The month of July started off with our usual routine of monitoring the various different elephant herds in the area at the time. The rangers of Elephant Aware cover many kilometres on their daily foot patrols through vastly different terrains, from riverine woodland, open plains, to the top of some very big hill ranges.
On the morning of the 6th our team responded to another call for assistance from community members when a herd of elephants found themselves stuck between fenced land. Upon arrival at the location the rangers found that the elephants were calm and we wanted to keep them that way, particularly with there being so many young calves in the family. The rangers first scouted around the entire area surrounding the elephants in search of any access routes free of human obstacles for the elephants to escape through but we found that there were only two narrow pathways which passed right between houses on all sides as well as herders, livestock, and school children – this made it too much of a risk to try and “move” the elephants so it was decided that the best course of action was to leave the elephants as they were in a thick patch of woodland despite being in the middle of so much human activity.
The rangers made sure everyone in the vicinity was aware of the elephants and asked the community members to give them space until nightfall. Luckily the landowners agreed on this plan and this morning the rangers returned to the area first thing and were relieved to find that the elephants had left safely in the night and into some nearby riverine forest. Once again this was a situation which required patience and careful strategy. Such incidents are occurring every month and the Elephant Aware rangers work around the clock to mitigate HEC in this area. We were thankful to the community members for their cooperation, to the elephants for trying as much as possible to avoid any confrontation with people – which under the circumstances was near to impossible, and to our team for another great effort!
While the rangers were on an extensive foot patrol through some hills on the 15th of July they found a wire snare setup ready to trap any unsuspecting antelopes or other wildlife. The rangers dismantled the snare and scoured the surroundings for any others but found none. Thankfully from our experience incidents involving snares in this section of the ecosystem are comparatively less than in some other areas but it is nonetheless a terrible and widespread technique used illegally by poachers to obtain bushmeat which kills thousands of animals every year. Removing a snare like this one is a preventative measure and thanks to these rangers there is one less snare out there which will hopefully spare the life of the intended victim. This highlights the importance of ‘boots on the ground’ and the good work of not only these rangers from Elephant Aware but also of rangers everywhere.
Sadly on the 20th of July our team received a report from community members who called us to the scene where an elephant had died the previous night and our team responded immediately. After assessing the area and inspecting the carcass it seems the elephant was a young adult male and the cause of his death was most likely human-induced, though the evidence is not conclusive due to certain factors such as predation. The tusks were removed by the Kenya Wildlife Service. Either way it is another elephant mortality and a tragic loss. The Elephant Aware rangers continue to network with communities in the area while investigations in collaboration with the authorities are ongoing.
The Elephant Aware rangers help prevent conflict between people and wildlife, especially elephants, everyday during their foot and vehicle patrols.
Throughout the month of July our team put in constant efforts everyday to maintain harmony between local Maasai communities and elephants and other wildlife. Widespread elephant activity kept our various ranger units busy and as always, we were all delighted to find familiar elephants whom we have known for many years.
Our team’s skills and experience in identifying individual elephants is invaluable to our work to secure the Mara elephant population and is an essential tool in the conservation of a species as intelligent and socially advanced as elephants.
