2013-02-27 11:00
news24.com
Laresoro - As dawn breaks deep in the savannah of northern Kenya, Kuyaso Lokoloi quietly slips out his hut clutching his mobile phone and heads out stealthily into the bush.
Just a year ago he would have been on the lookout for game to poach in the thick acacia scrub that makes up the remote Samburu district, a key reserve for the increasingly threatened African elephant.
Now, after risking death with armed wildlife rangers hunting him, the poacher has turned gamekeeper to go out patrolling to protect the animals he once killed.
"At that time, I would have been better armed... whenever we saw an elephant in the bush we would stalk it, and then shoot it," he said, pointing at a mock target with an imaginary rifle.
"I had a killer shot... I could put down a bull elephant with just one bullet."
But over the past months wildlife rangers, faced with a surge in elephant and rhino killing, have been adopting a shoot-to-kill policy toward suspected poachers.
Middlemen
"The life of a poacher was too lonely for me... and leads only to death," added Lokoloi, aged 25, who spent the past decade as a poacher, killing his first elephant aged only 15.
Nor, despite the potential huge money made in the sale of ivory by poaching kingpin bosses, did the illegal hunting bring him riches. Lokoloi still lives in poverty in a mud hut with little to show from his hunting days.
"We always knew that we were being fleeced... but the middlemen were our only connection to the outside world," Lokoloi said sadly.
"There's no way in hell I would have walked out of the bush with my ivory and taken it to someone who might offer me more money."
The little money he did get he used to support his mother and siblings.
Now he spends his mornings patrolling in the bush on the lookout for poaching gangs.
Untrained and unpaid, they patrol for two hours in the early morning and say they have already caught several poachers. Once they've proved themselves, they hope to get jobs with the local wildlife conservancies.
"We call them whenever we encounter something out of place in the bush," Lokoloi said. "We are not paid for it, but we know that eventually the benefits from tourism in the region will trickle down to us."
Black market
Kenya's Samburu district, some 400km north of the capital Nairobi is an elephant belt boasting some of the largest herds of wild elephants in the entire east African region.
Poaching has spiked recently in Africa, with whole herds of elephants massacred for their ivory. One kilogramme of ivory is currently estimated to be worth around $2 000 on the Asian black market.
The UN wildlife trade regulator Cites estimates at least 25 000 African elephants were massacred in 2011, with the death toll for 2012 expected to be as bad, if not worse.
"This is nothing short of a holocaust," said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of conservation group Save the Elephants.
"At this rate, after 10 years, we will have no more elephant populations. This is a problem bigger than Kenya... bigger than Africa. We cannot end it because the causes are external and there is very little we can do about it."
In 2012, poachers in Kenya killed some 385 elephants, a rise of a third from the previous year, when 289 were shot.
Lokoloi was responsible for at least one of those deaths, killing a bull elephant in July 2012.
But it was a dangerous game and poachers did not emerge unscathed: at least 40 were killed - as well as four government wildlife rangers - in bush battles last year.
Trade
The international trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after elephant populations in Africa dropped from millions in the mid-20th century to some 600 000 by the end of the 1980s.
"A total ban in ivory trade is the only thing that has been proven to work, nothing else. We have tried having one-off sales, and our herds are being decimated," Douglas-Hamilton added.
The illegal ivory trade is mostly fuelled by demand in Asia and the Middle East, where elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns are used to make ornaments and in traditional medicine.
While southern African nations are pushing for the legalisation of regulated ivory sales, the prominent conservationist warns them that Kenya's struggling herds are a grim example of what they could soon face.
"The southern African countries should know one thing, the only thing standing between poachers and their herds is our elephants," he said. "If they go, poachers will head south next en masse."
Turning poachers into gamekeepers helps protect the wildlife, but with little money in the task and few employment opportunities elsewhere, there is always the temptation to return.
Joining Lokoloi on his patrols is 20-year-old Nicodemus Sampeere, happily noting that in the past few months they have "saved a few elephants already from direct danger from poachers, as well as those caught in snares".
But despite being one of the few people here to complete high school, Sampeere despairs of finding a job.
