Participants

Isaac Maina, Mutua Koti, Jacob Dadi, Samuel Odero, Jarisson Ali KWS, Barre KWS

Findings

The scope of the operation was limited to two areas, Ndii and irima since the exercise was carried simultaneously with the removal of the railways telephone wire that has repeatedly been used as the main source of snares. Extension to other areas was hampered by transport since the two exercises were dependent on the same vehicle. A total of 388 snares were recovered and 2 Dikdiks were found dead. Irima had the highest number of snares in regard to the other areas. On the outer side between the park electric fence line and railway line, 178 snares were recovered targeting Dikdiks while 14 snares were recovered on the inner side all from the railway cable. Poachers seem to have shifted their base from the inner side to the community area making it look like they are grazing cattle, firewood collecting and charcoal burning. Altogether 84 snares were recovered in Ndii, most of which targeted Dikdiks. Another 24 snares were removed from the pipeline area near Manga hill. Other area patrolled included Ndara which had a total of 24 snares all made for Dikdiks, Manyani 7 and the Voi river where 2 snares were recovered. The poachers in Irima and Ndii seem to be operating in the early morning or late at night. Because of this we need to start nighttime ambushes if we wish to catch them.

Railway Line Removal

Irima and Ndii are areas where snare counts are very high; this is attributed to the old railway and telephone lines that are no longer in use. It has taken a long time for us to be given the permission to remove these old lines and finally we were given the go ahead at the start of the month. The work started on the 6th of October and it involved un-looping of wires from posts and pulling them down the post by using hacksaws and pliers. The wires are then cut at a hundred meter intervals and then coiled up. So far we have managed to remove 70km out of 160km which is excellent. However one of the drawbacks is the heat that heats up the wire so much that one cannot touch it bare handed. Once we eliminate the wire we are positive that there will be a decrease in the snaring.

Report by Issac Maina