Participants

Gazi team Kasau Lerat – Team Leader Adan Abdi – Car guard Julius Mumo – Cook KWS rangers Ithumba Team Wambua Kikwatha Muteti Feisal Munywoki Kisangi Mwoni ikuthu Wekesa Mhembi

SNARES COLLECTED 799

Findings

During this month both Gazi and the Ithumba teams joined up as there was a shortage of rangers and it meant that we could do a huge sweep of the area. With still no sign of the rain, poaching is increasing all over the park. Larger and smaller mammals are targeted, as more people become desperate in search of food and a way to make a living. This month we concentrated our efforts on the Tiva and Mkoka areas where large amounts of game have moved in to in search of water. The Tiva at this time of the year has large groups of elephants moving in and so it was imperative to monitor them and make sure that the ivory poachers were not taking advantage of the situation. By the end of the month we had not found any carcases of any sort of animal which is a good sign. We also set up several ambushes but they were not successful. Added to that we managed to move deep into the park by using the pipeline and clearing areas so that we can come back and try again next month. It was a rather large snare count for this month but that is expected given that this is the dry season. We should expect a decrease in snaring next month once the rains start