"I am among the few educated people in my community but I cannot get a job even at the wildlife conservancies," Sampeere said. "From childhood, elders always tell us never to harm wild animals but what options for survival do I have?"
Lokoloi, fresh back from his patrol, must head out searching for manual work in exchange for food for his family.
"It is hard, but I am determined to give back to a world I have taken so much from," said the former poacher, who gives his tally of elephants killed only as "many".
- SAPA
Counter Poaching: African Elephants
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Anti-Poaching Fight in Kenya
Kenya: Wildlife Fund Welcomes Amendment of Law
By George Murage, 30 May 2013
THE World Wide Fund for Nature is happy with Parliament's move to amend the Wildlife Act . The organisation said poaching has become a menace and the number of elephants in the country had dropped from 160,000 in the 60's to the current figures of 38,500.
The amendment of the act will raise penalties for killing wildlife especially elephants and rhinos to up to 15 years in jail and/or a fine of up to Sh10m.
This increase of 2,500 per cent on current fines means that wildlife crimes now have the same status and punishments as the Economic Crimes' Act, the Organized Crime Act and the Anti-Terrorism Crime Act.
According to WWF Regional Representative, Niall O'Connor the move to increase penalties on poachers would help conserve wildlife.
He noted that elephants and rhinos were the most endangered animals due to the high demand of ivory mainly in Asia.
"The revolutionary emergency amendment to the act will see penalties for wildlife crime, especially in relation to Elephants and Rhinos rise significantly to a 15-year prison term,"
Niall noted that the amendment will see the number of game rangers increased in order to protect Kenya's wildlife which is currently under serious threat from poachers.
He said that ending illegal wildlife trade would bring to an end the global poaching crisis that was leading to the killing of tens of thousands of elephants and rhinos each year and fuelling a lucrative global criminal trade in animal parts.
Niall said that WWF was willing to work with the Government of Kenya to put an end to illegal wildlife trade which was a big threat to the growing economy.
"We recognize illegal wildlife trade as a serious crime which threatens both the economic and security of Kenya," he said.
WWF has been at the frontline in supporting calls for enactment of the proposed Wildlife Bill that will enhance the protection and management of Wildlife in Kenya.
The Illegal Wildlife Trade campaign has significantly contributed to Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's pledge to end ivory trade in Thailand.
"As a next step we will forward amending the national legislation with the goal of putting an end on ivory trade and to be in line with international norms," Prime Minster Shinawatra said during the Cites meeting held in March.
By George Murage, 30 May 2013
THE World Wide Fund for Nature is happy with Parliament's move to amend the Wildlife Act . The organisation said poaching has become a menace and the number of elephants in the country had dropped from 160,000 in the 60's to the current figures of 38,500.
The amendment of the act will raise penalties for killing wildlife especially elephants and rhinos to up to 15 years in jail and/or a fine of up to Sh10m.
This increase of 2,500 per cent on current fines means that wildlife crimes now have the same status and punishments as the Economic Crimes' Act, the Organized Crime Act and the Anti-Terrorism Crime Act.
According to WWF Regional Representative, Niall O'Connor the move to increase penalties on poachers would help conserve wildlife.
He noted that elephants and rhinos were the most endangered animals due to the high demand of ivory mainly in Asia.
"The revolutionary emergency amendment to the act will see penalties for wildlife crime, especially in relation to Elephants and Rhinos rise significantly to a 15-year prison term,"
Niall noted that the amendment will see the number of game rangers increased in order to protect Kenya's wildlife which is currently under serious threat from poachers.
He said that ending illegal wildlife trade would bring to an end the global poaching crisis that was leading to the killing of tens of thousands of elephants and rhinos each year and fuelling a lucrative global criminal trade in animal parts.
Niall said that WWF was willing to work with the Government of Kenya to put an end to illegal wildlife trade which was a big threat to the growing economy.
"We recognize illegal wildlife trade as a serious crime which threatens both the economic and security of Kenya," he said.
WWF has been at the frontline in supporting calls for enactment of the proposed Wildlife Bill that will enhance the protection and management of Wildlife in Kenya.
The Illegal Wildlife Trade campaign has significantly contributed to Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's pledge to end ivory trade in Thailand.
