November started out as a very dry month following previous months of drought which has taken its toll on the area. This has forced wildlife and especially species like elephants to venture into community settlements in search of water.
Lovely Nosentui and her herd seen on our patrol recently! She is one of many individual elephants we have come to know well over the years and as a result the rangers recognise her instantly. This makes it all the more special to spend time with this familiar elephant family which is also vitally important to the work of the rangers and essential for gaining a better understanding of Nosentui’s movement patterns, who her elefriends are, in turn giving our team a broader picture of the areas that need more of a focus in securing. Together with our partners, Elephant Aware is actively helping to protect the Mara elephant population.
More than one subspecies of giraffes have now been labelled as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List for threatened wildlife due to the severity of their plight which rapidly brings them nearer to extinction. Giraffes need the highest measures of protection implemented to ensure they have a future in the wild. Please, wherever you are, join the many of us fighting to safeguard this species. The time to act is now – speak out, give support, sign petitions, join the general outcry and let the world know that giraffes are important to our planet.
On the 22nd of November Elephant Aware, the Mara Mobile Vet Unit, the Mara Siana Conservancy and the Kenya Wildlife Service teams together spent many hours trying to help this female elephant after she had fallen into a river. It was quickly discovered that she had been badly injured by three poisoned arrows and it seems she had fallen from a steep river bank, likely during the attack and this resulted in her being partly paralyzed to where she could not move her back legs at all. Despite tremendous effort from everyone to get her out and back onto her feet, thereby saving her life, it was to no avail and the kindest option was to euthanize this poor elephant to prevent enormous further suffering, a decision which was very difficult to make. All evidence points to a poaching attempt which ultimately and cruelly cost this elephant her life. Needless to say this tragic incident has left all of us deeply heartbroken and we are thankful to everyone for trying so hard to save this elephant, as is the intention with every wildlife species in need of help. The rangers will continue patrolling within this remote and key area to try and find the perpetrators in a joint effort together with the authorities. It is our hope that this beautiful elephant who left such an impression on all of us will be at peace now and certainly never forgotten as we keep on in our collective endeavor to protect her species.
The rangers having a quick briefing at the start of an extensive foot patrol and surveillance operation through some hill ranges which are part of a key wildlife corridor early this morning. These rangers cover many kilometres on foot everyday as part of their daily work, together with their back-up teams and must be commended for their outstanding efforts to protect wildlife everyday.
Towards the end of the month the rangers were busy as usual watching over multiple herds of elephants every single day and working alongside community members to prevent Human-Elephant-Conflict. This is something our team does daily and it is of vital importance in securing a future for elephants and other wildlife of the Mara ecosystem.
The Elephant Aware project has been running for just about 10 years now, though our conservation work in Siana officially started in 2007. In that time we are proud to say our team has achieved some fantastic goals. Our daily operational output has expanded enormously and through our work we have been able to help better community livelihoods and improve wildlife security in the area.
Once again, we are profoundly grateful to all of our supporters and we could not do our important work without your continuous support. Ashe oleng!
