Participants

Alex Macharia – team leader Francis Chege Kathuki Ngongo James Nyumu Vincent Mutua Nteritu Kapina 2KWS Rangers

Areas Covered

During the course of the month of July the following areas were patrolled by the Mtito de-snaring team: The generally Mtito area, Rhino area, Ngulia hills, Wuyuni, Upper and Lower Kenani, as well as the Kenani, Kanga and Kyulu stations.

218 SNARES COLLECTED

1 ARREST

Findings

With the onset of the dry season we expect that, as with past years, there will be rise in the levels of poaching. Most of the snares that were collected during the course of the month were medium and small in size.

An old man, aged 97, was arrested by the team during our patrols along the Mtito River, although he was later released due to his age.

The man was in possession of 32 medium sized snares, poisoned arrows and a slaughtering knife all of which were confiscated.

There were few poaching activities taking place within the triangle and there is an increase in the number of wildlife that can be found in the area. Upper and love Kanga and Kenani still have the highest number of snares. We spoke with the station masters to see what could be done about the problem.

Livestock grazing has also been observed along the Mtito River as well as deeper in the park. The cattle are brought into the park by its owners who then either leave or hand the care of the cattle over to young children who can not be arrested. When the cattle were leaving the park in the evening we followed it to the community areas where a warning was given to the herders.

Heavy logging is also found to be taking place inside the park.

5 Dikdiks,

a guinea fowl and a jackal were found trapped in snares and Impala meat was found hanging on a tree to dry. Of the 5 Dikdiks we were able to rescue two before they succumbed to the snares that had trapped them

Observable evidence During our patrols we came across footprints, cuttings, bloodstains and snares all of which are evidence that poaching is still a problem in the areas that we visited.

Community work Tree seedlings were distributed to the surrounding communities as part of the ongoing community projects that The David Sheldrick Wildlife de-snaring teams carry out.

Report by Alex Macharia