2023-02-09 - Nairobi, Kenya.
On the afternoon of 8th February, the Nursery herd gathered for their customary mud bath. As has become her new custom, Ziwadi joined in. She was splashing around and having lots of fun, when she suddenly started to have a seizure. Everything unfolded very quickly. As soon as they saw Ziwadi’s distress, the Keepers leapt into the mud bath. They managed to pull her onto firm ground, but to their horror, she was not breathing. Although the Keepers tried their very best to revive her, it was too ...
2022-11-01 - Nairobi, Kenya. Richard Kagoe, BBC News, Nairobi
A Kenyan elephant, thought to have been Africa's largest female tusker, has died of old age, wildlife officials have said. Dida, also known as Queen of Tsavo, was aged between 60 and 65 years, the upper age limit of an elephant in the wild. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) hailed her as an "iconic matriarch" of the Tsavo East National Park. Famed for her long tusks, Dida was a major tourist attraction at the park, the oldest in Kenya.
2022-03-23 - , Kenya.
Save the Elephants' Head of Field Operations, David Daballen said in a statement it was "incredible news." "Despite the terrible drought, Bora has managed to feed the babies and keep them alive. Twin elephants rarely survive so we are absolutely delighted with this news," he said. "It just goes to show how resilient elephants are and what wonderful mothers they make. We look forward to monitoring their progress."
2022-03-10 - Nairobi, Kenya.
On the night of 8th March 2022, just as our Ithumba team was getting ready for bed, Mutara and her herd appeared outside the stockades. And... we were delighted to find a newborn in their midst! He was fresh out of the womb — Mutara had clearly given birth earlier that evening — but a picture of health. Mutara decided to spend her first night as a mother around Ithumba, sharing this special moment with Benjamin and the other Keepers who raised her.
2022-03-07 - Namanga, Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Service has requested money from the Ministry of Tourism to build a monument in honour of the late Big Tim, a beloved elephant who was one of Africa's last giant tuskers. The Tim memorial would be built in the Amboseli National Park, Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala told the National Assembly's Finance committee.
2021-06-22 - Nairobi, Kenya. Otiato Opali
With Ahmed the elephant in mind, Kenya last week launched the Elephant Naming Festival in which people get the chance to adopt an elephant after contributing money toward their chosen animal's conservation. Launching the program, Najib Balala, the cabinet secretary at the Ministry for Tourism and Wildlife, said the elephant-naming initiative will bring greater awareness of the need for conservation and boost tourism.
2021-04-09 - , Kenya.
Conservation charity Space for Giants’ Human-Elephant Coexistence team joined the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to coordinate an extraordinary ‘drive’ to move a large number of crop-raiding bull elephants and family herds away from farmland in one of the major milestones of the West Laikipia Fencing Project.
2020-11-06 - Sereolipi, Kenya.
Nestled in the foothills of Samburu County in northern Kenya is Africa’s first community-owned elephant orphanage. This magical place of healing and hope is named Reteti Elephant Sanctuary. Reteti rescues and releases orphaned and abandoned elephant calves, while at the same time creating much-needed benefits to the local people that live alongside them. It’s a community partnership that is reshaping conservation methods and healing centuries of human-wildlife conflict.
2020-09-14 - Nanyuki, Kenya. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI)
As they roam around the African savanna in search for food, giraffes and elephants alter the diversity and richness of its vegetation. By studying the foraging patterns of these megaherbivores across different terrains in a savanna in Kenya, scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and collaborating institutions discovered that these large mammals prefer to eat their meals on flat ground, potentially impacting the growth and survival of plant species on even savanna lan...
2020-09-12 - Maasai Mara, Kenya.
On Thursday's "Great Wildebeest Migration" live broadcast, a young elephant was spotted limping in the bush alone in Kenya's Maasai Mara. Its right foreleg was broken and the vet had to check it.
2020-09-10 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan police arrest poacher with 14 kg elephant tusksSecurity officers in the northwestern Kenya town of Kitale on Thursday arrested a poacher in possession of 14 kilograms of elephant tusks with a market value of 1.4 million shillings (about 14,000 U.S dollars).
2020-08-24 - Tsavo, Kenya.
Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya, an organisation that rescues, rehabilitates and releases orphaned baby elephants, is here to make your day with a delightful clip of a newborn elephant following its mother. The official Twitter account of the trust recently shared a video of their newest baby elephant, Lapa, from when he was less than a day old, waddling around the area with his mother Lenana.
2020-08-15 - Amboseli, Kenya.
Tal was raised in Kenya’s coastal town of Mombasa and worked with the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust for ten years. Tal's expertise centre on GIS(Geographic Information Systems), database management and film work, and now work as Project Manager for Amboseli Trust for Elephants.
2020-08-14 - Nairobi, Kenya. GABRIELA SALDIVIA
Amboseli National Park in Kenya is experiencing something of an elephant baby boom. The park, which sits at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro, has reported the birth of more than 170 calves this year and counting. What's more, two sets of twins were born this year, and number of poached elephants from January to today has been seven
2017-03-13 - Tsavo, Kenya.
This baby elephant was born on March 3, 2017, to Ndara, an ex-orphan elephant from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) Nairobi Nursery. Shortly after giving birth, Ndara brought her new baby to see her former caretakers! The pair made a huge impression, the baby still wobbly on his little legs and following his mother like a shadow!
2016-12-04 - Nairobi, Kenya.
An arrogant buffalo was tossed several feet into the air after it decided to battle with a mother elephant. The buffalo, weighing more than 500kg did not survive the battle. These pictures were taken by a photographer who visited Kenya on vacation.
2016-04-30 - Nairobi, Kenya. Martin Oduor
Immediately after the 1974 elections, the Kenyatta family was linked to illegal ivory trade, which was earning the Kenyatta family and other close relatives $10 million (equivalent to about Sh100 million today) per year, as the country’s 120,000 elephants were killed at an annual rate of 20,000! – Source Charles Hornsby in his book, Kenya: A History Since Independence (1963-2011)
2016-04-27 - Nairobi, Kenya.
On Saturday, April 30, Kenya Wildlife Service will host the largest ivory burn in history — a bold statement against elephant poaching, and one we hope will mark the beginning of the end for the global ivory trade, which kills an estimated 33,000 elephants every year. WildAid will be bringing these historic events to a worldwide audience through social media, and we invite you to watch it live.
2015-11-16 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyas wildlife authority on Monday vowed to destroy the east African country´s vast ivory stockpile from several thousand elephants, nine times more than the largest pile torched so far. Kenyas stockpile, if illegally sold on the black market at current prices, could be worth some $270 million (over 251 million euros), but conservationists say sale of ivory only serves to fuel further poaching.
2015-11-08 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Last month, orphan elephant Wendy got a new baby---and they have a roaring relationship which is both clumsy as well as cute, according to HNGN. The birth of a baby elephant is great news for conservationists, who are trying to increase the strength of the species.
2015-04-09 - Laikipia, Kenya.
ANOTHER elephant has been killed by poachers at Naigera area of Engelesha Forest in the Laikipia Nature Conservancy, Laikipia county. Conservancy director Kuki Gallmann said the elephant´s tusks were hacked off by the poachers, who struck on Monday. This brings to three the number of elephants killed at the conservancy this year by poachers. "It was shot on the right front leg, right side, back and right ear," she said. The killing of the 20-year-old animal occurred a hundred metres away f...
2014-06-09 - Narok, Kenya.
Scientists who have been carrying wildlife census in Maasai Mara Game Reserve have stumbled on 117 fresh and old elephant carcasses. The elephants, whose tusks were missing, may have been killed by poachers or the local community in human-wildlife conflicts. Last month, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) acting Director General William Kiprono said elephant population in the Mara was declining at an alarming rate and called on residents to help security agencies reverse the trend.
2014-06-07 - Mombasa, Kenya.
Kenyan authorities seized 228 whole elephant tusks and 74 others in pieces as they were being packed for export in the port city of Mombasa, police and wildlife officials said. Police arrested one suspect and were searching for another who escaped, Marwa said, noting that the suspect in custody tried to bribe police officers by offering them 5 million shillings ($57,100).
2014-05-03 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan wildlife authorities say two police officers have been arrested transporting illegal elephant ivory as the government cracks down on poaching of the country’s endangered elephants and rhinos. Kenya Wildlife Service said Saturday the officers were caught with six pieces of ivory at a road block while travelling from the central Kenyan town of Meru to the capital Friday night.
Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) said Saturday its rangers have launched a major manhunt for poachers who killed six elephants and carted off ivory in a poaching incident last Thursday. KWS spokesman Paul Mbugua said the six elephants have been confirmed poached and two - female adults, tusks’ chopped off at Dawida ranch in the periphery of Tsavo West National Park. “Four others were all tusk-less juvenile. All carcasses had gunshot wounds. The area is prone to livestock herding with a number o...
2014-04-30 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Three suspects will appear in court in Kenya next week after six elephants, including four juveniles, were found shot dead in a private reserve in one of the worst poaching incidents in several years. A wildlife official said that it is thought that the killings were at least partly motivated by revenge against officials because the calves, not having tusks, had no value to poachers.
2014-02-05 - Nairobi, Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has launched a programme to count the elephant population in both the Tsavo National Park and Mkomanzi Park in Tanzania. A total of 1193 elephants were counted in the year 2013 compared to a similar dry season in October 2010 count of 1065, a 12 per cent increase. In April 2013, the wet season count found 1930 elephants compared to 1420 in April 2010, a 35 per cent increase. Elephant population increased from 1420 to 1,930 while elephant carcass ratio declined fr...
2014-02-04 - Nairobi, Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and various stakeholders say they have finalized plans to carry out aerial census of elephants in the expansive Tsavo-Mkomazi ecosystem starting on Tuesday. KWS said Monday the results of the Feb. 4-10 exercise will help the wildlife officials establish the current elephant and other large mammals population size and distribution and compare these results with the results of past aerial counts
2013-12-03 - Amboseli, Kenya.
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the School for Field Studies, East Africa (SFS) will Tuesday start fitting tracking collars on four elephants within the Amboseli ecosystem in Kajiado County. The fitting of collars, will be conducted by a team of scientists, researchers and veterinarians from the partnering organisations.
2013-11-10 - Nairobi, Kenya.
In an initiative backed by Prince Charles and Prince William, 25 soldiers from 3rd Batallion Parachute Regiment have been sent to train Kenyan rangers. Al Shabaab, a group linked to Al Qaeda, is said to be funding their training and attacks by selling elephant and rhino horns on the Somalian black market - a trade worth £12billion a year. In the past year, 60 wardens and 38,000 elephants have been killed by illegal poachers.
2013-10-27 - Mombasa, Kenya.
Kenya is borrowing a page from America’s war on drugs. Sniffer dogs, normally used to ferret out cocaine shipments, are being put to work in Kenya to track down hidden tusks and horns passing through Kenya’s seaport and airports.
2013-10-20 - Masai Mara, Kenya.
Standing in his flatbed truck, Marc Goss touches “take off” on his iPad 3, and a $300 AR Drone whirs into the air. It’s his latest weapon to fight elephant poachers around Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve. Kenya is proposing stiffer penalties for the slaughter of elephants and rhinos, with fines of as much as $117,000 and 15-year jail terms. The government has deployed paramilitary forces and plans to acquire drones to fight poaching.
2013-10-19 - Nairobi, Kenya.
A joint week-long wildlife census carried out by Kenya and Tanzanian wildlife authorities have counted 1,193 elephants, a remarkable recovery from massive deaths, provisional results show. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the figure is a 12 percent increase compared to a similar dry season in October 2010 when the authorities counted 1,065 elephants during the joint aerial count of elephants and other large mammals in the shared ecosystem of the Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro.
2013-10-17 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan and Tanzanian will jointly conduct a cross-border aerial count of elephants and other large mammals in the shared ecosystem of the Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro and Natron-Magadi landscape. Kenya Wildlife Service spokesperson Paul Udoto says the initiative is set to start from October 6 to 13, 2013.
2013-08-01 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Former US defence attaché in Nairobi David McNevin has been convicted of smuggling thousands of pounds worth of ivory. According to officials, McNevin was arrested with 21 pieces of ornately carved elephant tusks as he boarded a flight to Netherlands from Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
2013-06-04 - Nairobi, Kenya.
10 officers of the Kenya Wildlife Service, including a senior warden and company commander, in Tsavo have been suspended for working with poaching gangs. TCA Senior Assistant Director Julius Kimani told local media The Standard yesterday, “We have interdicted the officers for engaging in omission and commission of poaching activities. They have secretly been giving information to the poachers making it difficult for KWS to effectively deal with the poaching menace.
2013-05-14 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Authorities say that two employees of an elephant conservation group in one of Kenya´s most popular wildlife parks have been charged with ivory smuggling. The Amboseli Trust for Elephants confirmed the charges in a statement Monday. The group said it is confident that an investigation will exonerate the two, a mother and a son. Court records showed that the two Kenyans were arrested with six tusks.
2013-04-26 - Amboseli, Kenya.
