Amboseli Trust For Elephants

Category: Amboseli, Elephant families, Matriarchs, Threats, drought, elephants | Date: Aug 03 2009 | By: admin

Dear readers,

We are losing old friends in Amboseli. Amboseli is experiencing the worst drought in decades. The Maasai elders say it is the most severe drought since 1961 when they lost almost all their cattle. I have been through two previous bad years: 1976 and 1984. By the end of 1976, 68 elephants had died, many from the drought, others from the competition and conflict caused by the drought, and still others from poaching. During 1984, 70 elephants died, most from the same three causes.

Ulla

There is a pattern in the deaths due to drought. Young calves under three months old die, probably because their mothers do not have enough milk or rich enough milk. Then older calves 8-12 months old die towards the end of the dry season in September and October when they should be supplementing milk with vegetation. There is simply nothing for them to eat and their mother’s milk is not enough. Calves 4-5 years old also die. These have been weaned and also cannot find enough vegetation to sustain them. Once an elephant is over five it seemed to be able to get through the droughts. Unless elephants are speared or poached they tend not to die as adults until they are in their 50s or 60s. The adults that suffer particularly during droughts are the old females. Their teeth are worn down and they cannot find enough food that they can process. Losing these old matriarchs and other big females is by far the hardest thing I have had to deal with over my 37 years in Amboseli.

Grace, Odile and Ebenezer

Now at the end of July 2009 after three years of low rainfall and an almost total failure of the rains this year, there is very little vegetation for the animals to eat. There is still water in Amboseli. The springs fed from Kilimanjaro continue to flow into the swamps, but the vegetation in the swamps has been eaten down to almost nothing and in any case what there is is not very nutritious.

Animals are dying everywhere: zebras, wildebeests, buffaloes, hippos and elephants. It is very depressing and frustrating standing by and watching this tragedy unfold. There is nothing we can do and we feel so helpless. Even if it was a policy to feed wild animals during droughts, there is not enough hay in all of Kenya to feed the wildlife for even a week. We try to tell ourselves it is a natural phenomenon, but it doesn’t stop the pain of watching the animals suffer.

During 2008, 137 calves were born which broke all previous records for annual births. So far in 2009, another 53 calves have been born. We fear that most of these calves will die. A minimum of 30 young calves have died. This is just the beginning of August; it won’t rain until late October or early November so there is three more months to go and we have to face the fact that many of the remaining calves will also die. It won’t be until it rains again and the families come back into the Park that we will know the total loss.

In the meantime, I am losing some of my old friends whom I’ve known for 36-37 years. So far the matriarchs who have died over the last year are: Echo, Grace, Isis, Leticia, Lucia, Odile, Ulla and Xenia. Echo, Freda, Isis, Leticia and Ulla had been the matriarchs of their families since the 1970s and some from even earlier. Their families must be very distraught and confused. Personally I will miss them terribly. They have been a part of my life for so long.

Older males are also dying but not from the drought. They are being poached for their tusks. Just in the last 10 days three more big males have been killed. One, Ebenezer, had his tusks cut out with a power saw. The poachers are definitely getting more serious. We are doing everything we can by working closely with the Kenya Wildlife Service and providing support to the Amboseli-Tsavo Game Scouts Association. On Thursday, at a special ceremony, Soila and Harvey, representing ATE, presented a motorbike, tents, rations, and money for vehicle repairs and running to the Scouts. We were able to give this support thanks to a generous donation from the Elephant Sanctuary.

We need more help. The day of the presentation the scouts set up two anti-poaching camps, but there is need for another. It is our estimate that it will cost about $10,000 to set up and run one of these camps. If any of you can help it will be greatly appreciated and I believe it will save elephant lives.

Cynthia Moss

Amboseli

August 2, 2009

Tags: Amboseli, drought, Ebenezer, elephant deaths, elephants, Grace, Kenya, Maasai, Mount Kilimanjaro, Odile, poaching

8 responses so far

Category: Amboseli, Threats, elephants | Date: Apr 29 2009 | By: admin

April 29, 2009

Illegal Quarry Devastates Communities and Wildlife Area

Nairobi, KENYA 29/4/2009 – On Saturday, Chinese-owned Sinohydro Corporation Limited began detonating heavy explosives in a sensitive wildlife area to begin the excavation of an illegal rock quarry, effectively signaling the end of a key wildlife corridor and potential tourism revenue for local communities.

Sinohydro Corporation located the quarry and a staff camp within a critical wildlife corridor extending from Amboseli National Park to Kimana Sanctuary to Tsavo and Chyulu National Parks. This corridor is vital to the survival of Amboseli’s wildlife as well as tourism and income-generating enterprises benefitting the local communities.

Community members of Oloitoktok District, the African Wildlife Foundation, Amboseli Trust for Elephants, and other alarmed conservation groups are protesting the project, which is in direct violation of a Stop Order issued by the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) on Friday of last week.

The quarry, to be used for the Emali-Oloitoktok Road, falls within the 3,000 acre (1,214 hectares) community-owned Osupuko Conservancy, which was created by 50 landowners from the Kimana community via a lease agreement signed in October 2008 with AWF.

The staff camp is located on the east side of the road, directly adjacent to the Kimana Wildlife Sanctuary, a community sanctuary providing benefits to members of the Kimana Group Ranch. The camp is in direct violation of the 2007 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which states, “Contractor’s Camp shall… not be installed in the areas used as wildlife grazing areas or migratory corridors.”

“The quarry and camp will have a severe impact on the wildlife, natural surroundings, and livelihoods of people living in the area,” said Dr. Helen Gichohi, President of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). “By no means are we against the road development. However, Sinohydro can and should use an alternative site for the quarry and camp that is not in a wildlife corridor, and they should obey Kenya’s environmental laws.”

Disregarding the Stop Order issued by NEMA, Oloitoktok District Commissioner, Mr. David Ole Shege, authorized excavation to begin on April 25. Mr. Ole Shege brought police to the construction site to bar community protesters and wildlife scouts from the site as Sinohydro began the illegal work.

Currently, AWF, the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, the East African Wildlife Society, African Conservation Centre, Satao Elerai, Maasailand Preservation Trust, Ol Donyo Wuas, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, Campi ya Kanzi, and community members are seeking the Stop Order issued by NEMA to be obeyed.

“If action is not taken soon to stop the construction, it could cause irreversible damage to the region, and hurt the livelihoods of Kenyans who are starting to participate in wildlife-based enterprises,” said Dr. Harvey Croze of Amboseli Trust for Elephants.

African Wildlife Foundation and Amboseli Trust for Elephants are not-for-profit, conservation organizations that have provided wildlife management information and conservation leadership in the Amboseli ecosystem for decades. We and the other organizations listed above are convinced the proposed quarry and camp are harmful in the extreme to the wildlife and the human livelihoods of southern Kajiado.

Photos and Maps available upon request

Contacts:

African Wildlife Foundation

In Kenya:

Paul Thomson, (+254) 20-271-0367;

(+254) 0722454494 (mobile)

pthomson@awf.org

In USA:

Elizabeth Miranda, (+1) 202-939-3324

emiranda@awf.org

Amboseli Trust for Elephants

Soila Sayialel, (+254) 722399491 (mobile)

ssayialel@elephanttrust.org

Tags: Amboseli National Park, communities, cynthia moss, elephants, Illegal quarry, mining, wildlife, wildlifedirect

6 responses so far