"As a next step we will forward amending the national legislation with the goal of putting an end on ivory trade and to be in line with international norms," Prime Minster Shinawatra said during the Cites meeting held in March.
God put me on earth to accomplish a certain amount of things. Right now I'm so far behind that I'll never die.
Conservationists launch anti-poaching fight in Kenya
Conservationists launch anti-poaching fight in Kenya
Xinhua, May 31, 2013
International conservationists have resorted to the use of science to help preserve elephants in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya amid rising poaching in the East African nation.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), The School for Field Studies (SFS) and Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) have inked a five-year partnership to help preserve 1,400 elephants which spend about 80 percent of their time outside the national park.
"The IFAW-SFS partnership brings together our organizations' shared passion, vision, research, and management resources to help enhance the population, range and viability of the charismatic Amboseli elephant," said Dr. Moses Makonjio Okello, Senior Director of The SFS Center for Wildlife Management Studies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Okello who leads the five-year project said on Thursday the partnership will see scientists, researchers, and veterinarians tracking elephant populations around the park to determine their needs for space and resources, and ultimately help prevent human- elephant conflict.
"Elephants need space and resources in order to be free, viable and to fulfill the flagship role they play in East Africa," said Okello.
"It is a fact that Amboseli's 1,400 elephants spend up to 80 percent of their time outside the national park," said James Isiche, Director of IFAW East Africa said on Thursday.
"They roam in the surrounding Maasai group ranches, and are known to cross over into Tsavo West National Park in Kenya, and wander south over the border into Tanzania as far as Kilimanjaro National Park."
Isiche said the initial step of the project began two months ago with the radio collaring of six elephants (four male and two female), to be monitored for at least the next two years to provide critical information on elephant movement patterns within and outside of Amboseli.
"Seen in human terms, the information we gather will give us an elephant's eye view of optimum lifestyle standards for these giant creatures," said Isiche.
"We will be able to make a case for the connection of their favored habitats by securing critical corridors and securing the areas Amboseli that are essential for sustaining Amboseli's rich wildlife heritage, especially the elephants."
The IFAW-SFS study is part of IFAW's Amboseli Project, which includes enhancing KWS' law enforcement capabilities, leasing critical corridors and dispersal areas in community land, creating conservation awareness and local capacity for ecotourism ventures, and mitigating human-elephant conflict.
The study is also a component of the SFS Center for Wildlife Management Studies Five Year Research Plan, or roadmap, which examines how land use and resource availability in the Amboseli ecosystem can be managed to foster the well-being of local communities as well as safeguard biodiversity conservation.
"With this information, scientists will be able to establish the elephants' preferred habitats and why certain areas are chosen above others, and the threats that the elephants face," Isiche said.
He added that the information will enable the team to make clear recommendations that will be used to safeguard elephant herds for the long term.
Conservationists said rising demand for ivory and rhino horn in Asia has caused a poaching crisis in recent years across Kenya in particular and Africa as a whole with over 1,000 rhinos having been killed on the continent in the last 18 months.
The KWS has enhanced the round-the-clock surveillance at all Kenya's entry exit and entry points while sniffer dogs and their handlers have proved incorruptible and have once again outsmarted the smugglers.
The East African nation says it's at a point where it cannot allow further poaching of wildlife because the animal numbers have been reducing at an alarming rate.
Most recent statistics from the KWS for instance indicated that the number of elephants for instance has reduced from a high of 160,000 in 1970s to below 30,000.
KWS said between the 1970s and 1980s Kenya lost over 80 percent of her elephants, mainly due to intensive poaching of elephants for ivory.
The East African nation has lost 21 rhinos and 117 elephants to poachers since the beginning of 2013. Out of these elephants, he said, 37 were killed in protected areas while 80 were outside protected areas.
Kenya lost 289 elephants to poaching in 2011 and another 384 elephants in 2012.
Lion is also one of the most endangered animals not only in Kenya but across Africa. Kenya has an estimated 1,800 lions, down from 2,800 in 2002. The country had 30,000 lions in the 1960s, KWS data revealed.
The elephants horns are sawn off and ground into a powder which is taken as a curative in most countries in Asia, despite no scientific evidence of medicinal properties.
