IFAW Africa: Security Operations Intensified as Elephants Poached in Tsavo

The post was submitted by Liz Wamba, a staff member of the International Fund for Animal Welfare's East Africa office.

In a span of four months, five elephants have been poached in ranches within the Tsavo ecosystem. Two elephants succumbed to gunshot wounds while three died from poisoned arrows. Tusks from three of the five elephants were missing by the time the carcasses were discovered by the law enforcement unit of Tsavo East National Park.

The contributory factors to these incidents have been the heavy presence of elephants outside the protected area of Tsavo due to abundance of water and pasture as well as illegal activities such as livestock incursions, charcoal burning and mining activities by communities around the Park.

“The proximity of these Taita ranches to Tanzania makes it easy for poachers to ferry their illegal consignments across the border,” said Oswald Sangawe, in-charge of security operations in the Park.

“We are putting all poachers on notice. We are taking all measures necessary to prevent further poaching through intelligence information collection, aerial patrols and extended ground anti-poaching patrols,” added Sangawe.

Tsavo’s personnel are also driving elephant herds from the ranches and deep into the Park as a management intervention.

Just recently, 41,000 litres of fuel was donated by IFAW to Tsavo for security purposes as well as the elephant drives.

“As we speak, most of the vehicles donated by IFAW are currently being used in those two operations to ensure that elephants and other wildlife are protected from poachers,” said Sangawe.

Tsavo is home to the single largest elephant population in Kenya, and its sheer size and proximity to Tanzania and Somalia makes the elephants vulnerable to poaching incidents. IFAW has been supporting Tsavo through anti-poaching patrols by providing vehicles, fuel, tyres and radio equipment to protect elephants from armed poachers.

For more information about how you can support IFAW's efforts in Kenya, visit: www.ifaw.org/Kenya

Comments

[yui]

i really really want to help but
only thing i can do for this time is only give support to this program
i hope elephant can be save