I’m sorry I missed this post when it first came out, not sure how that happened! Visited your home site and am impressed with such innovated ideas, on elephant conservation. These Maasai elephant scouts are a great idea as is the consolation scheme. When we hear of livestock being killed by wildlife, we naturally assume it’s by lions or leopards, certainly not by elephants. The environmental hazards insurance program, for lost or damaged crops, is another worthy endeavor, as well. We have all heard stories of elephants raiding crops! Planning for migration corridors is a much needed vision as human population expands. All these programs are worth supporting and I look forward to hearing more about all of them, as well as the elephants. Got lots of questions, but I’ll save them, for your next post. Thank you for helping these elephants!

Great to see you guys online now, here at wildlifedirect. I’ve read much about Amboseli and seen all the Echo video programs. Very concerned about news that KWS is leaving Amboseli. What is that all about and how can the international community help safeguard the ecosystem there if the Kenyan government is unable or unwilling to do so? What are the prospects for working directly with the Maasai on this issue through the private sector? I recently read of 14 elephants speared by Maasai. That doesn’t sound very encouraging, if the park is to become more reliant on their participation for its protection. What’s the story? Thanks for listening.

Thanks, Teresea & TheTeach, sorry to take so long to respond, but I, too, am just catching up on the complexities of the WordPress CMS syntax (as opposed to the Drupal one we use at elephanttrust.org.
Couple of points: the Maasai Scouts programme is moving along well. Pls see: elephanttrust.org/node/492.
KWS is still firmly entrenched in Amb, but each side (the Olkejuado County Council and KWS) has a different view of what the KWS status and role is. The matter is ostensibly still in the High Court for review. That could take a while. Meanwhile, our strategy is a two-scale pincer effort. At the international scale, we are trying to rejuvenate interest by the likes of UNESCO (see, for example, elephanttrust.org/node/217) and the E.Afr. Community in the trans-boundary Kili-Amboseli ecosystem. At the local level, well, have a look at the latest ‘Early Warning’ post on WD and the ATE site.
We want to tap the Kenyan private sector for funding, which could indirectly help to resolving the land-corridor issues.
On the recent spearings, have a look at Richard & Cynthia’s piece at:
richardleakey.wildlifedirect.org/2008/03/17/14-elephants-speared-in-amboseli/ .
Thx for your interest. Harvey

PS: Any Admins out there? This little miserable comment box is a real pain to write in. Can’t you make it any larger?

Thanks for responding. It was well worth the wait! Very informative. Best wishes.