Participants

Isaac Maina. Mutua Koti. Muoni Ikuthu. Titus Mulei Guyo Jatani Guyo Aldano Peter Wambua

Area Covered

This month we patrolled Irima from the fence line to the railway line, Ndii, Sagala, Kasigau, Sala and Galana ranch

266 SNARES RECOVERED

Findings

We lifted 88 snares from the Irima area, all of which targeted small game. None of the snares that we lifted in Irima were found inside the park. We find it very difficult to identify who the poachers are in this area as it is frequented by a lot of people. At Ndii we lifted two snares from inside the park boundary; thankfully we did not see any recent human activity in the area. Kasigau ranch was patrolled for a period number of days during which we found one snare. A series of night and morning ambushes yielded no results. From the information that we were able to gather we have ascertained that with the onset of the rainy season, together with the intensive patrols conducted by the de-snaring teams, KWS rangers and a local conservation group, the occurrence of snaring and lamping has decreased. Sadly the same can not be said for the Buguta area where game meat is rampant in all the local brew dens. Our team disguised themselves as local gemstone miners and entered the local brew den. Here we learnt that some poachers were out in the ranches collecting any animals that had been caught in their snares. We were able to lift 98 snares from the Sagalla ranch, all but four of which targeted Dikdiks. A further 86 snares were lifter near the boundary between Buguta and Sagalla ranch. Our stay at Sagalla was shortened by a call from Galana ranch, which is both a cattle farm and wildlife sanctuary, is located on the Park’s eastern boundary. We were informed that two of the ranches cattle had been caught in snares along a barrier line. Upon arrival we found two fresh sets of footprints running along the barrier line, which extends for about 3 kilometers. All of the snares had already been removed. We were able to identify the carcasses of three of the animals that had been slaughtered, a zebra, eland and a gazelle.

Further exploration of the area yielded 64 more snares which had been placed in water swamps near the Galana River. All of the snares that were recovered targeted large game and were made from winch wire. We also found a hiding den with 3 arrows in it. A further two dens from which poachers could shoot arrows were found in different swamp areas where snares had been laid. Meat drying lines were also spotted which means that the poachers are drying the meat before ferrying it out to market. The months patrol ended in Sala which is located seven kilometers from the Sala gate. A snare line five kilometers long had been sighted by a pilot to be located two kilometers inside the park. The pilot gave us the coordinates so that we could remove it. Once again the snares had been removed and fresh sets of footprints were spotted. There were signs showing that animals had recently been caught in the snares. These included blood markings, markings on a tree where a snare had been secured. One of the snares victims was a giraffe. We found and destroyed one snare. A total of 266 snares were lifted 195 of which targeted small game while 71 targeted large game.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH During the month of April we carried out a series of community projects. The de-snaring team participated in a mountain bike event at Kasigau, which was aimed at raising funds for Kaisgau's conservation trust and promote conservation through sports.

The team exhibited the de-snaring materials and the climax was an open air video show and de-snaring power point presentation at Buguta trading center, which was attended by more than 800 people. A second video show and de-snaring power point presentation was hosted at Galana.

Report by Isaac Maina