The five-day exercise, which started on Monday (April 23, 2013) is a collaboration between the two countries and their agencies; Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), Wildlife Division of Tanzania and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), together with affiliated Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) like African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Amboseli Trust for Elephants, School of Field studies Tanzania, Honey Guide foundation among others.
2013-04-26 - Tsavo, Kenya.
This is a latent viral disease of elephants caused by Herpes virus and is known to cause deaths only in Asian Elephants. The disease in African Elephants manifests as self limiting nodular lesions in young elephants trunk and face and are rarely fatal. The viruses are intranulclear and have affinity for endothelial cells. Several Elephants were sampled and blood, tissues from nodular lesions taken and will be tested at our new molecular lab in Nairobi. A total of 15 Elephants were sampled making...
2013-04-20 - Nairobi, Kenya.
An abandoned baby elephant whose mother was killed by ivory poachers has been saved after an animal rescue worker spotted it from an aeroplane. Tundani, a baby male calf, was seen trudging through the vast Kenyan savannah earlier this month. Alone in the wild and still dependent on its mother’s milk, it had no chance of survival. But since being found and taken in by a Nairobi orphanage, Tundani has been rehabilitated and grown in strength.
2013-03-12 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Elephant Trade Information System official Tom Milliken told the annual Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) conference in Bangkok, Thailand, that Kenya, Thailand, Uganda, Tanzania, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and China had been identified as major players in the trade.
2013-02-24 - Amboseli, Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has fitted six elephants with GPS satellite collars at the Amboseli at a cost of Sh8.8 million. The collars will monitor the animals’ movement and data used to map out migratory routes, critical corridors and seasonal variations for habitat use. Besides assisting scientists and conservation experts establish the extent and how elephants use the Amboseli landscape, the collars will also enable KWS design management intervention measures for conflict mitigation a...
2013-01-13 - Amboseli, Kenya.
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’S new wildlife series, Africa, has amazed viewers with its revealing insights into the continent’s animals. But this week’s episode sparked a storm when it showed the painful, lingering death of a baby elephant. Viewers demanded to know why the BBC crew didn’t step in and save the creature. Here, the series producer explains why that wasn’t possible.
2013-01-10 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan police and wildlife service rangers have shot dead two poachers who had killed four elephants, authorities say, days after the slaughter of 12 animals sparked national outrage. "A team of rangers from the anti-poaching unit (of KWS) and police shot the two poachers and eight tusks were recovered," Isiolo police commander Daniel Kamanga told Reuters. They also recovered rifles and ammunition.
2013-01-09 - Tsavo, Kenya.
Kenyan park rangers are hunting for a gang of poachers who they say killed eleven elephants and hacked off their tusks, the latest large slaughter of the animals to be reported amid insatiable global demand for ivory. The family of elephants were killed on Saturday in Tsavo East National Park in southern Kenya, according to a statement Monday from the Kenya Wildlife Service. The animals´ carcasses all had bullet wounds and their tusks had been chopped off, the agency said.
2012-12-09 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan officials say the country’s elephant and zebra populations have dropped sharply over the last four years, mainly due to poaching, demand for ivory, drought and climate change. Kenya Wildlife Service director William Kipkoech says the number of elephants fell from 7,415 to 6,361 during the period.
2012-11-13 - Amboseli, Kenya.
One of the poachers that killed the well-known elephant, Qumquat and her family has been arrested. The Big Life Foundation anti-poaching unit was informed of the location of the poacher through their community network. The team made the arrest alongside Kenya Wildlife Service. According to Big Life, the poacher was arrested last year but released. The team from Amboseli Elephant Research identified the dead elephants as Qumquat and her two daughters Qantina and Quaye.
2012-11-01 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Sixteen pieces of raw elephant ivory were last night intercepted by Police from the special Crime prevention unit in Nairobi. It is not clear where the consignment was heading. Meanwhile, Kenya Wildlife Service rangers in Meru National Park have shot dead two poachers as two accomplices escaped after fierce exchange of fire that lasted for one hour. An AK47 rifle, 47 rounds of ammunition, two ivory tusks and two axes were recovered from them.
2012-09-13 - Tsavo, Kenya.
POACHERS killed three elephants at Taita Ranch on Sunday in the latest incident of escalating poaching in the region. The three male elephants aged between 30 and 40 old were shot dead by the poachers who are said to have been armed with sophisticated guns. In July, poachers killed three elephants at the ranch which is adjacent to the Tsavo conservation area.
2012-04-15 - Kenya, Kenya.
Three Somalis are among the latest people arrested in a crackdown on elephant poaching in the country. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers have linked them to a cartel behind poaching of the animal for its tusks in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. During the incident, three people, among them a 10-year-old boy, were arrested after they were found ferrying the tusks on a motorcycle.
2012-04-15 - Nairobi, Kenya.
The large number of Chinese now working across Africa has fuelled elephant poaching on the continent, according to a BBC report. While traders were wary of being filmed by a BBC TV crew, a Chinese undercover reporter working for Panorama quickly attracted the attention of sellers using the Chinese word for ivory to good effect.
2012-03-29 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers shot and killed three suspected poachers in Tsavo East National Park in the latest in a series of poacher killings amid a rise in elephant deaths, an official said Wednesday. Last week rangers shot and killed another three suspected poachers near Mount Kenya.
2012-03-17 - Nairobi, Kenya.
As one of the world´s most beautiful women, all eyes are usually on Gisele Bundchen. But the 31-year-old Brazilian model found herself well and truly upstaged by an adorable baby elephant during a recent trip to Africa. The stunning star looks deliriously happy in photographs she posted of her January trip to Kenya on her Facebook page today.
2012-03-03 - Tsavo, Kenya.
Two elephants have been killed by poachers at a private ranch in Taita Taveta County. Wildlife conservationists have condemned the killing of the two female elephants aged about 40 years at Lwalenyi Ranch within Mwatate district which borders the Tsavo West National Park. Poaching is threatening elephant population in the Tsavo ecosystem.
2012-03-03 - , Kenya.
MORE than 20 elephants have been killed in the vast Marsabit Forest in the Central division of Marsabit county in the last two months as Ethiopian poachers invade the forest. Marsabit Central DC Ruto Kipchumba said hundreds of poachers have found their way into the forest from Ethiopia and are causing havoc by killing elephants.
2012-02-24 - Nairobi, Kenya.
For more than half a century Dame Daphne Sheldrick has rescued and looked after orphaned elephants and other animals in Kenya. Daphne Sheldrick´s elephant orphanage sits in a corner of Nairobi National Park. Every morning, for an hour, it is open to tourists who come from all over the world to watch the orphans, aged up to three years, play in their mud bath and drink bottles of milk fed to them by their keepers.
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) on wednesday launched a national elephant conservation and management strategy. Speaking at the launch, the Minister for Forestry and Wildlife Hon Dr Noah Wekesa noted that the world was witnessing increased illegal killing of elephants and that the sophistication and the level of organisation of illegal traders in ivory were also worrying.
2012-01-21 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Elephant poachers have shot dead an unarmed wildlife ranger in Voi, according to Kenya Wildlife Services. A statement from the KWS said Abdullahi Muhammed was killed by poachers in Rukinga Wildlife Works ranch last Friday night. Another Wildlife Works ranger, Ijema Funan, was also shot and is undergoing treatment at the hospital.
2012-01-18 - Nairobi, Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Services has translocated a rogue elephant and its calf from Ikanga and Caanan area in Voi. During the operation, business was interrupted along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway as the KWS helicopter hovered around before darting the elephant. It was moved to the Tsavo East National Park.
2011-12-25 - Mombasa, Kenya.
Kenya seized 727 pieces of ivory in a container destined for Asia, a customs official said, the latest in a wave of ivory hauls in the east African country. Customs agents in the port of Mombasa said the contraband was hidden in bags of plastic chips and showed up in a scan of the container ahead of shipment on Wednesday.
2011-12-22 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan authorities seized 727 pieces of ivory in a container at the main port of Mombasa in one of the largest hauls of tusks in recent years, officials said Thursday. "We had a suspicion of the contents, and that is why we invited the Kenya Wildlife Service, opened the container and we have elephant tusks," said Kenya Revenue Authority Deputy Commissioner Rose Gachiri.
2011-11-27 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan authorities have seized a container loaded with 87 elephant tusks and disguised as soapstone carvings destined for Hong Kong, a customs official said. The 20-foot container was impounded at a depot in Nairobi. As it was being inspected for clearance for shipment, officials scanning its contents became suspicious.
2011-09-26 - Nairobi, Kenya.
More than 3000 elephants may have been slaughtered in 2011 so far - and that´s just those we know about. In Kenya, Mary Rice from the Environmental Investigation Agency witnesses the bloody reality of the global ivory trade. since January 1, 2011 (worldwide): 11,493kg of ivory have been seized; representing at least 1,149 elephants (based on an average of 10kg per animal); � an additional 3,997 tusks (no weight recorded) were seized, so that�s at least 1,998 elep...
2011-09-22 - Narok, Kenya.
Kenyan rangers on Thursday began relocating 50 rampaging elephants to the renowned Maasai Mara game reserve to stem rising human deaths and property destruction in outlying villages. The first four of the elephants due to be relocated over the next 10 days were shot with tranquilizer darts from a helicopter near Narok town, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Nairobi, a zone notorious for human-wildlife conflict.
2011-09-20 - Nairobi, Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) will move about 50 elephants from Narok North to the world famous Maasai Mara National Reserve, about 80 km southwest of Nairobi to mitigate escalating human wildlife conflict in the area, said a statement from KWS on Wednesday. KWS said the 10-day exercise to be officially launched on September 22 will be the first phase of an exercise whose total cost is expected to reach USD328,000. The first phase will cost USD74,000.
2011-09-20 - Nairobi, Kenya. Usra Hussain
The Samburu National Reserve located in Kenya has experienced a high rate of elephant poaching this year in comparison to the past 11 years. Although, elephants do not have any natural predators other than lions, elephants are threatened by human beings. African and Asian elephants are hunted for their ivory tusks and illegally traded for money. The conservationists of the Samburu National Reserve have been actively fighting poachers in order to protect the elephants in their reserve.
2011-09-15 - Mombasa, Kenya. ANTHONY KITIMO
Thirty elephant tusks of undetermined value were impounded at the port of Mombasa en route Hong Kong on Wednesday evening. The consignment weighing 274.4 kilograms was intercepted by Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials during their normal inspection at the port. According to deputy commissioner in charge of customs in the southern region, Ms Rose Gichira, the consignment was stuffed in a 40-foot container covered with bales of buttons and clothes.
2011-07-31 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Last Wednesday, Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki set fire to more than five tonnes of elephant ivory to bring attention to the problem of poaching. About 335 ivory tusks and 41,000 trinkets worth about $16,290,000 ( £10 million) were burned. It had been confiscated by officials in Singapore in 2002 and found to be from Zambia and Malawai, says the Guardian.
2011-06-08 - Amboseli, Kenya.
After four decades of research into the social behavior of pachyderms, biologists have arrived at a remarkable conclusion: they´re really not so different from us. The results of the longest continual study of elephants found that some behaviors many people believe to be unique to humans, like casting flirtatious glances or arguing about directions, are in reality quite common among these species as well -- except they never forget to pack their trunks.
2011-05-06 - Nairobi, Kenya.
An official says Kenyan police have seized about a tonne of illegal ivory destined for Nigeria at the country´s main airport in Nairobi. Joseph Ngisa, the officer in charge of criminal investigations in the country´s airports, said they impounded 84 elephant tusks on concealed in metal containers on Thursday. Ngisa said Friday sniffer dogs led the policemen to the containers at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport´s cargo hold. He said no arrests had been made.
2011-05-04 - Nairobi, Kenya. Jason Straziuso
Four out of seven elephants fitted with satellite tracking collars have been killed on the slopes of Mount Kenya in recent months, only a short distance from the safari lodge where Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton. Scottish conservationist Iain Douglas-Hamilton said the animals were fitted with collars over the last year by his charity, Save The Elephants.
2010-12-23 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Three suspected poachers were shot dead in Kenya in the past week in two incidents for killing five elephants, Kenyan wildlife authorities said on Monday. Kenya Wildlife Service said its rangers shot dead two poachers in the southeast of the country, arrested another, and recovered two assault rifles and seven elephant tusks.
2010-12-11 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Two Singaporean nationals were arrested late Friday as they allegedly tried to smuggle raw elephant ivory out of Kenya, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service. The suspects were arrested with 92 kilograms of illegal raw ivory at the Jomo Kenyatta International airport while trying to board a midnight flight to Bangkok, Thailand. The K9 unit of the Kenya Wildlife Service made the bust, according to Paul Udoto, a spokesman for the KWS.
2010-11-27 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan wildlife rangers shot dead two poachers suspected of killing two elephants in one of the country´s top national parks, a park official said Friday. The pair, a Kenyan and a Tanzanian, were gunned down Thursday near the Amboseli National Park in the south of the country as they prepared to shoot a herd of elephants.
2010-10-18 - Nairobi, Kenya.