KWS said the poaching situation calls for a united approach that will not only facilitate the capture of those involved in wildlife crime, but also enhance prosecution of the illegal killing and trafficking of wildlife.
Last week, Parliament approved stiffer penalties for poachers to help tackle the on-going poaching crisis including fines up to 120,000 U.S. dollars and 15 years in jail.
Source: http://www.china.org.cn/environment/201 ... 985554.htm
Xinhua, May 31, 2013
International conservationists have resorted to the use of science to help preserve elephants in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya amid rising poaching in the East African nation.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), The School for Field Studies (SFS) and Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) have inked a five-year partnership to help preserve 1,400 elephants which spend about 80 percent of their time outside the national park.
"The IFAW-SFS partnership brings together our organizations' shared passion, vision, research, and management resources to help enhance the population, range and viability of the charismatic Amboseli elephant," said Dr. Moses Makonjio Okello, Senior Director of The SFS Center for Wildlife Management Studies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Okello who leads the five-year project said on Thursday the partnership will see scientists, researchers, and veterinarians tracking elephant populations around the park to determine their needs for space and resources, and ultimately help prevent human- elephant conflict.
"Elephants need space and resources in order to be free, viable and to fulfill the flagship role they play in East Africa," said Okello.
"It is a fact that Amboseli's 1,400 elephants spend up to 80 percent of their time outside the national park," said James Isiche, Director of IFAW East Africa said on Thursday.
"They roam in the surrounding Maasai group ranches, and are known to cross over into Tsavo West National Park in Kenya, and wander south over the border into Tanzania as far as Kilimanjaro National Park."
Isiche said the initial step of the project began two months ago with the radio collaring of six elephants (four male and two female), to be monitored for at least the next two years to provide critical information on elephant movement patterns within and outside of Amboseli.
"Seen in human terms, the information we gather will give us an elephant's eye view of optimum lifestyle standards for these giant creatures," said Isiche.
"We will be able to make a case for the connection of their favored habitats by securing critical corridors and securing the areas Amboseli that are essential for sustaining Amboseli's rich wildlife heritage, especially the elephants."
The IFAW-SFS study is part of IFAW's Amboseli Project, which includes enhancing KWS' law enforcement capabilities, leasing critical corridors and dispersal areas in community land, creating conservation awareness and local capacity for ecotourism ventures, and mitigating human-elephant conflict.
The study is also a component of the SFS Center for Wildlife Management Studies Five Year Research Plan, or roadmap, which examines how land use and resource availability in the Amboseli ecosystem can be managed to foster the well-being of local communities as well as safeguard biodiversity conservation.
"With this information, scientists will be able to establish the elephants' preferred habitats and why certain areas are chosen above others, and the threats that the elephants face," Isiche said.
He added that the information will enable the team to make clear recommendations that will be used to safeguard elephant herds for the long term.
Conservationists said rising demand for ivory and rhino horn in Asia has caused a poaching crisis in recent years across Kenya in particular and Africa as a whole with over 1,000 rhinos having been killed on the continent in the last 18 months.
The KWS has enhanced the round-the-clock surveillance at all Kenya's entry exit and entry points while sniffer dogs and their handlers have proved incorruptible and have once again outsmarted the smugglers.
The East African nation says it's at a point where it cannot allow further poaching of wildlife because the animal numbers have been reducing at an alarming rate.
Most recent statistics from the KWS for instance indicated that the number of elephants for instance has reduced from a high of 160,000 in 1970s to below 30,000.
KWS said between the 1970s and 1980s Kenya lost over 80 percent of her elephants, mainly due to intensive poaching of elephants for ivory.
The East African nation has lost 21 rhinos and 117 elephants to poachers since the beginning of 2013. Out of these elephants, he said, 37 were killed in protected areas while 80 were outside protected areas.
Kenya lost 289 elephants to poaching in 2011 and another 384 elephants in 2012.
Lion is also one of the most endangered animals not only in Kenya but across Africa. Kenya has an estimated 1,800 lions, down from 2,800 in 2002. The country had 30,000 lions in the 1960s, KWS data revealed.
The elephants horns are sawn off and ground into a powder which is taken as a curative in most countries in Asia, despite no scientific evidence of medicinal properties.
