- Title: KENYA: Elephants counted to establish the impact of drought and poaching
- Date: 17th February 2011
- Summary: TSAVO, KENYA (FEBRUARY 10, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TSAVO NATIONAL PARK AT SUNRISE HERD OF ELEPHANTS GRAZING ANOTHER ELEPHANT HERD WALKING THROUGH PARK VARIOUS OF CENSUS ENUMERATORS FLYING OVER THE PARK PLANE LANDING, ENUMERATOR DIS-EMBARKING WIDE OF DATA TALLYING CENTRE DATA ENTRY CLERKS AT WORK PATRICK OMONDI, KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICES' HEAD OF SPECIES CONSERVATION PROGRAM MONITORING TALLYING PROCESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PATRICK OMONDI, KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICES' HEAD OF SPECIES CONSERVATION PROGRAM SAYING: "This exercise will enable us to establish the number and distribution of elephants within the Tsavo-Mkomazi ecosystem; and it will enable us to establish the impact that the 2009 drought had on the elephants. We lost quite a number of baby and adult elephants, and we want to know whether this population has since declined or it has increased." VARIOUS OF DATA ENTRY CLERKS FILLING OUT FIGURES FROM LATEST COUNT (SOUNDBITE) (English) PATRICK OMONDI, KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICES' HEAD OF SPECIES CONSERVATION PROGRAM SAYING: "During this census, we are also recording the level of incursion of livestock into the conservation area in a bid to drive the livestock out. We have also recorded poachers' dens which have since destroyed." MORE OF DATA CLERKS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PATRICK OMONDI, KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICES' HEAD OF SPECIES CONSERVATION PROGRAM SAYING: "Since the partial lifting of the ban that allows southern African countries to sell their stockpiles of Ivory to Japan and China we have had increasing elephant poaching in the country."
- Embargoed: 4th March 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya, Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Environment / Natural World
- Reuters ID: LVA9PIGIQOK1DKKO8MQ6JQHX2BQS
- Story Text: As the sun rises over Tsavo national park in Kenya, herds of elephants begin their morning trek across the expansive savannah in search of water. Moving in groups of 50 or more, the park's largest mammals dominate the landscape.
But despite their numbers, park rangers are concerned about the impact of drought and increasing poaching on the population and have embarked on a counting exercise to establish how the community of elephants is surviving.
The six-day census was carried out from the air and covered vast tracts of land in Kenya's south west and across the border across Tanzania's northern planes. It was conducted jointly by the Tanzanian and Kenyan authorities and attracted over 100 scientists and conservationists from all over east Africa.
Last time a census was carried out was in 2008, since then the elephants have lived through severe drought and suffered increasing levels of poaching.
"This exercise will enable us to establish the number and distribution of elephants within the Tsavo-Mkomazi ecosystem; and it will enable us to establish the impact that the 2009 drought had on the elephants. We lost quite a number of baby and adult elephants, and we want to know whether this population has since declined or it has increased," said Patrick Omondi, Kenya Wildlife Service's Head of Species and Conservation Program.
Other threats to the elephants include poaching and increasing competition for water and food from other animals.
"During this census, we are also recording the level of incursion of livestock into the conservation area in a bid to drive the livestock out. We have also recorded poachers' dens which have since destroyed," said Omondi.
He says poaching activity has increased since the last survey with the price of ivory on the international black market ever increasing.
"Since the partial lifting of the ban that allows southern African countries to sell their stockpiles of Ivory to Japan and China we have had increasing elephant poaching in the country," he said.
The exercise will cover an area of 46,437 square kilometres. Apart from counting the elephants, the enumerators will also take stock of other species including; count buffalo, giraffe, rhino and lion as well as large birds such as ostrich across the two parks.
Human activities around the park will also be monitored during the count and all settlements, farms; logging and livestock will be taken into account to prevent animal-human conflict.
In 1967, Kenya had some 167,000 elephants; between then and 1989, the elephants went through natural attrition from severe drought and a poaching onslaught and were reduced to a paltry 16,000.
The Kenya Wildlife Service is working alongside other partners including the International Fund for Animal Welfare - IFAW.
"What we aim to do here is not just count elephants but take other information such as other large mammals species-count them, large bird species," said James Iseche, IFAW regional director.
Kenya has over 40 national parks and game reserves, it is globally famous for its spectacular wild animals including the annual wildebeast migration. The tourism industry is one of Kenya's largest foreign exchange earners with a projected 1.24 billion dollars earned in the just ended financial year.
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