The trends of poaching in Kenya over the last three years are illustrated by a steep graph that defies gravity. The number of elephant deaths in that period has grown five times. The seizure of ivory and rhino horns coming from Kenya and eastern Africa region is at a record high, even before the year ends. Data from various sources show that while 47 elephants died in 2007 due to poaching, the number rose to 145 in 2008 and to 216 in 2009. This year, 28,000 tonnes of ivory have been seized.
2010-08-27 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan authorities have seized two tonnes of raw elephant ivory and five rhino horns bound for Malaysia at the country´s main airport, wildlife officials said Monday. Officials said the ivory, from an estimated 150 elephants, had likely been collected over a period of two decades and represented "the largest elephant ivory recovery in Kenya in the recent past".
2010-08-26 - Nairobi, Kenya. David McKenzie
Kenya authorities have sentenced a Chinese national to 18 months in prison for possession of illegal ivory, the country´s wildlife service said. The man was seized on Tuesday with hand luggage, containing 10 ivory chopsticks and two bangles, according to the service. The trade in ivory both raw and finished is illegal in Kenya. The man pleaded guilty to possession of wildlife trophies. It appeared the man was taking the finished products home for his personal use and is not an ivory...
2010-08-05 - Amboseli, Kenya. JENNA SLOAN
HER life has had more twists and turns than a soap opera. She saw one daughter murdered and rescued another from a kidnapper. She helped her son fight back from a crippling illness and even fostered her orphaned grandson. Sir David Attenborough filmed his first documentary with Echo and her clan more than 20 years ago. He has now filmed a new show, Echo: An Unforgettable Elephant - screened on BBC2 at 8pm tonight - to celebrate her life as well as to commemorate her death.
2010-05-28 - Nairobi, Kenya.
SEX AND THE CITY star KRISTIN DAVIS is the proud mother of a baby elephant she adopted in Kenya. The animal-loving actress came across the mammal during her travels in between shooting the hit Sex and the City films and she decided to pay for it to be housed in a local shelter. She tells Us Weekly magazine, "I adopted a baby elephant I found abandoned in Kenya. She lives at Kenyas Sheldrick orphanage now."
2010-05-24 - Nairobi, Kenya.
A Korean who operates gambling businesses in Nairobi is in police custody in connection with illegal ivory trade. He was arrested hours after police impounded a lorry ferrying 48 elephant tusks and seven tonnes of sandalwood. The lorrys driver and a loader are also locked up at Kasarani Police station. The consignment in two containers was seized by Administration Police officers on Thika Road at around 6pm on Saturday.
2010-03-21 - Nairobi, Kenya. WALTER MENYA
Elephants were thrown a life line on Thursday after it emerged that Tanzanias proposal to be allowed to sell ivory is likely to be rejected. The rejection by conservation agency, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), would be a major victory for the Kenyan elephant, which is facing increasing danger from poachers. Elephants move freely between the Kenyan and Tanzanian game parks along the common border.
2010-03-14 - Tsavo, Kenya.
Three suspected poachers from a neighbouring country were gunned down by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) game rangers from Taita-Taveta as the war on poaching activities is intensified in the sprawling Tsavo National Park. The district police boss Herbert Khaemba, confirmed the Saturday night incident and said the poachers, suspected to be Tanzanian nationals, were shot dead at Kuranze area, Kasigahu location in Tsavo West National Park.
2010-03-08 - Samburu, Kenya.
A research camp with environmental organization Save the Elephants (STE) in Samburu National Reserve in Kenya fell victim to a flash flood last week, after the Ewaso Ng’iro River broke its banks. Fortunately, none of the researchers or employees were hurt, but the camp lost most of the equipment—including tents, food, computers, and collars—and data in the flood.
2010-01-14 - Nanyuki, Kenya.
Amman and Peterson offer a revelatory collection of photos and text on elephants. Ammann's photographs capture an astonishing range of elephant behavior, but Peterson's text—with its scope, synthesis of history and observation, précis of the ivory trade and conservationis what distinguishes this book. He spins the history of elephant research into mini-mysteries of how scientists struggled to understand elephants' secretive behaviors.
2010-01-14 - Nairobi, Kenya. Jason Straziuso
38-year-old Sharon Brown and her 1-year-old daughter were killed by an elephant on a nature hike in the Mount Kenya National Park. Sharon Brown was hiking with family and her 1-year-old daughter in a Kenyan nature reserve when suddenly their unarmed guide froze in his tracks. Around a corner was an elephant.
2009-12-07 - Nairobi, Kenya. WOLFGANG H. THOME
Information received indicates that in recent weeks over one and a half tons of ivory has been confiscated and recovered from poachers, smugglers and individuals found with it, across Eastern Africa in a concerted effort of the respective wildlife authorities, police and other security organs and customs.
2009-11-30 - Nairobi, Kenya.
African authorities raided shops, intercepted vehicles at checkpoints and used sniffer dogs to detect and seize over 3,800 pounds (1,768 kilograms) of illegal elephant ivory in a six-nation operation, Interpol and the Kenya Wildlife Service said Monday. During the three-month-long operation, authorities also seized leopard, crocodile and snake skins, among other illegal animal products, said Awad Dahia, Interpol's eastern Africa chief.
2009-11-10 - Nairobi, Kenya. James Pomfret and Tom Kirkwood
Tucked into a grimy building in Guangzhou, a small band of Chinese master carvers chip away at ivory tusks with chisels, fashioning them into the sorts of intricate carvings that were prized by Chinese emperors. A passion for ivory ornaments such as these is what helped decimate African and Asian elephant populations until a 1989 ban on ivory trade. Today, China's economic rise, and along with it a seemingly insatiable appetite for status symbols by its nouveau riche, has spurred demand for Afri...
2009-11-09 - Shimba Hills National Park, Kenya. Joe Ombuor
From the safety of his house, Philip Ndivo sees a herd of elephants moving down a hill in Shimba Hills National Park. He pulls down a big electric switch mounted on a wooden deck in his house. He moves out of his house in Lukore village, Kwale District, holding an instrument that tests electric current, which he clips to an electric fence passing near his compound. The gadget confirms the voltage is high enough to keep off any elephant that might try to cross the fence into farms.
2009-10-24 - Voi, Kenya.
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) personnel have arrested five prominent businessmen including a woman in connection with illegal sale of ivory. During the well coordinated operation by KWS security intelligence agents, more than 80 kilogrammes of ivory were recovered in Voi town among other places in the larger Taita-Taveta region and the neighboring Kinango District.
2009-10-22 - Nairobi, Kenya.
The rains are finally here, heralding a new start for the agricultural masses. But welcome as they are, they came a bit too late for the country’s prime tourist attraction – the wildlife. According to the Kenya Wildlife Services, hundreds of animals died solely due to the drought. The country lost 40 of its 2,000 grevy’s zebra to the drought, which is two per cent of their population. “Losing 40 is a significant loss,” said Mr Patrick Omondi, a KWS Senior Assistant Director.
Lying in a crumpled heap in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, bony hips jutting into the sky, was a female elephant that had collapsed days before. “The elephants are dying a lot. The babies that were born last year are all dead,” said Norah Njiraini, of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, who has watched as nearly a hundred calves have succumbed to exhaustion and malnutrition in recent months.
2009-10-21 - Voi, Kenya. BEATRICE GACHENGE
Why would you follow an elephant trail to pick its dung? If you need a quick answer ask Patrick Kilonzo, the director of Tsavo Treasure. Kilonzo produces paper using the animal waste — turning what would be lost into the wilds into a money-minting business. Based in Voi, Tsavo East, Kilonzo is a witness to the intense and continuing human- wildlife conflict in the area. Elephant dung would be the last thing on the local people’s minds, but this is where Kilonzo has found his silver lining.
2009-10-20 - Nairobi, Kenya. Rhishja Larson
Thanks to the controversial approval of a one-off ivory sale, illegal trade in ivory has been reinvigorated - and 100 elephants a day are being slaughtered. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) approved a one-off elephant ivory auction in 2008 of 119 tons (108 tonnes) - representing over 10,000 dead elephants - and this decision is believed to have stimulated the growing illegal ivory market.
2009-10-14 - Tsavo National Park, Kenya. Renson Mnyamwezi
A steward in a Tsavo National Park lodge Mr Mwakisakenyi Mali had taken his weekend off last Thursday hoping to return to work on Sunday. But on the day he was to resume duty, sad news reached the hotel that he had been trampled to death by an elephant. A man who had lived all his life in the wildlife infested area of Bura, Mwatate District, his family members said he knew how to avoid danger. However, on the fateful day, as he walked home through a path made dark by an evening drizzle, he encou...
2009-10-09 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Today, The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust reported Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher recently spent time visiting its elephant orphans. The Trust says elephants are at risk now more than ever. According to the WSPA member society, drought, poaching and habitat loss have put African elephant populations under serious threat. The organization is dedicated to the protection and preservation of Africa's Wildreness, with particular attention to endagered species such as rhinos and elephants.
2009-10-08 - Nairobi, Kenya. MUCHIRI KARANJA
Sir Richard Branson is giving a virgin gift for Kenyan jumbos — an Sh18 million underpass on the busy Meru-Nanyuki highway. Virgin Atlantic, his company, donated the money to put up the underpass through the Bill Woodley Mount Kenya Trust. Once complete, the six metre long underpass will be the first of its kind in East Africa, and the second in Africa. The South Africans have one, but it is much smaller than the one we are putting up, said The Bill Woodley Mount Kenya Trust CEO, Susie Weeks.
2009-10-02 - Nyahururu, Kenya.
After four consecutive failed rainy seasons, Kenya is hit by a drought, which experts say is the worst in years. Major reservoirs have dried up across the country and Kenya’s wildlife is also suffering. A thirsty elephant strayed out of the national park and tore through the fence of a local primaty school to find water and got stuck in the mud. Hundreds of residents of Nyahururu gathered to watch the stuck elephant, as it was struggling to free itself.
2009-09-30 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan authorities have seized almost 700kg of ivory worth millions of dollars in a night-time raid at the country's main airport. The Kenya Wildlife Service says a similar amount was intercepted in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Both consignments - with a potential value of more than $1.5m (£938,000) - were reportedly headed for Thailand. The BBC's Will Ross in Nairobi says poaching is on the increase mostly owing to high demand for ivory in Asia. Our reporter says it is not yet cl...
2009-09-28 - Nairobi, Kenya. Lucy Thornton
A British holidaymaker has told how he survived a terrifying elephant attack by pretending he was dead as the giant beast gored him with its tusks. Jonathan, who was camping in the bush during a five week trip to Kenya, was forced to run for his life when the elephant came charging out of the undergrowth. He said: “It was going at full speed and making a loud trumpeting noise. I turned and ran but I could hear his feet thumping behind me, it was a thundering sound.
2009-09-21 - Nairobi, Kenya.
More than sixty African elephants and hundreds of other animals have died so far in Kenya amid the worst drought to hit the country in over a decade, conservationists announced. So-called "long rains" that usually fall in March and April failed this year, and some areas have now been in drought conditions for almost three years. No one knows why the drought has been so bad. Many attribute it to global warming, but others say it is simply part of the long-term weather cycle in East Africa.
2009-09-20 - Nairobi, Kenya.
One of the worst droughts in living memory is taking its toll on both people and wildlife in Kenya. Clashes over land and water lead to the deaths of 32 people last week, with community leaders warning there will be more violence. Meanwhile, in Samburu district at least 24 elephants have either starved or been shot by poachers looking for food. Peter Greste reports from northern Kenya.
2009-09-20 - Tsavo, Kenya. Iregi Mwenja
Yesterday I went to Kedong outside Tsavo West to witness another victim of the drought - a baby elephant being rescued. However, though calls were made to relevant authorities, no one turned up to help! This morning the sad news come, drought has claimed yet another life of an endangered species.
2009-09-10 - Tsavo East National Park, Kenya.
Kenyan villagers near the Tsavo East National Park in the south of the country have eaten five elephants killed when they were hit by a train, Senior Warden Bernard Koruta said. It happened so fast and sometimes it becomes impossible to stop the feasting, Koruta said today in a phone interview from the park. The two adult elephants and three calves were hit by the train on Sept. 8, Koruta said. It was a family herd of elephants, he said
2009-09-09 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Conservationists say more than 100 of Kenya's famous elephants have died in the country's north this year through poaching or drought-related hunger. Save the Elephants head Iain Douglas-Hamilton says the drought is Kenya's worst in 12 years. He said that elephants are malnourished and vulnerable to illness. He also says increased poaching could be related to last year's decision by an international regulatory body to allow Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to sell off their co...
2009-09-08 - Nairobi, Kenya.
A Chinese official Monday denied allegations that demand for ivory from Chinese workers is a main contributor to rising elephant poaching in Kenya. Wan Ziming, director of enforcement and training at the endangered species' office of the State Forestry Administration, said illegal ivory imports to China have declined significantly since 2000, despite smuggles from individual workers or travelers to Africa.
2009-08-23 - Nairobi, Kenya.
In the first six months of this year, more than 70 elephants have been killed by poachers, and last year, nearly 100 elephants in Kenya were found dead with their tusks missing. According to an official of the Kenya Wildlife Service, the surge in poaching can be attributed to criminal syndicates – mostly from China and Southeast Asia – which are aiding and abetting the poachers. The report warned that if poaching continued, the elephant population could die off within 15 years.