KWS said the poaching situation calls for a united approach that will not only facilitate the capture of those involved in wildlife crime, but also enhance prosecution of the illegal killing and trafficking of wildlife.
Last week, Parliament approved stiffer penalties for poachers to help tackle the on-going poaching crisis including fines up to 120,000 U.S. dollars and 15 years in jail.
Source: http://www.china.org.cn/environment/201 ... 985554.htm
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Re: Conservationists launch anti-poaching fight in Kenya
This would help in South Africa too....vinkie wrote:Conservationists launch anti-poaching fight in Kenya
Last week, Parliament approved stiffer penalties for poachers to help tackle the on-going poaching crisis including fines up to 120,000 U.S. dollars and 15 years in jail.
Source: http://www.china.org.cn/environment/201 ... 985554.htm
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Mel
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Re: Conservationists launch anti-poaching fight in Kenya
Poaching causes elephant orphan numbers to spike
05 Jun 2013 19:39| Sapa-AP
An elephant orphanage in Kenya is seeing an upsurge in orphaned elephants brought there because of the poaching crisis occurring across Africa.
Dame Daphne Sheldrick, who runs the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi National Park, said Kenya must pass stricter laws to punish those who poach elephants for their ivory tusks.
Sheldrick said it would be economic sabotage if Kenya doesn't prevent poaching deaths, because of the tourism it will lose.
"Unfortunately the demand for ivory in the Far East, particularly China, has pushed the price of ivory up too far," Sheldrick said as a dozen orphaned elephants bathed in dry mud nearby.
For village residents who have little earning potential, the lure of a poaching payday can be tough to resist, she said.
That's why Kenya must enact "very draconian sentencing" for poaching crimes, so that it's not worth it for villagers to kill elephants or rhinos, she said.
The Kenya Wildlife Service has long urged Kenyan lawmakers to increase the penalty for poaching, but so far the penalties have remained low.
Will Parliament pass stricter laws? Even Sheldrick is not sure.
"One has to hope. If they don't Kenya is going to lose their elephants and rhinos," she said, adding later: "Everyone is pleading with the Kenyan government to enact strict punishments against poachers."
Ivory trade
Thousands of elephants are being killed across Africa every year by poachers who sell ivory tusks to buyers in Asia, where an increasing demand is buying ivory trinkets as a sign of prestige.
Conservationists warn that unless the demand is curtailed, poachers will wipe out Africa's elephants and rhinos, who are killed for their horns.
The Nairobi orphanage takes in young elephants who have become separated from their pack or whose parents have been killed.
The orphanage has raised more than 150 elephants, and so far 70 have been released back into the wild.
Sheldrick said the orphanage is taking in far more orphans than in years past.
Robert Godec, the US ambassador to Kenya, fed bottles of synthetic milk to some of baby elephants on Wednesday, World Environment Day.
Godec said policing efforts and prosecutions of poachers must improve and a lowering of demand for ivory in places like Vietnam and China must take place to save the animals.
As Godec mingled among the baby elephants, patting them on the back and feeding them oversized bottles, he told Sheldrick that the orphanage is a place where magic happens.
While surrounded by the small giants, he said: "They're very human in a way."
"Oh, I've been working with them for 50 years now," she replied. "They're just like us but better than us." Sapa-AP
05 Jun 2013 19:39| Sapa-AP
An elephant orphanage in Kenya is seeing an upsurge in orphaned elephants brought there because of the poaching crisis occurring across Africa.
Dame Daphne Sheldrick, who runs the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi National Park, said Kenya must pass stricter laws to punish those who poach elephants for their ivory tusks.
Sheldrick said it would be economic sabotage if Kenya doesn't prevent poaching deaths, because of the tourism it will lose.
"Unfortunately the demand for ivory in the Far East, particularly China, has pushed the price of ivory up too far," Sheldrick said as a dozen orphaned elephants bathed in dry mud nearby.
For village residents who have little earning potential, the lure of a poaching payday can be tough to resist, she said.
That's why Kenya must enact "very draconian sentencing" for poaching crimes, so that it's not worth it for villagers to kill elephants or rhinos, she said.
