Like last month, illegal activities have shown a downward trend in the parks and protected areas where the DSWT/KWS teams are patrolling, which is typical of this time of year.  Despite this, the teams have continued to patrol diligently and have achieved a number of successes including the rescue of a pangolin, which is a nocturnal scaly anteater, critically endangered in some countries whilst listed as threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red list in Kenya.  This pangolin was confiscated from two bushmeat poachers who were later arrested, whilst the pangolin was checked for any injuries and soon after released with a good bill of health.  This pangolin would have been caught and eaten as bush meat whilst the scales can also be used in traditional medicine.

Other arrests made during the month included 22 livestock herders, 12 charcoal burners, 8 bushmeat poachers and 7 loggers.  All offenders are handed over to the local police station and are charged for their offences.  The Burra team arrested a bushmeat poacher, having found him with buffalo meat and the carcass of the snared buffalo he had caught and butchered.  On top of these arrests 425 snares were collected from the bush or recovered from bushmeat poachers, the Meru team collecting over 257 snares from Meru National Park where snaring continues to threaten the area.  

You can read about these activities and more in our monthly Anti-Poaching Report: