Although generally a quiet month, during December the Anti-Poaching Units kept up their guard, patrolling the Tsavo Conservation Area, creating a vital security presence whilst supporting bordering communities and preventing further wildlife crimes. 12 arrests were made during December which included the capture of 8 bushmeat poachers.  These bushmeat poachers were caught on separate occasions throughout the greater Tsavo area, showing how prevalent this illegal activity is. Other arrests included 2 offenders for charcoal burning, 1 for illegal logging and 1 for harvesting.  Jointly the teams also removed and confiscated 176 snares of varying sizes during the month with the Burra team discovering the most, whilst the Chyulu team uncovered 5 cable snares which are commonly used to trap elephants.  

Human-wildlife conflict is becoming an increasing issue within the TCA.  The Chyulu team was called on the most to support the KWS and the local communities in removing problem elephants from community areas, where on most occasions elephants were found crop-raiding, having made their way outside of the Chyulu Hills National Park; in total, they helped to push over 35 individual elephants out of these areas working together with the KWS and the DSWT Aerial Unit.    The Ziwani and Mtito teams also attended to five elephant treatments during the month with support from the Amboseli Mobile Veterinary Unit as the Tsavo Unit was on annual leave during December.  Two elephant carcasses were also discovered, both with their tusks intact which were handed over to the KWS.

You can read about these activities and more in our monthly report: