Category: Elephants, Snares | Date: Jul 06 2008 | By: Kimojino

Late Friday afternoon rangers from Ngiro-are outpost reported that they had seen a young, bull elephant with a snare caught around his right, hind leg. KWS were called on Saturday morning and were fortunately in the area and so were able to come to the Triangle immediately.

Dominic from KWS treats elephant.

It was also fortunate that the wire snare had not yet cut through to the bone, just the outside tissue.

Wire Snare caught around hind leg. 

The elephant was darted at 10:30 am and fell down at 10:34. The procedure was started at 10:35 and then by 10:40 the snare was removed. The elephant was given an injection to wake up and was standing by 10:45.

10:45. Elephant wakes after procedure.

A very impressive operation carried out by KWS, and we commend them for such an excellent job. Once the elephant woke he was even walking without a limp.

Ngiro-are rangers yesterday reported seeing the bull elephant at 4pm and said that his condition was good and he was still walking fine. They will continue to check on his progress.

12 responses so far

Category: Poachers | Date: Jul 04 2008 | By: Kimojino

Questionnaire #2

Village:

Level of Education: Not educated

Marital Status: Married

Tribe:                                     Age: 49

1. What wildlife species do you mostly hunt?

Wildebeest and Thomson Gazelles

2. How often do you hunt?

Weekly

3. What are the reasons for you to hunt?

Protein source, income, and lack of food at home.

4. Who are your main customers?

People in the village.

5. What is your mode of selling bushmeat?

House to house.

6.  Which specific areas do you sell bush meat?

7. Which season do you mostly prefer to hunt?

Dry Season (June - November)

8. What time do you prefer to hunt?

Night.

9. How has the hunt and success rate change over the past five years.

Difficult, and less successful.

10. What happens when you’re caught?

Taken to court.

11. What tools do you commonly use for hunting?

Bow & Arrow, Dogs, Snares and Spears.

12. How do you transport bushmeat from hunting site to the village?

Using head.

13. How much do you sell a kilogram of bushmeat?

200 Kenyan Shillings (US $3.30)

14. Please name the places that illegal hunting for bushmeat occurs?

15. What health implications have you known related to bushmeat consumption?

Stomach complications and Malaria complications.

16. Are there any wildlife conservation awareness programs in your area?

Yes.

17. If yes, how often.

Quarterly

18. Have you ever been arrested?

No.

19. If yes, how many times?

N/a

20.  Do you have other sources of income?

No.

21. If yes, what is your major source of income?

22. What do you think are the alternatives to the hunting for bushmeat?

Doing business at home, looking for employment, doing farming at home. 

Questionnaire #3
Village:

Level of Education: Class 1 (up to 4 yrs old)

Marital Status: Married

Tribe:                                     Age: 35

1. What wildlife species do you mostly hunt?

Wildebeest

2. How often do you hunt?

Not often.

3. What are the reasons for you to hunt?

Income.

4. Who are your main customers?

People in the village.

5. What is your mode of selling bushmeat?

House to house.

6.  Which specific areas do you sell bush meat?

7. Which season do you mostly prefer to hunt?

Migration period of the wildebeest.

8. What time do you prefer to hunt?

Day and Night.

9. How has the hunt and success rate change over the past five years.

Difficult, and less successful.

10. What happens when you’re caught?

Taken to court.

11. What tools do you commonly use for hunting?

Snares and Spears.

12. How do you transport bushmeat from hunting site to the village?

By use of pundas (donkey).

13. How much do you sell a kilogram of bushmeat?

500 Kenyan Shillings (US $8)

14. Please name the places that illegal hunting for bushmeat occurs?

15. What health implications have you known related to bushmeat consumption?

Doesn’t provide good health, not good for stomach.

16. Are there any wildlife conservation awareness programs in your area?

No.

17. If yes, how often.

N/a

18. Have you ever been arrested?

No.

19. If yes, how many times?

N/a

20.  Do you have other sources of income?

Yes.

21. If yes, what is your major source of income?

Mineral mining and crop (maize) farming.

22. What do you think are the alternatives to the hunting for bushmeat?

Crop Farming.

8 responses so far

Category: Poachers | Date: Jul 04 2008 | By: Kimojino

The three poachers arrested this afternoon.

As those who have been following the twitter updates know, rangers this morning arrested three poachers near Sand River. The poachers had killed a total of six wildebeest.

In our office we have some questionnaires that were left for us by a student at the college of African Wildlife Management in Mweka, Tanzania, which were to be filled in by poachers arrested by our rangers.

Some of you on twitter showed interest in the answers and so we have published the questionnaires so you can find out more. For confidentiality purposes we have left out some of the answers.

Village:

Level of Education: Standard 7 (up to age 16)

Marital Status: Single

Tribe:                                     Age: 16

1. What wildlife species do you mostly hunt?

Wildebeests

2. How often do you hunt?

One time hunter.

3. What are the reasons for you to hunt?

Income.

4. Who are your main customers?

People in the village.

5. What is your mode of selling bushmeat?

House to house. Buyers also come for the meat in our house.

6.  Which specific areas do you sell bush meat?

Sometimes when the meat supply is sufficien, middle men.

7. Which season do you mostly prefer to hunt?

Dry Season (June - November)

8. What time do you prefer to hunt?

Day and night.

9. How has the hunt and success rate change over the past five years.

No answer.

10. What happens when you’re caught?

Sometimes depending on an individual, fines are imposed by the police.

11. What tools do you commonly use for hunting?

Snares.

12. How do you transport bushmeat from hunting site to the village?

Carry by ourselves.

13. How much do you sell a kilogram of bushmeat?

Sell by piece as dried, eg. a piece cost KSh 500 (US $8)

14. Please name the places that illegal hunting for bushmeat occurs?

15. What health implications have you known related to bushmeat consumption?

No answer.

16. Are there any wildlife conservation awareness programs in your area?

No.

17. If yes, how often.

N/a

18. Have you ever been arrested?

No.

19. If yes, how many times?

N/a

20.  Do you have other sources of income?

Yes.

21. If yes, what is your major source of income?

Agricultural activities.

22. What do you think are the alternatives to the hunting for bushmeat?

Agriculture, Bussiness (Hawking of clothes, maize), and cattle rearing or keeping.

3 responses so far

Category: Donations, Poachers | Date: Jul 04 2008 | By: Kimojino

Thank you everyone for your donations last month. As you can see from yesterday’s post we’re not yet out of the crisis and so still need your support.

Please, if you can, consider a monthly donation to the Mara Triangle so that we can plan better for the following months.

Rangers just brought these poachers in about half an hour ago. They were three in total and had killed six wildebeest. During these next few months we need your support to continue with anti-poaching and de-snaring patrols. 

1 - 7th June

Open Donations:

Amy - $40; Brian - $100; Flora - $200; Jawrence - $10; Stephen S. - $100

Monthly Donations:

Kumiko - $20; Maria - $10; Mark - $10; Miho - $100; Pruet - $30; Robin - $15; Theresa - $25; Toshie - $20

Total for 1 - 7th June: $680

8 - 14th June

Open Donations:

Alicja - $40; Anon - $30; Anon - $100; Calixto - $10; Colleen - $100; Craig - $1,000;  Hirofumi - $100; Igmar - $20; Jacquelin - $50; Jeremy - $100; Joshua - $20; Jun - $200; Mda - $100; Pirjo - $100

Monthly Donations:

Alan - $20;  Eric - $15; Deborah - $50; Gay - $20; Gloria - $20; Michelle - $20;

Total for 8 - 14th June: $2,115

15 - 21st June

Open Donations:

Beth - $50; Josh - $50; Michael - $20; Richard - $25; Vincent - $100; Wanda - $20

Monthly Donations:

Alexandra - $10; Dr. D. - $30; Kathleen - $20; Julia - $25;

Total for 15 - 21st June: $350

22nd - 30th June

Open Donation:

Darya - $100; John - $20; Kari - $100; John - $100; Oliver - $25; Rosalind - $50;

Monthly Donation:

Dave - $20; Jo - $25; John - $10; Julia - $10; Laura - $10; Liana - $25; Shirley - $100; Sixten - $5;

Total for 22 - 30: $600

Grand Total for June: $3,745

2 responses so far

Category: Cattle Rustlers | Date: Jul 01 2008 | By: Kimojino

This morning at 1:30am we received a phone call by one of the men who works for Earthview, John Saaya, to inform the security team that cattle rustling is taking place on the escarpment, and that they suspected the cattle to be driven across the park to Tanzania.

We coordinated with the Ngiro-are team and laid an ambush on both sides of Ngiro-are Stream. By then there was sporadic gunfire at the top of the escarpment near Kerinkani area, and we knew that these people were armed with automatic weapons. We suspect AK47s. We orientated ourselves to where the rustlers would pass and waited for almost one and a half hours.

After this time, the Ngiro-are team heard some movement about 100 metres away from them, just along the edge of the riverine forest. Immediately they tried to ascertain what was causing the movement and concluded there was cattle in the vicinity.

They started opening fire, but there was no fire returned by the rustlers. Instead they fled from the area leaving behind the cattle. It was impossible to follow the men because the land was covered by total darkness.

We retrieved 15 cattle, and the Maasai on the escarpment also recovered 6 cattle when exchanging fire. There are 5 very large oxens which are still missing. But we don’t think that they came down the escarpment, we believe the group was divided.

Rangers, and community with retrieved cattle this morning.

In this case the rustlers removed 50 cows, and split the cows into two groups. One of the groups had the 5 oxen, which are extremely valuable at about 18,000 Shillings. Then all of the other cows would be taken on another route to cause a diversion and eventually leave behind without a fight because they know they still have the most valuable of the cattle. 

Rangers from Ngiro-are are still working with the community to track the missing oxen.

Rangers and community. 

5 responses so far