MTITO TEAM

De – Snaring Report for July 2007

Participants

Alex Macharia – team leader Francis Chege Semeli Lolchuraki James Nyumu Nteritu Kapina Vincent Mutua Nicodemus Kivindio 4KWS Rangers

Areas Covered

During the course of the month of July the following areas were patrolled by the Mtito de-snaring team: Mtito area, Rhino area, Ngulia Hills, Wuyuni, Upper & Lower Kenani, Kenani Station, Kanga Station, and Kyulu Station.

78 SNARES COLLECTED 7 ARRESTS

Findings

The weather had been very dry. Human activities within the National Park boundaries were very high. The poachers have changed their techniques to avoid us capturing and arresting them. We have therefore adapted to their new techniques by carrying out ambushes, particularly at night. Most of the snares collected targeted small to medium game. Charcoal burning and illegal logging activities were also at high levels despite our hard efforts to get these activities put to an end.

We have made a lot of arrests for these kinds of illegal activities over the last few months but the numbers of offenders has so far not decreased. In Mangerete we found a lot of Charcoal kilns and logging activities in progress. It seems like we are fighting an endless battle because we have made several arrests of repeat offenders. Upon questioning the offenders confess that they are released immediately after being booked at the police station. This lack of support from the government bodies is the reason as to why the illegal human activities have remained at a high level despite our operations.

The majority of the snares we collected were from Mangerete area along the Mtito River.

These are very sensitive areas as they are the border between the Tsavo National Park and human settlements. Therefore human and wildlife come into contact with one another a lot on such areas especially when it is dry as the wildlife moves away in search of water and food. This leads to a lot of conflict between humans and wildlife. As usual in the dry season, grazing of cattle in the park boundaries as risen with cattle herders being found deep within the park. Most of the cattle are brought in by their owners and left to feed in the park with a young child looking after them. This is a tactic used by the villagers as they know we cannot arrest a child. We lead the herd back out the park and gave the owners whom were back at the village a stern warning.

Community work

We contributed about 350 tree seedlings to schools and communities.

We also took the Matulani Primary School on a school trip that took place on 28th July 2007. Our goals were to teach wildlife conservation and a sustainable lifestyle to the children & the community as a whole.

Report by Alex Macharia