2009-07-24 - Nairobi, Kenya. ROB CRILLY
ELEPHANTS ARE destroying Kenya’s national parks, trampling woodland and putting other species at risk, according to a new report. The giant mammals need vast areas of land to graze and trying to protect them inside parks is putting a strain on the rest of the ecosystem. The finding is part of a study that discovered Kenya’s famous wild animal population is dying off at the same rate inside protected parks as outside – 40 per cent in 20 years.
2009-02-25 - Nairobi, Kenya. Michael McCarthy
There has been an "unprecedented" surge in elephant poaching in one of Kenya's principal national parks since a large-scale ivory sale late last year, which gave a renewed boost to the international ivory market. The sale was of more than 100 tonnes of legal ivory from four southern African countries whose elephant populations are not threatened, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
2009-02-25 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenya's major wildlife park has seen a surge in elephant poaching, an increase officials attribute to last year's large-scale ivory sale -- authorized by the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in the face of fierce criticism. Five elephants were killed in six weeks at Tsavo National Park, home to 11,700 elephants, Kenya's largest single elephant population. Officials fear the sale and subsequent spike in poaching could lead to the return of slaughter on the scale witnesse...
2009-02-25 - Amboseli, Kenya. Nicholas Wadhams
Poachers on the hunt for ivory have stepped up their use of poison arrows and spears to kill elephants in southern Kenya, according to conservationists who say the techniques are harder to trace than gun attacks. The surge is part of a nationwide increase in attacks on the animals, according to a report issued earlier this month by the Amboseli Trust for Elephants.
2009-02-24 - Nairobi, Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Service has arrested two suspected poachers and a middleman from their hideout in the park for allegedly killing five elephants in the last six weeks in Tsavo ecosystems of Kenya, a government wildlife official has said. The poaching incidents come barely three months after the auctions of 112 tonnes of ivory stocks from South Africa, Bostwana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Five elephants have been poached in the last six weeks in the Tsavo ecosystem of Kenya, alarming authorities and conservationists alike. The elephants, whose tusks had been hacked off, were found in three separate parts of the protected area. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers arrested two suspected poachers and one middleman from their hideout in the park, and recovered two AK-47 rifles and 38 rounds of ammunition. The middleman had already sold off the tusks to other dealers in the illegal i...
2009-02-07 - Nairobi, Kenya. Claire Wanja
A Chinese national was Saturday morning seized with four bangles of ivory at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. Mr Zhang Zhong, 37, who was on transit from Guinea to Uganda's Entebbe Airport, was arrested at 8am by Customs and Kenya Wildlife Service officials. The suspect is being held at the JKIA police station and is expected to be charged with possession of wildlife trophy without a permit at Makadara Law Court on Monday morning.
2009-01-18 - Samburu, Kenya. Brian Jackman
Samburu is elephant country. Arthur Neumann, the legendary Victorian ivory hunter, used to camp here in what is today the Samburu National Reserve, and now it is where Iain Douglas-Hamilton, one of the world's most distinguished biologists, conducts his research for Save the Elephants , the organisation he founded in 1993. A few miles downstream from Iain's headquarters lies Elephant Watch Camp, presided over by Oria Douglas-Hamilton, his Kenyan-born Italian wife. In a small park over-endowed wi...
2009-01-17 - Nairobi, Kenya. Mike Pflanz
A female elephant is seen shoving her naughty son with her tusks for being mean to his little sister in extraordinary new BBC documentary footage showing behaviour never before witnessed. The everyday tale of family jealousy was captured on camera by a team of animal experts filming elephants in Kenya for a new documentary to be shown on the BBC tonight. The matriarch of the herd Harbattan had lost a calf soon after the birth and her only other son Buster had reached the age of six with no sibli...
2009-01-16 - Nairobi, Kenya. AMANDA CABLE
Harmattan is living on the edge of her nerves. Her teenage son Buster is straying away from home and picking fights with local gangs. Younger daughter, Breeze, is desperate for more independence, but Harmattan is still haunted by the death of her middle child, and is fiercely over-protective. She has an awful instinct that something terrible will happen, which may threaten the survival of her children. And she isn't wrong. It sounds like the same stresses faced by mothers the world over. But Har...
2009-01-03 - Nairobi, Kenya. DANIEL WESANGULA
For the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the official custodian of the country’s wildlife, 2008 has been a year of mixed fortunes. Despite the violence that the country experienced at the turn of the year, KWS officials were optimistic that the wildlife population would increase with most of the national parks and game reserves not negatively affected.
2008-12-21 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Can you imagine an orphanage that's a happy place? 60 Minutes couldn't, but then we found one. The kids don't arrive here smiling. Like orphans all over the world, they've been abandoned. They're hungry, sad and desperate. But after a few years, they're healthy, well-fed and happy. As correspondent Bob Simon reports, this orphanage is for elephants, located outside Nairobi, Kenya. They've been orphaned because their parents - their mothers mainly - have died, or more likely, been killed in the b...
2008-12-07 - OI Pejeta, Kenya. Rachel Sutcliffe
Elephants of the OI Pejeta conservancy have been fitted with SIM cards on their necks which, when they reach the perimeter of local villages, automatically sends the rangers text messages. A virtual fence was implemented after an almost extinct breed, the Bull Elephant, raided crops during harvest, costing the locals as much as six months work and pay. This resulted in the Kenyan Wildlife Service reluctantly having to shoot five particularly persistent animals.
2008-12-05 - Tsavo, Kenya.
The census was supported by Kenya Wildlife Service, Monitoring Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE), African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Saint Louis Zoo Field Conservation Program, Oregon Zoo Foundation, Phoenix Zoo, Zuercher Tierschutz, Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), Marwell Conservation and Grevy's Zebra Trust
2008-11-17 - Nairobi, Kenya.
A tonne of ivory items and 57 suspects were netted in a four-month operation billed Africa's largest-ever crackdown on wildlife crime, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said Monday. The crackdown -- code-named Operation Baba -- also seized cheetah, leopard, serval cat and python skins as well as hippo teeth at several markets, airports and border crossings in Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. "All the participating countries simultaneously struck at the illegal domestic markets ...
2008-11-05 - Nairobi, Kenya. Richard Leakey
I am deeply concerned about the ongoing one-off ivory auction that started on 28 October in Namibia and ended on Wednesday, 6 November 2008 in South Africa. I have spent many years looking at issues of elephant conservation and ivory trade and played a major role in successfully eliminating the massive ivory poaching that characterized what is considered the darkest period for African elephants in Kenya in the late 1980s, I believe that auctioning the ivory stockpiles would cause poaching to inc...
2008-10-17 - Mount Kenya, Kenya. Mark Smith
A teenage soldier training for Afghanistan has already survived one harrowing battle – with a rampaging elephant. Private Stuart Edgar, 18, is lucky to be alive after the enraged wild jumbo attacked him while he was on exercise in Africa. The massive bull elephant kicked him around like a football, battered him with its trunk and tore at him with its deadly tusks. He and his Black Watch comrades had been taking photographs of a herd in the Kenyan bush when the male charged them. Stuart, w...
2008-10-11 - Ol Pejeta, Kenya. KATHARINE HOURELD
The text message from the elephant flashed across Richard Lesowapir's screen: Kimani was heading for neighboring farms. The huge bull elephant had a long history of raiding villagers' crops during the harvest, sometimes wiping out six months of income at a time. But this time a mobile phone card inserted in his collar sent rangers a text message. Lesowapir, an armed guard and a driver arrived in a jeep bristling with spotlights to frighten Kimani back into the Ol Pejeta conservancy. Kenya is the...
2008-10-08 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Baby elephants follow a keeper enroute to their watering place at a wildlife trust in Kenyan capital Nairobi Oct. 2, 2008. Visitors are allowed only about an hour each day at the trust, an elephant orphanage founded in the 1970s to take in baby elephants orphaned by ivory poachers.
2008-09-19 - Nairobi, Kenya. Richard Leakey
I am incredulous that the Centre of International Forestry Research (CIFOR) would suggest bushmeat hunting be legalized, giving the local people the task of policing themselves. This position shows remarkable naïveté and totally fails to understand the realities on the ground. A hungry population is never going to practice conservation of food, especially where it can be had free from the forest.
2008-09-15 - Mount Kenya, Kenya. Dan Vergano
The call came last week from Kenyan Wildlife Services. Mountain Bull had to die. The adult elephant living near Mount Kenya had absconded from his reserve home to pillage villagers' crops with a posse of other male tuskers. Outraged by the elephants eating their livelihood, a regular occurrence in the last two years, impoverished locals wanted the elephants tracked down and killed. "Hold on, hold on, we asked them, don't shoot that one," says biologist Iain Douglas-Hamilton of Save the Elephants...
2008-09-01 - Laikipia, Kenya. KNA
An elderly man has been killed by a stray elephant in Laikipia North district. Laikipia OCS James Kithuka said Pipitano Ole Rosoyo, 70 was crossing the Mpala ranch when he was attacked by the rogue elephant on Sunday. Kithuka said the elderly man was trampled on before being thrown into a dam. It is suspected the elderly man chanced upon the elephant as it was drinking water from the dam. The body was taken to Nanyuki hospital district mortuary. Kithuka appealed to Wananchi in the three district...
2008-08-31 - Nairobi, Kenya. Daniel Stiles
The "to be or not to be" question of selling ivory has been the subject of a heated debate for 20 years now. Kenya has been leading the charge in the debate with its resounding "Not to be" answer. Kenya banned the domestic use and sale of ivory and other wildlife products in 1978, and it was instrumental in promoting the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) ban on international ivory sales voted in 1989. Everyone remembers the huge bonfire of elephant tusks in the Nair...
2008-08-30 - Nairobi, Kenya.
For close to a decade now, Kenya has been in the forefront in crusading against the push by a few countries seeking to have a worldwide ban on trade in ivory lifted. As a country, Kenya has had a chilling experience with poaching which justifies this trepidation. In 1973, our elephant population stood at 135,000. The next decade saw wanton poaching almost wipe out the entire elephant population. By the time an international ban on the trade in ivory was in place and the jumbos brought under the ...
2008-08-29 - Kampala, Kenya. Patson Baraire
Over 200 families from Kinyabutongo and Kameme villages in Kihiihi Sub-county, Kanungu District have fled their homes and camped at the sub-county headquarters after elephants from the Queen Elizabeth National Park invaded their area. Last weekend, the elephants killed two people and injured several others. The Kihiihi LC3 chairperson, Mr Nelson Natukunda, named the victims as Ms Beatrice Musabyimaana, 39, and her two-year-old son Brian Abemaana, who were killed as she tended to her garden.
2008-08-18 - Nairobi, Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Service officers in collaboration with the Kenya Airport Authority have arrested three Chinese Nationals with 2.2 kilograms of processed ivory at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Nairobi. The three Chinese, who were travelling to Harare, Zimbabwe, were arrested and taken to the JKIA police station when they failed to produce any valid CITES permits allowing them to travel with the carved trophies.
2008-08-18 - Amboseli, Kenya. Hcroze, Amboseli Trust for Elephants
The Amboseli Trust for Elephants field team has been forced to open a new eastern front in the continuing war to conserve elephants and the ecosystem. Already over the past two months our Maasai Elephant Scouts have reported that possibly six large breeding bulls have been killed in the Kimana-Kuku area. One was speared in early July. Another found dead with four spear wounds and the tusks already taken. Another, as the Scouts could reconstruct from tracks, retreated into dense push and managed ...
2008-07-29 - Nairobi, Kenya. Isaac Ongiri
The decision by a global arbiter on endangered species to allow China to import backlog stock of ivory from Africa may be the death knell for Kenyan elephants. The lives of the country’s more than 40,000 elephants spread across national parks is now on the line. Sitting in Geneva, Switzerland, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) ruled that China and Japan would buy 108 tonnes of ivory stocks in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Namibia.
2008-07-17 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan authorities have detained three Chinese nationals at the country's main airport on suspicion of smuggling ivory, an official said. "The three Chinese nationals - two women and a man - were arrested at the airport in Nairobi while in possession of 2.2 kilograms of ivory," Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) spokesman Gichuki Kabukuru said. "Since they did not have a permit, we take it as smuggling of ivory." The trio, who had stayed in Kenya for four days, were en route to the Zimbabwean capital ...
2008-07-17 - Nairobi, Kenya. Alphonce Shiundu And John Ngirachu
Three Chinese nationals were on Wednesday arrested in possession of 2.2 kilogrammes of ivory at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The three were arrested on the same day that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) relaxed the ban on ivory trade, to allow China import stocks from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The measure has alarmed conservation groups, which believe the huge Chinese demand for ivory will result in an increase in poaching of the...
2008-07-16 - NAIROBI, Kenya.
Kenya's wildlife service says two Chinese women are being questioned at Nairobi's international airport after being found with 36 pieces of ivory. The women were stopped at the airport Wednesday morning, said Kentice Tikomo, a spokesman for the Kenyan Wildlife Service. They were booked on a flight to China. Kenya's elephant population has grown from 16,000 to 27,000 since the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species banned the ivory trade in 1989. But that is far fewer than t...
2008-06-29 - Mombasa, Kenya. JOHN MBARIA
AS THE LARGEST LAND-Based animal, the elephant has the ability to excite strong emotions — emotions that now pit different African countries against each other over whether the beast has more value alive or dead. The jumbo dispute was once again played out recently in Mombasa’s Whitesands Hotel, where representatives of 19 African countries met to cement their unity and sharpen their campaign against the resumption of the ivory trade. Meeting under the auspices of the African Elephant Coalit...
2008-05-28 - Laikipia, Kenya. Rebecca Wanjiku
For the farmers living around Mount Kenya Forest, every day is a struggle, wondering whether the 5,000 elephants from the forest will "visit" and leave a trail of destruction and even death. But the days of living in fear may be over, thanks to new technology that will enhance communication between local communities and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). In the past, when rogue elephants broke from the forest, they destroyed farm land and the only thing farmers could do was scream and report the ...
2008-05-20 - Nairobi, Kenya. Solomon Mburu
Modern technology may soon come to the aid of farmers living under the constant threat of elephants from Mount Kenya forest. Tests on a new GSM technology that seeks to enhance communication between local communities and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) are at an advanced stage. Dubbed ‘Push to Talk on Cellular’ (PoC), the technology has brought together Safaricom Ltd as the lead organization, Groupe Spéciale Mobile Association (GSMA) Development Fund, Wireless Zeta Telecomunicaciones (Wire...
2008-05-16 - Nairobi, Kenya. TOM ODULA
Police charged a Chinese man and woman with illegally possessing about 240 pounds of ivory and trying to fly it out of Kenya, an officer said Thursday. Shubo Liang and Tao Gu pleaded not guilty after the charges were read in a magistrate's court, said Joseph Mumira, chief investigator at Kenya's main international airport where the pair were arrested. A routine screen of the suspects' luggage Wednesday showed they contained elephant tusks, cut into pieces, Mumira said, adding that the origin of ...
2008-04-16 - Nairobi, Kenya. Solomon Mburu
The building of a corridor meant to ease the movement of elephants around Mount Kenya is set to start by the end of the month. The corridor will help elephants safely cross between Ngare Ndare Forest and Mt. Kenya National Reserve. The aim is to have this done without obstructing traffic flow along the Nanyuki - Meru road and other access roads in the area. The project that has attracted the support of Virgin Atlantic CEO, Sir Richard Branson, the Dutch government and Safaricom, is expected to c...
2008-04-05 - Nakuru, Kenya. Karanja Njoroge
AN employee with a parcel transport company was charged in a Nakuru court with being in possession of ivory tusks. Mr David Kihara Macharia who works with Roy Parcel Services appeared before Nakuru Principal Magistrate, Mr John Kingori. He was charged with being in illegal possession of 32kg of ivory tusks worth Sh96,000 without permit on March 31. The accused, who denied the charge, was released on Sh100,000 bond on Friday, with surety of similar amount. Kingori directed that the case to be hea...
2008-04-02 - Nairobi, Kenya. Henry Neondo
“Some of the most important decisions in wildlife management in Africa revolve around elephants, but a lot of the information is not readily accessible to conservation authorities. Much of it is scattered in diverse reports and scientific papers or as part of the body of unwritten expert knowledge,” Holly Dublin, Chair of IUCN’s African Elephant Specialist Group and the Species Survival Commission says in a recent report.
2008-03-31 - Amboseli, Kenya. PHILIP NGUNJIRI
HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONflict continues to claim the lives of elephants and lions in and around Amboseli National Park. In its latest report, WildlifeDirect.org says 14 jumbos were slain between January and February for reasons that range from political protest to revenge at Kenya’s popular Amboseli National Park. The report comes shortly after community conservation group Lion Guardians confirmed the slaughter of three lions in the same area — bringing the total to at least 10 lions killed in the...
2008-03-28 - Tsavo, Kenya.
The population of elephants in the expansive Tsavo/Mkomazi conservation area now stands at 11,696 from 10,397 from the last census three years ago. The new figure from this year’s census represents a 4.1 per cent growth rate. The larger Tsavo is Kenya’s largest protected area (4 per cent of Kenya’s landmass) and holds more elephants than anywhere else in Kenya. Kenya has an estimated 30,000 elephants in total.
2008-03-27 - Amboseli, Kenya.
A series of documentaries collected by the BBC, this two-disc set delivers a beautiful look at the life of one of the world’s most famous elephants. Shot in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, where Echo is a lifelong resident, Echo and Other Elephants follows her and her herd, as well as elephant expert Saba Douglas-Hamilton. This title will be released on April 1, 2008. Pre-order now!
2008-03-17 - Nairobi, Kenya. Richard Leakey
It is too soon for conservationists to ring the alarm bells over South Africa's elephant management plan that includes culling, argues Dr Richard Leakey. In this week's Green Room, he says the measures are necessary and based in animal welfare concerns. The issue of culling is highly emotive
2008-03-17 - Amboseli, Kenya.
Conservationists have raised concern after 14 elephants were speared in Amboseli, Kenya, leaving four dead. The news comes shortly after community conservation group Lion Guardians confirmed the slaughter of three lions in the same area. It is thought that the spearing of the lions and elephants is connected and related to complex local issues. The elephants are well known by conservationists in the area as they have been studied and followed since birth as part of a programme of research. Scien...
2008-03-17 - Nairobi, Kenya.
The eminent conservationist Richard Leakey has given qualified backing for South Africa's plan to cull elephants. In an article for the BBC News website, the former head of the Kenyan Wildlife Service says culling is "a necessary part of population management". But Dr Leakey says there is also a responsibility to curb human activities that impinge on elephant habitat. South Africa plans to allow culling after a gap of 14 years because of growing numbers of elephants. The population is estimated ...
2008-03-17 - Nairobi, Kenya. Mike Pflanz
Four elephants including two infants have been killed and 10 others wounded during a series of spear attacks close to a Kenyan game park. Among the dead was a four-month-old female calf who had been speared 14 times. Conservationists were today still searching for two other older males spotted with head wounds including one who had a spear still embedded in his skull. The pair have disappeared into the bush since the attacks.
2008-03-17 - Nairobi, Kenya. Steve Bloomfield
In Chad, Janjaweed militia from Sudan killed 100 elephants in one afternoon; in Kenya, Somali warlords armed with rocket-propelled grenades killed four wildlife rangers during a bloody raid on herds in the Tana Delta; in Democratic Republic of Congo, a whole host of rebel groups have turned the country's dwindling elephant population into a new cash crop.
2008-03-17 - Amboseli, Kenya. RUPI MANGAT
Amboseli National Parks elephants are probably the world’s most famous. They are not only the longest studied elephants in the wild but also the longest studied wild mammals. Talk about being doubly famous. “Elephants are extremely intelligent animals,” says Dr Cynthia Moss, taking a morning break from shooting a 13-part Amboseli elephants “soap opera” for Animal Planet which will be screened on Discovery channel starting in 2009.
2008-03-07 - Kwale, Kenya.
Residents of Kwale, Kenya, have called for the Kenya Wildlife Service to act after elephants crushed farmlands and attacked villagers in recent days. Parents said they have been keeping their children home from school to protect them from elephant attacks, the Daily Nation reported Friday. Villagers called for wildlife officials to help keep the elephants off their farms and compensate them for damage to their crops. Philip Mwakio, an assistant director for the service, said measures are being p...
2008-03-06 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Tourism can play a key role in restoring economic activity and employment in Kenya and in doing so play its part in bringing peace and stability to the East African country, the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said today. Achim Steiner, UNEP's Executive Director was speaking in Berlin, Germany which this week is hosting one of the world's biggest tourism fairs. Mr Steiner said: 'Indeed it is an overall measure of KWS's success that elephant populations in Kenya have risen recently by...
2008-03-06 - Mombasa, Kenya. ANTHONY KITIMO
Parents have stopped their children from going to school for fear of being attacked by elephants. They now want the Kenya Wildlife Service to intervene and ensure that the animals do not encroach on their farms. Those interviewed said the animals had destroyed crops and attacked villagers in the past one week. They demanded that KWS compensates them for their losses. Coast assistant director Philip Mwakio said KWS would put in place measures to ensure that the animals remained within the designa...
2008-02-27 - Amboseli, Kenya. Solomon Mburu
For ages, marauding elephants of Amboseli have given farmers sleepless nights and scientists have been testing ways of reducing the level of elephant crop damage and the threat to human life in the area. The human wildlife conflict that has persisted for years in Amboseli has left farmers reeling in losses of crops and even lives. The ecosystem in Amboseli National Park and its small size does not allow for complete fencing off to hold the jumbos inside the park making the already precarious ...
2008-02-22 - Kinshushe, Kenya.
Elephants and baboons have been raiding fields in one district in Kenya, destroying crops and putting at least 3,000 people at risk of starvation. One man was killed by an elephant while standing guard and another man was seriously injured by baboons that showed up while he was harvesting maize, The Nation, a Kenyan newspaper, reported. "Residents guard their farms in shifts to protect crops from baboons during day time while others take over and guard against elephants at night," Joseph Meso, t...
2008-02-21 - Nanyuki, Kenya.
On January 24, six crop-raiding male elephants were de-tusked on Ol Pejeta Conservancy. The exercise was carried out by Ol Pejeta and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). De-tusking means trimming of the tusks. Its ultimate goal is to prevent the elephants from breaking the fences and venturing into the surrounding communities, where they become a threat to humans and their crops.
2008-02-20 - Nairobi, Kenya. George Obulutsa
Hungry refugees in Tanzania are eating chimpanzees and other endangered species in order to supplement their meager diet, international conservation group Traffic said on Tuesday. It said refugees living near national parks in northwestern Tanzania were also illegally hunting buffalo, topi, eland, elephant and waterbuck. In neighboring Kenya, aid and conservation groups said refugee camps housing thousands of people who fled violence after disputed December 27 were damaging the environment, as d...
2008-02-18 - Nairobi, Kenya. Elizabeth Miranda
International bans on the ivory trade and efforts to control poaching have helped Kenya's elephant population rebound, wildlife authorities say. In the Tsavo/Mkomazi area a conservancy in the larger Tsavo area in southern Kenya the elephant population grew from 10,397 in 2005 to 11,696 in 2008, according the Kenya Wildlife Service.
2008-02-11 - Nairobi, Kenya. Philip Mwakio
Seventeen African countries, including Kenya, have signed a document for the establishment of a coalition to save the elephant. It was also agreed that a global elephant action plan that will fight illegal killing and trade in ivory be implemented. It also paved way for an elephant conservation fund to be known as the African Elephant Coalition, says Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Assistant Director for Biodiversity, Research and Planning, Mr Patrick Omondi. He said Mali, where the meeting was hel...
2008-02-08 - Nairobi, Kenya.
A shimmer of light over much of the gloom shadowing Kenya at the moment is the heart warming news that elephant population in the country has been on the rise in the last several years. Breaking the news early this week, the Kenya Wildlife Service said a four per cent growth of elephant population was an indication that the state of the country’s wildlife is healthy. This follows successful anti-poaching measures and internationally supported bans on ivory trade.
2008-02-03 - Mombasa, Kenya.
Kenya's population of elephants _ both a tourism drive and a measure of the state of the East African country's wildlife _ is increasing, after successful anti-poaching measures and bans on the illegal ivory trade, wildlife officials said. In Tsavo, Africa's second-largest game reserve, 11,700 elephants were recorded during a five-day aerial census,
2008-01-27 - Tsavo, Kenya.
Where has all the time gone? I can’t believe that it’s already more than two weeks since I last updated this journal, and now I have an overwhelming amount to catch up on, not least to record the successful conduct and conclusion of the Tsavo Aerial Elephant Count. What a week that was! During a time when some pockets of Kenya were experiencing trauma and troubles, and our politicians could not decide amongst themselves from one day to the next, here in Tsavo we witnessed, and participated i...
2008-01-25 - Nairobi, Kenya. Charles Wanyoro
Residents of the larger Meru Central region, many of them farmers, live under fear of elephants. While the beasts pose a general security threat to all locals, the farmers have been affected more since the animals have been feasting and trampling on acres of crops just before harvest. The lush green farms in Ruiri Division of Imenti North District suggest bumper harvest this season but the presence of destructive elephants dictate otherwise. The farmers have for a long time been grappling over m...
2007-12-27 - Masai Mara, Kenya. Jane Wheatley
A little after dawn on a matchless morning in Kenya’s Masai Mara a group of riders and horses stood quietly in the first warming rays of the sun watching a herd of cow elephants with their young browsing a tree covered ridge. Five minutes later we were galloping for our lives, hearts pounding, crouched low over our horses’ necks as a dozen angry elephant charged down the slope towards us, trumpeting their displeasure. They moved at an astonishing speed, not stopping until they had thoroughly...
2007-11-15 - Nairobi, Kenya.
