Participants

Henry Lekochere – team leader Boru Okicha John Mungai Adan Abdi Gerald Maghanga 2 KWS Rangers

Area Covered

During the course of the month we carried out patrols at: The Lumo Wildlife Sanctuary, Kishushe, Jipe and Maktau.

TOTAL SNARES COLLECTED 14 ARRESTS 9

Findings The month began on a sad note for the Ziwani team who came across a five year old injured elephant calf at the Lumo Wildlife Sanctuary. The calf had a wounded foreleg. Upon examination by the vet it was found that the leg had a fracture, caused by a bullet wound.

The damage was extensive and the calf was in poor shape. Sadly the calf had to be euthanased.

At the Kishushe park boundary we came across poachers footprints which even though we followed did not yield any arrests. We were however able to collect 14 snares that targeted medium sized game.

This area is difficult to patrol as there are no clear paths or easily accessible cut lines that can be followed.

During our patrols in the Jipe area we found that three is a lot of illegal grazing, logging and charcoal burning taking place.

Many Maasai's are bringing their cattle into the park to graze which scares away the wildlife. On a positive note we were able to arrest 6 people, about 5km into the park, for charcoal burning and logging. With the support of the area chief at Jipe we were able to arrest another 3 men, along the River Lumi, for charcoal burning and logging.

It appears that there has been a decline in the level of poaching at Maktau which could be due to the frequent arrest of poachers in this area in the last few months. During our patrols at Maktau we were able to rescue a five month old lion cub that had fallen down a Kenya Railways underground water tank.

The lion cub was taken to the animal orphanage.

Report by Henry Lekochere