The Kenya Wildlife Service has long urged Kenyan lawmakers to increase the penalty for poaching, but so far the penalties have remained low.
Will Parliament pass stricter laws? Even Sheldrick is not sure.
"One has to hope. If they don't Kenya is going to lose their elephants and rhinos," she said, adding later: "Everyone is pleading with the Kenyan government to enact strict punishments against poachers."
Ivory trade
Thousands of elephants are being killed across Africa every year by poachers who sell ivory tusks to buyers in Asia, where an increasing demand is buying ivory trinkets as a sign of prestige.
Conservationists warn that unless the demand is curtailed, poachers will wipe out Africa's elephants and rhinos, who are killed for their horns.
The Nairobi orphanage takes in young elephants who have become separated from their pack or whose parents have been killed.
The orphanage has raised more than 150 elephants, and so far 70 have been released back into the wild.
Sheldrick said the orphanage is taking in far more orphans than in years past.
Robert Godec, the US ambassador to Kenya, fed bottles of synthetic milk to some of baby elephants on Wednesday, World Environment Day.
Godec said policing efforts and prosecutions of poachers must improve and a lowering of demand for ivory in places like Vietnam and China must take place to save the animals.
As Godec mingled among the baby elephants, patting them on the back and feeding them oversized bottles, he told Sheldrick that the orphanage is a place where magic happens.
While surrounded by the small giants, he said: "They're very human in a way."
"Oh, I've been working with them for 50 years now," she replied. "They're just like us but better than us." Sapa-AP
God put me on earth to accomplish a certain amount of things. Right now I'm so far behind that I'll never die.
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Mel
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Re: Conservationists launch anti-poaching fight in Kenya
I'm wondering if Dame Sheldrick wants more than the amendment of the Wildlife Act -
or if the author of the article hasn't done his homework (or am I just being dof...) ?
or if the author of the article hasn't done his homework (or am I just being dof...) ?
God put me on earth to accomplish a certain amount of things. Right now I'm so far behind that I'll never die.
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Richprins
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Re: Conservationists launch anti-poaching fight in Kenya
Maybe just a time lapse in researching and reporting, Mello!? 
Please check Needs Attention pre-booking: https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=322&t=596
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Mel
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Re: Conservationists launch anti-poaching fight in Kenya
Would you still publish it if you're behind schedule? -O Or if you do - add some remark. 
God put me on earth to accomplish a certain amount of things. Right now I'm so far behind that I'll never die.
Kenya cracks down on poaching
Kenya cracks down on poaching
Tuesday 11 June 2013 - 12:05 PM
Nairobi – Kenya is making good on its promise to crack down on poaching.
Three suspects, one of them a policeman, appeared in a Nairobi court on Tuesday for possession and dealing in illegal ivory. The suspects were arrested on Tuesday after being caught transporting elephant tusks.
The suspects pleaded not guilty and were released on a hefty bail charge.
The trial is set for July.
Meanwhile, Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) said poaching levels are back up to what they were in the 1970’s and 80’s.
Last month, six rhinos were killed in just one week.
Government vowed to put in place more anti-poaching measures, including increased fines. But there are fears of transnational poaching networks operating in Kenya, and that both KWS and police officers are involved.
Already, 32 officials have been suspended for suspected poaching.
-eNCA
Source: http://www.enca.com/africa/kenya-cracks-down-poaching
Tuesday 11 June 2013 - 12:05 PM
Nairobi – Kenya is making good on its promise to crack down on poaching.
Three suspects, one of them a policeman, appeared in a Nairobi court on Tuesday for possession and dealing in illegal ivory. The suspects were arrested on Tuesday after being caught transporting elephant tusks.
The suspects pleaded not guilty and were released on a hefty bail charge.
The trial is set for July.
Meanwhile, Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) said poaching levels are back up to what they were in the 1970’s and 80’s.
Last month, six rhinos were killed in just one week.
Government vowed to put in place more anti-poaching measures, including increased fines. But there are fears of transnational poaching networks operating in Kenya, and that both KWS and police officers are involved.
Already, 32 officials have been suspended for suspected poaching.
-eNCA
Source: http://www.enca.com/africa/kenya-cracks-down-poaching
