gonarezhou National Park, elephants and buffalos have had to be killed after they were injured by landmines."

"Animals help in detonating the landmines, but once a lion, buffalo or elephant is wounded it's as if a Third World War has been declared as every human being they come across is instantly attacked, leading to fatalities in some cases," Bizwe says.

Please contact Kevin Stewart at puppydog@ecn.ab.ca if you have further information or questions.

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