BIG TUSKER MONTHLYAugust 2014

Photo courtesy of Murray Grant

BIG TUSKER PROJECTTSAVO TRUST

TSAVO TRUST’s Big Tusker Project works alongside and in support of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in southern Kenya’s Tsavo National Parks. We work in partnership with Save The Elephants and other donors who make this project possible, including many generous individual supporters.

The TSAVO TRUST ‘Big Tusker Project’ works to provide extra protection for Tsavo’s elephants, with special emphasis on the region’s iconic 100-pounder tuskers - bull elephants bearing ivory weighing in excess of 100lbs (45kg) per side. Devastated by poaching fueled by an illegal international ivory trade and by sport hunting in other parts of Africa, the Tsavo region in southern Kenya hosts the planet’s last viable gene pool of these magnificent giants among giants.

Decades of conservation service to Tsavo: our Super Cub aircraft 5Y-ACE, donated to TSAVO TRUST by Stuart Herd.

Project leader: TSAVO TRUST Co-founder & Chief Conservation Officer, Richard Moller

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LU1, a giant Tsavo tusker, was newly identified and added to our database of Big Tuskers in August 2014 - a most impressive elephant and a happy discovery for lovers of elephants and Tsavo.

F_DI1 (here and on facing page), one of Tsavo’s most impressive cow elephants (This page photographed back in May 2011, facing page photographed in August 2104)

AUGUST 2014: Big Tusker Project Overview

A new Tsavo giant stepped into the limelight in August. Spotted by our Big Tusker Project aircraft, a huge new bull elephant, codenamed LU1, was identified, photographed and added to our Big Tusker database – an exciting day for us here at TSAVO TRUST and a cause for celebration for elephant-lovers everywhere.

August was a good month for all Tsavo’s elephants, with the lowest poaching rate observed so far this year – kudos to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) for that. And there was more positive pachyderm news this month, but we’re saving that for later (read on and all will be revealed…)

Tsavo can be a mysterious place, full of surprises, past and present. It’s 100 years since an oft-forgotten campaign of the First World War was waged here. Today, it’s a great place to spot predators – in August alone we saw no fewer than 30 lions – not to mention two leopard “on honeymoon”, a cheetah and 15 wild dogs. As for other endangered species, we observed two separate small herds of Hirola during the month. The Hirola, also known as the Hunter’s Hartebeest, is the world’s rarest antelope.

Tsavo Tusker codenamed WS1 (13 August 2014)

Above: A poacher’s shooting blind overlooking a water source where animals come to drink. Right: August 2014 flight path for TSAVO TRUST aerial monitoring aircraft; giant Tsavo tusker KA1 (6 Aug.’14)

Map to the left shows July’s TSAVO TRUST

AUGUST 2014 STATS

No. of hours flown 48.5

3,705

76mph

10 bulls +2 cows

5

3 tusks

Including 2 bulls new to our database (EM1 & LU1) and one new cow (F_XT1)1 natural, 1 unconfirmed cause of death inside Parks; 3 further fresh carcasses in the wider TCA: 2 poisoned arrow, 1 speared to death

• Flights carried out with a KWS officer or ranger as rear seat observer, for immediate reporting to ground units for action

• All flights low level• Tsavo getting very

dry; no rain and strong winds (normal for this time of year)

1 fresh (natural causes), 2 old (natural causes)

Average speed

Miles covered

No. of big tuskers seen

No. of elephant carcassesrecordedIvory recovered jointly by KWS/ TSAVO TRUST

AR1

AS1

EM1DI1

F-DI1F-XT1KA1KA2

LU1SA2SA80WS1

TUSKERCODE NAME

NUMBEROF TIMES SEEN DURING MONTH

AUGUST 2014: Big tusker observations

With a total of 39 different sightings of big tuskers during August, no fewer than 10 big tusker bulls and two cows with exceptionally long ivory were observed, including two new bulls (LU1 and EM1) and one new cow (F_XT1) which were added to our database. LU1 is a particularly remarkable elephant.

Poaching at a year-lowFollowing a series of successful anti-poaching operations carried out by KWS over the past few months, the number of poached elephants we are seeing has significantly declined. In August, we only spotted two new carcasses, one of which was attributed to a natural death with the other cause of death unconfirmed.

Joint response to illegal activitiesEven with the lull in poaching, there is never a dull moment or a shortage of challenges to face. TSAVO TRUST assists KWS whenever possible with aerial support. During August, most of our flights were routine elephant monitoring flights, but joint KWS-TSAVO TRUST operations resulting from these flights yielded useful results, as can be seen from the table of accomplishments opposite.

