It is the height of the dry season, which brings a reliable uptick in illegal activities. Over the course of September, SWT/KWS Anti-Poaching Teams made 48 arrests, including 13 arrests for poaching activities (11 bushmeat poachers, one ivory poacher, and one offender caught in possession of bushmeat), 16 charcoal burners, 13 livestock herders, four firewood collectors, and two loggers, all of whom were operating illegally in protected areas. The teams also collected and confiscated 897 snares set by bushmeat poachers. In one feel-good incident, the Kenze Team discovered a live duiker in a snare and were able to release him back into the wild.

The dry season also brings an inevitable rise in field emergencies. SWT/KWS Anti-Poaching Teams provided invaluable support on this front, helping with the rescue of three orphaned elephants (including Wamata, who is currently at the Nairobi Nursery) and helped extract several elephants from wells, including a mother and baby pair. The teams also supported the SWT/KWS Mobile Veterinary Units and Aerial Unit in numerous veterinary treatments and human-wildlife conflict incidents.

Importantly, rangers also responded to a spate of bushfires. This time of year, habitats are tinder dry and primed to go up in flames. The teams' dedicated efforts to extinguish bushfires fires saved countless acres — not to mention the wildlife who call them home — that would otherwise have burned.

During the month, the teams destroyed five livestock bomas, 13 charcoal kilns, and 13 charcoal camps, along with 12 harbors/hides/camps used by poachers and other perpetrators of illegal activities.

We currently operate 28 Anti-Poaching Teams with the KWS throughout Kenya. 22 teams are based in the greater Tsavo Conservation Area, collectively securing Kenya’s largest national park and the surrounding wilderness. While each team works within a designated region, many also work on a rotating, mobile basis, providing continuous coverage when other teams are on leave. This helps to ensure a constant level of vigilance in Kenya’s most vulnerable ecosystems.