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CNN, Corporate Responsibility, & Just a Band.

Category: In the News | Date: Jul 23 2008 | By: William

A great big thank you to David Mackenzie and Fabien Muhire who were here last week to cover our story for CNN. You can read about it here, watch it here, and comment over here on Anderson Cooper’s blog.

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The story went out on Friday, and since then we’ve had almost $3,000 in donations which is going to help tremendously. Thank you to all of you who have donated so far.

As requested, today I sent an email out to the managers of camps and lodges who use the Mara Triangle with regards to their involvement in local conservation. Once we have more information we will share this with you.

For those in Nairobi next Friday, if I was there I would definitely be going to the opening night of Kwani Literature Festival with the brilliant Ugo and the first live performance of the outstanding Just a Band; browse their site and watch their videos now.

If anyone knows of a ride going from Mara to Nairobi, let me know.

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9 Responses to “CNN, Corporate Responsibility, & Just a Band.”

Jan, on 23 Jul 2008

The poaching that is going on is truly heart breaking.

When Dr. Leakey was head of KWS there was a shoot to kill order against the poachers. Does that rule of law still hold?
Is KWS the only ones able to carry out a shoot to kill policy?

It would seem that if the Mara Conservancy rangers come upon poachers they should indeed be able to shoot to kill. Perhaps if enough poachers were killed, then other poachers would get the idea that it was just too dangerous to come into Kenya to poach and perhaps the number of poaching and snaring incidents would drop dramatically.

William, on 24 Jul 2008

Hello Jan

The shoot to kill policy is only against poachers who are killing animals like elephants and rhinos - for ivory. Part of the reason for the policy was that the poachers themselves were heavily armed.

In these cases we are dealing with poachers who have bows and arrows, spears, and snares.

Ideally there should be a more fitting punishment for the crime to act as a deterrent, as we often see many repeat offences.

Jan, on 24 Jul 2008

Thanks William. I understand what you mean by heavily armed.

However, don’t forget those bows and arrows, spears and snares can be just as deadly to wildlife, and indeed to your men, as automatic weapons. And if I remember correctly, haven’t you already had a ranger seriously injured within the past several months?

What could be done for a “more fitting punishment”? If these poachers have cattle, goats, donkeys - how about the Conservancy claiming ownership of some of their livestock? They would then see the loss of some of their livestock as a deterrant to poaching. The Conservancy could then sell the animals to help keep their ranger patrols going? What other ideas do you have that would work to discourage these people from being repeat offenders?

Pirjo,Finland, on 24 Jul 2008

Great news that more donations are coming in! It is such a hard work to keep Mara Triangle in the news, but that is the only way you reach masses of people who haven’t had any idea of the financial struggles you are facing at the moment.
I can’t wait to hear the comments from logde owners..

William, on 24 Jul 2008

Yes, one of our rangers was seriously injured a couple of months ago, but this was in an incident with cattle rustlers, not poachers.

One of the main problems we face here is that more than 90% of poachers are from a completely different country, and so when the poachers are arrested they are taken through a foreign legal system where we have no influence.

One way to discourage poachers from repeat offending is education on the importance of conservation, and if the local communities bordering the park were able to see benefits from the wildlife without having to kill it.

Maina, on 24 Jul 2008

Hey bro, It’s great that the Triangle was on CNN. Am sure that gives you some mileage in terms of funding. Tell you what, I will put your story on the home page and get you more publicity. Keep up the good work and keep posting. As for Kwani?, you are on your own, lol

renata, on 25 Jul 2008

Your story has been convered in the Spanish newspaper “El Mundo”, in the following link (in Spanish only): http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/07/25/cronicasdesdeafrica/1216989544.html within a blog called “Crónicas de África” (Chronicles of Africa), in which several other matters regarding Africa are written and commented by readers.

Kangai, on 08 Aug 2008

Just a Band ROCKS!

:-)

Bookmarks about Corporate, on 12 Sep 2008

[…] - bookmarked by 1 members originally found by Emjay35 on 2008-08-21 CNN, Corporate Responsibility, & Just a Band. http://maratriangle.wildlifedirect.org/2008/07/23/cnn-corporate-responsibility-just-a-band/ - […]

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