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Giant Tsavo tusker KA1 photographed on 6th August 2014

Date Incident 8/8/14 Photographed cow rhino with young calf (location

withheld). 8/8/14 Relayed coordinates of cattle enclosures inside Tsavo

West National Park along Ziwani River. KWS ground team later arrested 7 men

9/8/14 Finding of a fresh elephant carcass with ivory intact (1) 11/8/14 Routine aerial coverage of areas north of Galana River

and several cattle enclosures GPS’d for ground follow up 13/8/14 Located 2 herds of cattle inside the Park, KWS ground

follow up later arrested 3 men 13/8/14 Located large numbers of elephant following rain. 300+ in

one location 19/8/14 Routine recce with KWS and GPS’d several cattle

enclosures & 4 live charcoal kilns for ground follow up. 21/8/14 Following sighting of cattle in the Park, KWS ground

team immediately deployed and arrested 3 men 21/8/14 During routine aerial patrol, 2 old elephant tusks were

observed. KWS ground follow up later recovered both 23/8/14 2 fresh poachers’ shooting blinds observed from the air.

KWS ground team confirmed the same and set ambush 29/8/14 Following reports of an armed poaching gang said to be

heading for the Park, aerial coverage was provided to comb the said area

 

Other illegal activities threatening the National Parks

Bushmeat poaching (killing of wild animals for meat) takes place in many areas across the greater Tsavo ecosystem, particularly on the boundaries of the National Parks where small-scale agriculture abuts the protected areas. Stopping this illegal activity is extremely challenging given the fact that human encroachment is increasingly pressurizing the National Parks and what was historically a subsistence practice has now become a commercial business, which is wholly unsustainable. The joint KWS-TSAVO TRUST Tembo 1 unit continues to combat bushmeat poaching in the southern sector of Tsavo East National Park but it remains a massive problem for the wildlife authorities to contain.

Charcoal burning and logging are also persistent along many of the Park’s boundaries. Of major concern is the inevitability that once the areas outside the officially protected areas are completely depleted of trees, the illegal charcoal burners and loggers will increasingly invade the Parks in order to supply the insatiable demand for charcoal as a cooking fuel, not only here in Kenya but also in export markets such as the Middle East. Kenya is exporting her trees and in their place is importing deserts and poverty. A good example of this can be seen in the areas bordering onto Tsavo East National Park around Kulalu Ranch to the south and Gazi way to the north.

Illegal encroachment of livestock into the National Parks is another contributor to the habitat destruction threatening our protected areas. While cattle, if managed properly, can enhance wildlife habitat, mismanagement of cattle is destructive to the environment and leads to depletion of dry season grazing for wildlife (resulting in mass die-offs in particularly dry years), extensive soil erosion and destruction of natural water sources.

Dikdiks killed for the commercial bushmeat trade; dry land eroded by cattle and a live charcoal kiln

Pachyderm +1 Somewhere in Tsavo at a location we will not reveal is a mother black rhino and her newborn calf, a welcome antidote to the all-too-frequent reports of rhino poaching across Africa and Asia.

History lives on in Tsavo...

In August, Tsavo hosted many folk from around the world in a commemoration of the First World War. A largely forgotten campaign was waged here in Tsavo and both large and small observation posts and dug-in fortifications can still be found on many of the hills and rocky outcrops following the Tsavo River. The British forces manned these posts for fear that the German forces would attack and blow up the Tsavo River railway bridge, which was a key supply line for the British troops.

Tsavo is indeed a place of myriad treasures – it has its history, its Big Tuskers, its incredible array of other fauna and flora, its spectacular scenery and – most important of all – it has the space that allows the natural order of things to flourish – generating clean air and fresh water and a host of other ecosystem services that benefit us all.

Two Tsavo lionesses with seven cubs; World War I fortifications in Tsavo, remnants of a largely forgotten campaign

Richard Moller BIG TUSKER PROJECT Leader

Co-founder and Chief Conservation Officer of the TSAVO TRUST, Richard Moller is one of Kenya’s most respected conservation project managers and an acknowledged expert in conservation management of endangered species, particularly black rhino and elephant. Richard is a Kenya citizen, fulltime Tsavo resident and Honorary Warden with the Kenya Wildlife Service. A passionate conservationist and naturalist, he brings to TSAVO TRUST over 15 years of hands-on field experience in wildlife conservation, low level bush flying, aerial censuses, anti-poaching, wildlife capture and translocation, and the logistical and practical aspects of protected area management.

TSAVO TRUST works to improve the safety of wildlife and people in Kenya’s expansive Greater Tsavo Ecosystem, the region’s most important protected area and home to Kenya’s largest population of elephants, currently endangered by ivory poaching and the global ramifications of wildlife crime.

We do this through the development of Community Wildlife Conservancies, multi-use conservation areas which address the human factors leading to the destruction of wildlife and the environment, as well as through direct wildlife conservation initiatives, including our Big Tusker Project.

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