Participants

Wambua kikwatha Munywoki kisangi Mwoni ikuthu Feisal muteti Mhebi Nyangweso Patrick Mutuku Adan Abdi

Findings

This month we collected 881 snares, out of these, 24 were designed to capture larger mammals while the rest were for small animals. This operation lasted for 26 days and so being out in the field for longer allowed us to collect more snares. The majority of the snares collected were found on the boundary of the park rather than deep inside like the previous months. We also found that the poachers were abandoning their old tracks into the bush and are now creating new ones that at this time of the year are harder to find, as the bush is quite dense. It has also become apparent that there are people in the community who are working against us in that the poachers are being informed about our operations and thus snaring heavily when we are off duty. We will eventually have to have a team out in the field that works through out each month.

Community Work

Early this month, a workshop follow up survey was carried out in conjunction with WCK (Wildlife Clubs of Kenya) Kitui office. The goal of the follow up was to check the effectiveness of the Joanna Chase teacher’s workshop. Al the schools were visited and projects that had been started were inspected. All the schools had implemented the workshop recommendations and had gone ahead and initiated new projects. We all met at Kasaala primary school and it was a great success. The WCK officer conducted a quiz competition and the Sheldrick Trust showed some wildlife films and gave a talk at the end on conservation. The pupils that won the competition were given Sheldrick Trust T-shirts and a certificate of Merit.

Report By Wambua Kikwatha