IT SOUNDS too cute to be true — orphaned elephants learning to love again under the gentle guidance of Kenyan keepers on the plains of Nairobi. And while there's plenty to coo over in Elephant Diaries (baby elephants playing football, chasing wart-hogs and nuzzling their keepers), the program doesn't shy away from the reality of wildlife in peril. Co-presenter Michaela Strachan, who hosts a variety of British wildlife and children's programs, says the adorable antics of the show's stars are an...
2007-09-25 - Nairobi, Kenya. Karen Allen
British soldiers training in Kenya, accused of frightening wildlife, say they did not overfly the game reserves. The soldiers, it was claimed, had been flying helicopters so low that they were scaring off the wild animals. Game wardens in the Samburu district complained that the British forces were hampering Kenya's conservation efforts. The allegations sparked an urgent investigation and the British High Commission now says none of the alleged incidents took place.
2007-08-18 - Meru, Kenya. Alexis Okeowo
Kenya has begun a great migration of 2,000 animals to a popular game park devastated by crime and poaching, wildlife officials have announced. In the 1970s Meru National Park, located in central Kenya, was "overrun" by bandits and poachers, leading to a drastic loss of wildlife, the officials said. Now the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is wrapping up a campaign begun in 2001 to repopulate the wildlife of the 1,930-square-mile (5,000-square-kilometer) park.
2007-08-13 - Aberdare, Kenya.
OUR WALKING SAFARI Began with a comprehensive demonstration of how to behave when encountering wild animals, especially elephants. Elephants, we were informed, are among the world’s most potentially dangerous animals capable of crushing and killing any other land animal, from humans to lions and even rhinoceros. In addition, elephants can experience unexpected bouts of rage, and can be vindictive. “In case you encounter a rogue elephant, stand still and watch its ears. If they are out, chan...
2007-07-24 - Meru, Kenya.
For many years, now just memories, the Meru National Park, was the gem that attracted tourists to the Mt Kenya Circuit. But poaching and virtual neglect turned the park into a desolate place and a trap to any would-be visitor. the park had lost all that glory for years including the 3,000 elephants that roamed it. It is a great triumph to see the park restocked with elephants in one of the largest translocations in the region and branded to start business. Also encouraging is the interest that i...
2007-07-20 - Mombasa, Kenya. Patrick Beja
Elephants have migrated near Kinondo and Chale beaches on Mombasa’s South Coast, causing panic among residents. Fishermen have been forced to suspend night expeditions for fear of being attacked. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) says it has not confirmed where the elephants came from. The animals have been roaming on the white beaches on the area dotted with luxury cottages. KWS Coast Assistant Director, Mr Philip Mwakio, said the animals arrived about three weeks ago. Mwakio said it was difficult...
2007-07-17 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Vice President Moody Awori says Kenya will continue to oppose the trade in ivory products as a means to conserve the dwindling elephant population. Mr. Awori noted that in the past the elephant population in the country stood at about 100, 000, regretting that the number had since reduced to about 30,000 only. He said that to demonstrate its commitment to fight poaching and illegal ivory trade, Kenya burned thousands of ivory worth US $50 million that were confiscated from poachers.
2007-07-10 - Tsavo, Kenya.
Poachers have killed seven elephants near Kenya's Tsavo National Park over the past month, wildlife officials said Tuesday. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the animals died in a migrating corridor near the Kenya-Tanzania border, where seven Tanzanian poachers and their Kenyan guide were arrested over the weekend. The elephants were killed in the nearby Koranze ranch, which serves as a corridor for the animals when migrating from Tsavo to Tanzania's northeastern Mkomazi Game Reserve.
2007-06-15 - Nairobi, Kenya. Coastweek
In February an aerial wildlife count was undertaken in the Shimba Hills Ecosystem with special intrest on the pachyderms. The main aim was to counter check the elephant numbers still in the ecosystem in preparation for the forthcoming translocation, tentatively scheduled for August. Approximately 100 elephants, mainly problem bulls will be targeted for relocation.
2007-06-15 - Cherry Creek, Kenya. Cherry Creek News
Three wildlife rangers and four poachers were killed this past weekend in a pre-dawn shoot-out in Kenya's Tana River District. The gang of poachers was en route to Tsavo East National Park, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said, when they were ordered to stop, but instead opened fire. Rangers brought down four poachers in the ensuing gun battle but at the cost of three of their own, bringing to 23 the number of KWS rangers who have died in the line of duty since 1990.
2007-06-06 - Nairobi, Kenya. CHRIS TOMLINSON
The markets in the Central African Republic offer all of the jungle's delicacies, including monkey, chimpanzee, antelope and, if you have the cash, even elephant. A typical forest elephant, which weighs 5,000 to 6,000 pounds and produces 1,000 or so pounds of edible meat, can earn a poacher up to $180 for the ivory and as much as $6,000 for the meat. The average income for an African in the Congo Basin is about $1 a day.
2007-06-03 - Laikipia, Kenya.
Sir Richard Branson announced a new type of jumbo service yesterday – he is donating £125,000 to help build a corridor in Kenya's Laikipia game reserve to allow elephants to migrate safely. The £500,000 trunk road will preserve traditional migratory routes and includes tunnels which will allow elephants to cross busy highways safely.
2007-05-19 - Nairobi, Kenya. Bonny Apunyu
Kenya is being backed by some seven African countries on its proposal for a 20-year moratorium on ivory trade. However, southern African states, including Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa have opposed the proposal. Since the last Cites conference in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2004, more than 40 tonnes of ivory have been seized.
2007-04-28 - Samburu, Kenya. Mike Pflanz
Ancient elephant trails and lion breeding habitats are under threat from a series of hotels being built in a remote Kenyan game park, claim conservationists. Already there are five hotels in the two parks, where lions hide from the midday sun under acacia thorn bushes and families of elephants amble to drink from the Ewaso Nyiro river, which separates the reserves. Saba Douglas-Hamilton, the BBC wildlife presenter, said yesterday that the building must be stopped.
2007-04-25 - Nairobi, Kenya.
African states called on Tuesday for a 20-year ban on trade in ivory to protect the continent's elephants from poachers and possible extinction in the wild. Kenya and Mali, which spearheaded the moratorium along with Togo and Ghana, are seeking to have the measure adopted at the June meeting of the 169-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), their representatives said at a meeting in Paris.
2007-04-15 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Joachim Kagiri, the Kenya Wildlife Service deputy director is in charge of wildlife and community conservation. Kagiri dedicated his MBA thesis to the graceful African elephant, an unusual expression of his admiration and respect for the African Jumbo, and Kagiri made his bones fighting renegade Somali soldiers fleeing a collapsing Siad Barre regime and militia outfits setting up banditry and poaching careers in the wild vastness of Meru National Park.
2007-03-11 - Nairobi, Kenya. Hadas Kroitoru
Retired Israel Air Force planes are being given a second opportunity to defend the countryside, but this time around, it’s in Africa and it's wildlife they are protecting. Two restored Israel Air Force planes are getting their second wind above the national parks of Kenya, fighting illegal poaching on the countrys porous border with Somalia. It is estimated that some 20,000 elephants are poached every year across the elephant-range countries of Africa, says Elizabeth Wamba, communications and ...
2007-03-06 - Nairobi, Kenya. Paul Redfern, The East African
International wildlife organisations say there has been a surge in elephant poaching across East Africa and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa over the past 18 months.At least 20 tonnes of ivory were smuggled into African and Asian countries this year by poachers, almost doubling the amount seized in previous years. Experts believe that as many as five per cent of Africa's elephants are now being killed for their ivory each year, amounting to around 23,000 elephants.
2007-02-08 - Nairobi, Kenya.
A British woman, trampled and left for dead by an elephant in Kenya, is suing the luxury lodge that she says failed to warn her of the dangers posed by wild animals. Il Ngwesi lodge stands amid the acacia dotted splendour of the Lewa Downs Conservancy, which is run by Ian Craig, a member of one of Kenya's most famous white families. Prince William is a frequent visitor after dating Jecca Craig, his daughter. Wendy Martin, 46, had to be airlifted to the UK after being gored by the elephant during...
2007-02-07 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Pachyderm is a bi-annual international peer-reviewed journal that deals primarily with matters related to African elephant and African and Asian rhino conservation and management in the wild. It is also a platform for dissemination of information concerning the activities of the African Elephant, the African Rhino, and the Asian Rhino Specialist Groups of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC).
2007-02-02 - Nairobi, Kenya. Beatrice Obwocha and Winnie Chumo
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) plans to experiment with contraceptives to control a surging elephant population. KWS Director, Dr Julius Kipngetich, said the experiment would be conducted on elephants at Shimba Hills in the Coast. "The use of contraceptives on elephants has worked in South Africa and we will borrow the idea to control the number of elephants," he said.
2007-01-28 - Narok, Kenya. Nicholas Wadhams, Chronicle Foreign Service
Mary Sinigi hates elephants. In December, an elephant terrorized her village, chased her husband down a dirt path and ripped the roof off her home while she and her five children cowered inside. "Because of elephants, we never rest," Sinigi said, recalling the predawn invasion. "When the kids leave in the morning to go out to school, we are not certain they will come back until we see them again."
2007-01-10 - Nairobi, Kenya. Wittemyer G, Ganswindt A, Hodges K. Save the Elephants
This study investigates the relationship between Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI), an ecosystem surrogate measure of primary productivity, and fecal progestin concentrations among wild female elephants. Matched fecal samples and behavioral data on reproductive activity were collected from 37 focal individuals during the two-year study.
2006-12-15 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan wildlife authorities killed a notorious elephant poacher near one of its famed national parks, officials said on Friday, as neighbouring Uganda reported a huge seizure of illegal ivory. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said its wardens shot dead Somali poacher Hussein Ture in a fierce gunbattle at Tsavo East National Park late on Thursday after tracking him and two colleagues in the bush for three months. "We have been chasing him and his group for about 20 years," KWS spokesperson Connie...
2006-11-26 - Nakuru, Kenya. Winnie Chumo
There was tension in Nakuru’s Kwa Ronda slum when a elephant strayed into the residential area. Residents found the stray elephant from the Mau Forest at around 7 am on Sunday when it started destroying crops and property. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers arrived a few hours later.
2006-11-13 - Nyahururu, Kenya. JOHN MBARIA
IT IS LATE AT NIGHT IN Kiandege, four kilometres from Nyahururu town in Kenya's Central Province. Suddenly, women can be heard screaming. Men rush out of their houses armed with various weapons and congregate at a junction about a kilometre from the commotion. I join the men who are on a mission to drive away a herd of elephants that have been terrorising local residents.
2006-11-07 - Amboseli, Kenya.
Torrent added Tue 07 Nov 2006 16:17:20. Category: Movies » Documentary. Size 746.87 MB. Elephant expert Cynthia Moss is your guide to the daily dramas in the lives of grand matriarch Echo and her elephant herd that Moss has studied for more than 20 years in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park. Two classic Nature episodes, Echo of the Elephants and Echo of the Elephants: The Next Generation tell this remarkable story that includes mating struggles, difficult births, a baby elephant’s first steps,...
2006-11-05 - Shimba Hills, Kenya. Tia Goldenberg
The field behind John Saidi Bodwe's house in the lush green hills near Shimba Hills National Reserve once yielded maize, cassava and bananas, but is now a sickly pale brown on which nothing grows. The attackers are marauding elephants that constantly invade surrounding farms and have become unstoppable. In a bid to address these grievances, a massive 3 million dollar operation is underway to move 400 elephants from Shimba Hills to nearby Tsavo Park.
2006-10-24 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Three people were trampled to death by elephants in different incidents in Kwale and Laikipia districts at the weekend. Villagers claimed the elephants is among those that the Kenya Wildlife Service was moving from Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary. In Laikipia, Thuo Kariuki, who was driving away a herd of about 20 elephants which had invaded their village, was attacked and killed.
2006-10-02 - Masai Mara, Kenya.
Patrick Smith, 34, from London, was trampled to death in the Masai Mara game reserve on Sunday while on a honeymoon nature trail with his wife Julie. It is understood the couple, both employed by the global media group Reuters, had been married for just one week before Mr Smith's death. In 2000, another Briton was trampled to death by an elephant in the Masai Mara reserve, when he ventured out of a secure compound to take a photograph of it.
2006-10-02 - Nairobi, Kenya. Philip Mwakio
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has embarked on the second phase of the elephant translocation programme. Mr Patrick Omondi, the KWS Head of Species and Management Conservation, told The Standard that yesterday a family of five elephants and one bull were moved from the Shimba Hills National Reserve to Tsavo East National Park on Saturday.
2006-09-29 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenya's biggest elephant relocation resumed on Friday after it was suspended last year because of heavy rains. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) began the translocation of 250 elephants from a crowded coastal reserve to the country's biggest nature park, Tsavo National Park, in the country's ongoing attempt to reduce confrontations between elephants and humans.
2006-09-26 - Samburu, Kenya. David Daballen, Save the elephants
Twins are a rarely encountered in elephant populations- said to form only 1%. Twins have only rarely been recorded in areas where the research of elephants is established. Amboseli, which is one of the oldest elephant research projects in Africa, is known to have recorded a case only once in a population and they have been researching for over thirty years. This is the first case recorded in Samburu.
2006-09-25 - MOUNT KENYA, Kenya. Muthigani Kiama
Naftali Marungo was outside his house guarding his maize crop one cold August night when he heard a resounding thud coming from his neighbour's compound. A rogue elephant, that had been keeping him awake for months, had fallen into a septic tank as it reached for succulent banana plants near the fence between both properties.
2006-09-14 - nairobi, Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Service has begun moving 150 elephants from a small reserve to its largest national park because of overcrowding with rhinos, a spokesman said Wednesday. The first 40 elephants were tranquilized and moved by truck earlier this week from the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary, about 185 miles east of Nairobi, under the program. The remainder were to be moved by Friday.
2006-09-01 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan wildlife rangers in choppers killed a pair of rogue elephants this week after a series of fatal attacks on people in incidents highlighting growing human-animal conflict, officials said on Thursday. The rampaging bulls, blamed by locals for leading larger groups of jumbos onto farms to raid crops, were shot dead on Sunday and Wednesday near the famed Maasai Mara National Reserve and a ranch in central Kenya, the officials said.
2006-08-21 - NYERI, Kenya.
Kenyan villagers have tasted sweet revenge, feasting on a marauding elephant that slipped into a septic tank as it tried to eat bananas from a local farm. Farmers killed and carved up the animal with machetes as dancing residents from nearby villages at the foot of Mount Kenya joined in celebration. Kenya wildlife authorities came to remove the elephant's tusks, but did not stop the villagers' celebration.
2006-07-24 - Nairobi, Kenya.
African savannah elephants avoid climbing even minor hills because it costs them so much energy, say scientists. A four-ton elephant that climbs 100 metres would have to forage for food for an extra half-hour to replace the energy it burned, the study indicates.
2006-07-19 - Malindi, Kenya. Paul Gitau, Renson Mnyamwezi
A heard of 10 elephants from the Arabuko Sokoke Forest have forced residents of Kaliapapo and Mongotini villages to retreat to their houses before dusk. Last year, elephants killed five people in the area and destroyed acres of maize plantations. The KWS and the European Union have constructed a 20-km solar fence from Mida to Kakuyuni and are looking for funds to do another 20km.
2006-07-05 - Nairobi, Kenya. Nancy Akinyi
A Nairobi court has indefinitely put on halt the Governments intended plan to export elephants to Thailand pending the hearing and determination of a case filed by the Nairobi CBO consortium. The NGO opposed the intended move terming it a waste of the countrys few natural resources.
2006-06-30 - Shimba Hills, Kenya.
Phase Two of the elephant translocation from Shimba Hills to Tsavo East was planned for January/ February 2006, but has postponed to June/ July this year, due to the dry conditions in Tsavo at the time. Kenya Wildlife Service Kwale Senior Warden Moses Litoroh: "Taking elephants from the relatively green Shimba Hills to Tsavo during the dry season is not advisable as this would make them vulnerable to losses. "Elephants would wander for long distances in search for browse and water ther...
2006-05-25 - Baringo, Kenya. Alex Kiprotich
Two people were on Wednesday morning killed by a stray elephant in Kapluk centre, Baringo District. The elephant, which is believed to be from Lake Kamnarok Game Reserve, wreaked havoc in the villages around Kapluk and caused panic among the residents. Baringo police boss, Peter Njenga, who led a security team to comb the area, confirmed the dead as David Sumukwo, 40, and David Samoei.
2006-05-14 - Nairobi, Kenya. Philip Mwakio
The historic elephant translocation exercise that was stopped last December is expected to resume in July. The exercise, billed the largest ever in the world, seeks to move 400 elephants from the Shimba Hills National Reserve to Tsavo East National Park. The second phase of the translocation exercise hopes to move 250 jumbos. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Head of Elephant programmes, Mr Patrick Omondi, told The Sunday Standard that plans were still on for the exercise.
2006-02-17 - Tsavo, Kenya. Karen Allen
Kenya's worst drought in a decade is having a devastating effect on national parks as humans and animals compete for increasingly scarce natural resources. Wildlife is straying out of the parks, and cattle and herdsmen are straying in as each tries to search wherever they can for food and water. In Tsavo East, half the national park's elephants have broken the boundaries. Three people have been killed in as many months by the animals desperately foraging for food.
2006-02-13 - Nairobi, Kenya. JEFF OTIENO
Kenya has been singled out as one of the leading transit points for the illegal animal trade destined for Europe and Asia. According to a recent report titled Ivory Markets of Europe, most of the ivory originates from war-torn countries of sub-Saharan Africa where laws against the killing of wildlife are almost non-existent.
2006-02-12 - Nairobi, Kenya. RODRIQUE NGOWI
Elephants, buffaloes and other wild animals drink water on one side of a swamp. On the other, Maasai warriors watch hundreds of cattle graze as the tropical sun sears the parched land of this wildlife sanctuary. Balancing the needs of both sides is becoming more complex, and environmentalists fear the wildlife are gradually losing out.
2006-01-19 - Tipilikwani, Kenya. Mike Pflanz
The worst drought for 22 years in Kenya's lowlands is forcing wild animals out of game parks and on to farmland, where they risk being shot to protect scant crops. At least two villagers and dozens of head of cattle have died in wildlife attacks since November. Aid agencies say that up to four million people face starvation in north-eastern and coastal regions after rains failed again, in some places for the fourth year running.
2006-01-13 - Mombasa, Kenya.
A herd of elephants temporarily blocked the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway on Thursday morning after a Mombasa-bound bus knocked down a calf. Police said the calf was knocked down as it was crossing the road at Man Eaters, a few kilometres from Manyatta in Voi division. According to an official of Mombasa Liners, the bus that hit the animal at around 5.30am, other elephants to charge on the road, where they surrounded the carcass.
2006-01-12 - NAIROBI, Kenya.
Elephants in Kenyan national parks and reserves are leaving their drought-stricken sanctuaries to search for water and food near human settlements, where they have attacked starving people trying to protect their crops. U.N. agencies have warned of hunger across the region because of drought and say the situation in eastern Kenya is particularly serious. People reportedly have died of hunger during what officials say is the country's worst drought in 22 years.
2005-12-31 - Nairobi, Kenya.
The burial of a man killed by a rogue elephant in Kenya`s Tausa village on the country`s border with Tanzania, was Thursday disrupted by a herd of marauding jumbos, that invaded the ceremony forcing hundreds of mourners and residents to flee the scene. Kenyan news agency (KNA) reported that Haggai Kisombe, 79, who was trampled to death by the elephant last Friday while grazing cattle, was later buried after the charging jumbos had left the scene.
2005-12-23 - Samburu, Kenya. Philip Mbaji and Michuki Ngamau
Kinango legislator Gonzi Rai wants the Kenya Wildlife Service to drive elephants out of the newly created Kinango District. Speaking in Samburu Town, Rai said the elephants were partly to blame for the famine facing his constituents. "The Government must drive these beasts back to their habitats because they have been disrupting our operations as they cause panic and worry, which has led to famine," he said.
2005-10-18 - Samburu, Kenya.
A wild bull elephant strolls across the Kenyan countryside, ears flapping, oblivious to conservationist Ian Craig, creeping up behind him, gun poised. This is no ordinary hunt. The gun is not loaded with bullets, but tranquilliser darts. Mr Craig and his fellow conservationists hope to keep a track on the elephants in the Samburu National Park in northern Kenya, by using mobile phones, so they can send SMS messages giving their latest location.
2005-10-15 - NAIROBI, Kenya. RODRIQUE NGOWI
The struggling parks where Kenya's largest elephant and rhino populations live will get trucks, communication equipment and better roads in a $1.25 million anti-poaching program. "The challenges are huge and they need help," said Elizabeth Wamba of the U.S.-based International Fund for Animal Welfare, which is funding the program.
2005-10-10 - Narok, Kenya. Kipchumba Kemei
More than 19 people have been killed and 38 others injured in Narok by wild animals in the past one year, area DC Hassan Farah has said. Farah also said farmers have incurred more than Sh50 million loss in the past three months. Speaking yesterday, the DC asked KWS to drive away elephants from settlement areas. Farah accused KWS of doing little to contain the elephant menace.
2005-09-29 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenya's biggest elephant relocation involving about 400 of the animals has been suspended until next January because of upcoming rains, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said on Thursday. "Apart from the short rains that have started, we will also take this opportunity to monitor the resettlement of the animals already in Tsavo and service our vehicles," said Patrick Omondi, who heads the KWS elephant programme.
2005-09-22 - NAIROBI, Kenya. RODRIQUE NGOWI
The struggling parks where Kenya's largest elephant and rhino populations live will get trucks, communication equipment and better roads in a $1.25 million anti-poaching program unveiled Thursday. "The challenges are huge and they need help," said Elizabeth Wamba of the U.S.-based International Fund for Animal Welfare, which is funding the program.
2005-09-16 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Researchers in Kenya and South Africa are using cellphone technology to gather information on elephants, cheetahs, leopards and other animals. The relatively cheap tracking device includes a no-frills cellphone that is put in a weatherproof case with a GPS receiver, memory card and software to operate the system. The unit, placed on a collar, is then tied around the neck of a wild animal.
2005-09-09 - Laikipia, Kenya. Michuki Ngamau
For a long time residents of Laikipia District have been in conflict with elephants. The wild animals have killed, maimed and wrecked havoc on private farms. Now, the locals have resolved that enough is enough. The community is digging a 42km-long moat around their homesteads. The trench will cut off Bondeni, Siron, Mutamaiyu, Limunga and Kianugu in Rumuruti Division from the reach of the animals.
2005-09-06 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenya's wildlife authorities said here Monday its rangers have seized 22 elephant tusks and arrested three suspects who tried to sell them in Garsen town in southeastern Kenya. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Communications Director Connie Maina said the trio who were looking for buyers were arrested by KWS rangers who posed as buyers following a tip-off on Monday.
2005-09-05 - NAIROBI, Kenya. TOM MALITI
Kenya has resumed its largest ever relocation of elephants, moving 50 of 400 pachyderms expected to make the trip on flatbed trailers from an overcrowded national park to a more secure reserve. The Shimba Hills park has 600 elephants, or three times what it can comfortably handle, so the animals move into populated areas, destroying crops and injuring people. Elephant-human encounters have been increasing as Kenya's population grows and more people move to once-empty land to farm, at times close...
2005-08-29 - SHIMBA HILLS, Kenya. David Mwangi
Kenya began moving 400 elephants from an overcrowded reserve on its Indian Ocean coast on Thursday in an unprecedented transportation intended to protect the environment and reduce conflict with local people. The state Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the $3.2 million, eight-month operation from the Shimba Hills reserve would be the world‘s biggest translocation of live animals.
2005-08-22 - Nairobi, Kenya. Tom Maliti
The Kenya Wildlife Service will relocate 400 elephants to Kenya's largest national park, from a smaller national reserve in the country's south-east that has too many elephants, a spokesperson said on Monday. The $3,2-million exercise will begin on Thursday and involve transporting elephants more than 350km to the northern part of Tsavo East National Park, from Shimba Hills National Reserve, said Edward Indakwa, a corporate communications officer with the Kenya Wildlife Service.
2005-07-14 - Nairobi, Kenya. Jackson Mwalulu
Assistant Minister Danson Mungatana wants his constituents to kill all the rogue elephants straying into Garsen. This makes perfect sense. Wildlife should never take precedence over human beings. The importance of wildlife to this country cannot be gainsaid. Increasingly, however, it would appear the Government supports the Kenya Wildlife Service's antipathy towards striking a balance between taking care of wild animals and protecting people.
2005-07-12 - Nairobi, Kenya. Jonathan Manyindo
Tourism minister Morris Dzoro and his assistant, Mr Boniface Mganga, have differed over plans to move 400 elephants from Kwale to Tsavo East National Park. The minister said last Friday that the transfer would go on despite resistance from the local community. But Mr Mganga is opposed to the move without local people being consulted and being told how they would benefit from tourism earnings.
2005-07-07 - Nairobi, Kenya. Solomon Laboso and Isaac Ongiri
Suspected poachers have killed several elephants at Namnyak and Sarara wildlife conservancies in Wambaa and Waso divisions of Samburu District. An official, Tom Letiwa, said Kenya Wildlife Service rangers found some of the elephants without tusks. He blamed poaching in Samburu, Isiolo, Marsabit, Laikipia and Meru North districts on illegal firearms.
2005-06-21 - Nairobi, Kenya.
A Tourism assistant minister has opposed plans to transfer 400 elephants from Kwale District to Tsavo East National Park. "Both Tsavo East and West parks have about 10,000 elephants and adding some more will be adding insult to injury," Mr Boniface Mganga said yesterday. According to him, a leaders' meeting to discuss the transfer of the elephants failed to take place on Saturday because a Kenya Wildlife Service director did not inform the Ministry of Tourism on time.
2005-06-16 - Nairobi, Kenya. Margaret Oganda
Did you know that baby elephants like to play with sticks and stones? And that they can even play with rubber tubes and balls? These calves are also very friendly, and can become friends with girls and boys. Once one becomes your friend, it will remember you for a long, long time. One sunny morning, pupils from Rosamystica Academy in Mathare, in Nairobi had a special treat: A trip to a place where nine baby elephants live. Their names are Kora, nine months, Buchuma, 12 months , Ndomot, 17 months...
2005-06-05 - Meru, Kenya. Meera Selva
Animal lovers around the world will soon be able to go online and track their favourite elephants as they move around the Kenyan bush through mobile phone technology.Elephants in some national parks are being fitted with SIM card collars that send a text message telling wardens exactly where the elephants are every hour. That information will soon be available over the internet, and accessible to people who choose to sponsor an animal or make a donation to charity.
2005-06-01 - Amboseli, Kenya.
Elephants learn to imitate sounds that are not typical of their species, the first known example after humans of vocal learning in a non-primate terrestrial mammal. The discovery, reported in today's Nature, further supports the idea that vocal learning is important for maintaining individual social relationships among animals that separate and reunite over time, like dolphins and whales, some birds, and bats. Researchers from the Amboseli Trust for Elephants in Kenya, the Woods Hole Oceanograph...
2005-03-23 - Amboseli, Kenya. BRYN NELSON
For a bored adolescent elephant, the call of the wild can sound much like a truck. In a new study, researchers describe surprising evidence for vocal learning and imitation by an orphaned 10-year-old African savanna elephant named Malaika, who mimicked the sound of trucks rumbling within a few miles of her hillside enclosure in Tsavo, Kenya. Joyce Poole, research director for the Amboseli Elephant Research Project, said she didn't believe Mlaika -- who has since died -- was trying to call out to...
2005-03-15 - Nairobi, Kenya. Tony Dennis
A RELIABLE SOURCE informs the INQ that conservationists in Kenya have been fitting elephants with mini mobile phones. The phone gives away the elephant's location via a text (SMS) message. The purpose of the exercise is to stop the elephants trampling valuable crops. When the elephants start to move towards the planted fields, the farmers are alerted and can head the herd off before any damage is done.
2005-03-15 - Nairobi, Kenya. Wangui Kanina
SUDAN'S army has illegally slaughtered thousands of elephants and exported the ivory to China, where it is made into chopsticks, a conservationist said today. The army was responsible for the slaughter of elephants in southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic before transporting the ivory to dealers in Khartoum and Cairo, said Esmond Martin, who is based in Kenya. Mr Martin said a 20-year civil war in southern Sudan had made it difficult to d...
2005-03-10 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenya's elephant population has jumped by about 10% in the past three years due to a strict clampdown on poaching in the east African nation, the country's wildlife authority said on Thursday. "In 2002, we estimated there were 27 000 elephants, now we estimate that the elephants have increased to about 30 000," Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) spokesperson Edward Indakwa said. "Due to improved monitoring and surveillance, we have managed to cut down on poaching of eleph...
2005-02-12 - Nairobi, Kenya.
For over 10 years now, Salome Gachago has been counting elephants and finds few things in life as exciting. For her, writes Edward Indakwa, the thrill of being up in the air, the rush of adrenaline as the pilot navigates through aerial bumps is simply beyond description. On a normal working day, Gachago — the Kenya Wildlife Service’s tourism development manager — is all serious and businesslike. But once every other year, she trades her business suit for khaki pants and heads into Tsavo Na...
2005-01-30 - Kilifi, Kenya. Caroline Mango
Close to 200 elephants have invaded five villages in Kenya, destroying crops and killing livestock. The elephants from the Arabuko Sokoke Forest in Ganze, Kilifi District have imposed curfews in the villages, and are leaving a trail of destruction in their search for food and water. Fearful villagers have had to keep in-doors from as early as 5.30 pm afraid of being attacked. Over the past few months, the situation has spun out of control following the killing of livestock by the elephants. In D...
2005-01-27 - Nairobi, Kenya. Nixon Ng’ang’a
No deal has been agreed yet between Kenya and Thailand governments to donate a collection of wildlife species to the Asian country. Acting Tourism Minister Raphael Tuju dismissed reports that the Government had offered Thailand 300 animals, including some rare species as "speculation and rumours from busy bodies." The minister said the matter was still under consideration and details over the agreement would be made public when a decision is arrived at.
2005-01-26 - NAIROBI, Kenya. Marc Lacey, The New York Times
Animal welfare groups have condemned plans by the Kenyan government to send 300 wild animals, including rhinos, cheetahs and lions, to Thailand, where they are to be placed in zoos and safari parks. Kenyan officials portray the transfer as part of an effort to increase tourism to Kenya and ultimately to help the country's animal population. Kenyan tourism has been on the rise over the last year, and Asia is viewed as an important source of new visitors. While it has...
2004-12-19 - Nairobi, Kenya. IPP Media
Since the pioneering behavioural studies of Iain Douglas-Hamilton in Tanzania and Cynthia Moss in Kenya, the Wildlife Conservation Society has provided major support to elephant research and conservation throughout Africa. WCS scientists have developed new techniques for elephant research and monitoring, including forest elephant census methods, aerial videography, genetics, acoustics, and the first satellite telemetry of forest elephants.
2004-12-15 - Nairobi, Kenya. The East African Standard
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) yesterday advised farmers within the elephant migrating corridors to plant crops not preffered by wild animals. Laikipia deputy game warden Nixon Korir said farmers could also erect electric fences around their farms since it was impossible to control the movement of elephants during the migration season.
2004-12-07 - Nairobi, Kenya. Isaac Ongiri, The East African Standard
Who is killing Africa’s elephants and encouraging the trade on ivory? With the global ban on ivory trade still in place, the precious elephant tusks are increasingly becoming marketable worldwide, further endangering the lives of the African elephant, mostly targeted for elimination by poachers. And with ready and secret markets in some Asian and European countries, the population of the African elephant is endangered today as it was when the ban was put in ...
2004-12-02 - Nairobi, Kenya. Mail and Guardian
A project to clear landmines along paths used by elephants in a wildlife sanctuary in Angola during migratory periods was launched at a conference on landmines in Nairobi on Thursday. The project, to clear mines along the migratory paths in Luiana Partial Reserve in eastern Angola linking them to parks in Botswana and Zambia, was launched by Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams.
2004-11-02 - Nairobi, Kenya. Peter Lemeteki, The Nation
An activist yesterday asked the Kenya Wildlife Service to control the killings of elephants. Saying the animals could soon become extinct, the Samburu Wildlife Forum chairman, Mr James Lenges, said last month, more than 100 elephants were killed by poachers in different areas of the district.
2004-11-01 - Nairobi, Kenya. Muchiri Gitonga, The Nation
Government departments have been blamed for the delay in erecting an electric fence to ward off wild animals at Mt Kenya National Park. Aid Kenya, an NGO, called for an end to the delay, saying herds of elephants had destroyed acres of crops in Kieni, Nyeri, and as a result many residents were relying on relief food.
2004-10-07 - Nairobi, Kenya. Richard Leakey, The Guardian
Fifteen years ago, the world's television screens relayed images of Daniel arap Moi, Kenya's then president, and myself setting fire to 2,000 elephant tusks. Kenya could have earned millions of pounds by selling the stockpile. But I believed we had to illustrate graphically the impact of the ivory trade, and show that the only way of saving Africa's elephants was to destroy the trade. Throughout the 1980s, ivory trading - most of it fed by ...
2004-03-27 - Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenya plans to move 400 elephants away from a reserve where jumbos are breaking down fences and trampling crops in its biggest animal relocation exercise, wildlife officials said on Friday.
2004-01-08 - Shimba Hills, Kenya. Daniel Nyassy, The East African Standard
Four hundred elephants in Shimba Hills Game Park, Kwale, are to get a new home starting next month. They will be moved to the Tsavo National Park, as ordered by President Kibaki in his tour of the Coast Province.
2003-12-20 - Nairobi, Kenya. The East African Standard
More than 50 people from Kinna Division in Isiolo District have been detained after suspected poachers killed five elephants. The tusks of the slaughtered animals, which were apparently shot with poisoned arrows, were all missing. Kinna, an agricultural area, borders Kora and Bisanadi game reserves and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS)-managed Meru National Park.
2003-06-13 - Amboseli, Kenya. Cynthia Moss, Amboseli Elephant Research Project
One of the best known elephants in Amboseli, Erin of the EB family, died in May after a three week struggle for survival involving her family, the Amboseli Elephant Research Project (AERP) team, a BBC cameraman, and the staff of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
2002-03-20 - Nairobi, Kenya. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, STE
At Save the Elephants (STE) our mission is to secure a future for elephants, sustain the beauty and ecological integrity of the places they live, and foster a tolerant relationship between humans and elephants. We have pioneered a GPS tracking system that allows an almost continual stream of data on elephant movement.
2024-07-10 - Dublin, Ireland.
Dublin Zoo has confirmed that a third elephant has tested positive for a virus which has left two other elephants dead over the last ten days. Eight-year-old Avani and seven-year-old Zinda died from E...
2024-06-18 - Houston, United States. Houston Zoo
Tess, a 40-year-old Asian elephant at Houston Zoo, has been given the first-ever dose of an mRNA vaccine created by virologists at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) to prevent the deadly elephant endot...
2024-04-26 - Blackpool, United Kingdom.
The latest round of pregnancy tests at Blackpool Zoo has revealed that two of its elephants are expecting babies. Mother and daughter Noorjahan and Esha are both pregnant and due to give birth in late...
2024-04-02 - Sen Monorom, Cambodia.
There was sad news from Mondulkiri Province, with the death of 2 year old elephant “Chi Pich” being announced. Sources from the Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment Organization (ELIE) said ...
2024-03-26 - Kochi, India.
Popular tusker Mangalamkunnu Ayyappan, 55, 55, died at Mangalamkunnu in Palakkad on Monday. The elephant owned by M A Haridasan had been under treatment for the past few months.
2024-03-23 - Kegalle, Sri Lanka.
The 76th elephant calf was born at the Rambukkana Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on March 20.This baby elephant was born to 32-year-old she-elephant Shanthi and 19-year-old Pandu at the Pinnawala Elepha...
2024-03-23 - Pretoria, South Africa.
In the ongoing efforts to curb poaching and snaring of animals within the Zimbabwe and Mozambique borders, South African National Parks (SANParks) is working to create more partnerships with neighbour...
2024-03-15 - , United States.
After weeks of voting and thousands of submissions, the Toledo Zoo has officially chosen the name of their precious baby elephant and we're personally thrilled about the news! Ladies and gentleman, Ki...
2024-03-09 - Tucson, United States.
A baby elephant was born at Reid Park Zoo. The zoo said Semba, the facility’s African elephant matriarch, gave birth to a 265-pound calf around 3:31 a.m. Friday, March 8. Reid Park Zoo said the calf...
2024-03-04 - Copenhagen, Denmark.
A female baby elephant in Copenhagen Zoo has been named Chin after the Tha Chin river in central Thailand. The elephant was born last week in the Danish zoo. The zookeepers, who take care of the young...
2024-02-29 - Alappuzha, India.
Evoor Kannan, the elephant known for his murderous rage and with a history of killing two mahouts is in a bad mood these days. He had been gentle under the care of his former Mahout Sharath Parippally...
2024-02-20 - Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands.
African elephant Punda has become the mother of a healthy elephant calf after a 22-month pregnancy. This is the third calf born in the Safari Park Beekse Bergen k in four months. Never before have thr...
2024-02-15 - Pittsburgh, United States.
The zoo said Tsuni died Thursday after a sudden, brief battle with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). Her EEHV was detected through routine blood testing on Feb. 8, even though she presente...
2024-02-15 - Seoul, South Korea.
The oldest female elephant in South Korea passed away Tuesday at a zoo in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, at the age of 59, zoo officials said Thursday. The female elephant, named Sakura, had suffered fr...
2024-01-30 - Bangalore, India.
The Bannerghatta Biological Park is brimming with excitement as it welcomes a delightful new addition—a baby boy elephant calf. This adorable arrival brings the elephant count in the Bannerghatta zo...
2024-01-27 - Guruvayur, India.
Elephant Kannan, of the Guruvayur Devaswom Elephant Camp, a nine-time winner of the festival-related elephant race, has passed away. His demise was around 5:30 pm on Saturday. The tusker's age at the ...
2024-01-27 - Koh Nhek, Cambodia.
Villagers found a baby elephant dead in Koh Nhek district, Mondulkiri province in the middle of the forest on January 26, 2024, suspected of being shot. Mondulkiri Provincial department of environm...
2024-01-13 - Beijing, China.
A recent study published in the journal eLife has uncovered new findings on the development of dextrous trunks by indigenous elephants. According to Dr. Shi-Qi Wang, a senior author of the research, t...
2024-01-13 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.
The Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan District, Riau Province, again lost one of its Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) after a poacher allegedly killed it for its tusks. The 46-year...
2024-01-11 - New York, United States.
In a narrow but sprawling curatorial space at the uptown museum, The Secret World of Elephants, now opened, tells the story of elephant species and their relatives through life-size models, videos, gr...
