Participants

Henry Lekochere – Ag team leader John Mungai Adan Abdi Gerald Maghanga 2 KWS rangers

Area Covered

During the course of the month we carried out patrols at, Ziwani, Lumo/Maktau, and the Kishushe Park boundary.

TOTAL SNARES COLLECTED 81

Findings

Poaching levels during the rainy season are always low due to the fact that most poachers are busy in their farms and thus do not have the time to carry out their poaching activities.

Furthermore with the rains the vegetation becomes thicker hindering their operations. This however does not mean that poaching is not taking place, only that it is taking place at a decreased level.

Kishushe Park Boundary and along the Tsavo River

In the past months this area has been one of concern due to the fact that elephant poaching has been observed. The team, together with the KWS Jipe section, spent 7 days combing the area but, apart from snares, did not come across any signs of poaching taking place.

32 snares were lifted 5 targeting large game 10 targeting medium sized game and 17 targeting small game.

Maktau and Lumo Community Sanctuary

After our operations at Kishushe, we moved to the Maktau area where we also patrolled the Lumo community sanctuary and the Oza ranch. At Maktau we found that snaring was very low with only 22 snares being lifted and no other evidence of poaching being observed.

Earlier in the year the area used to be a hot spot for snaring with most of the snares found targeting large game. Currently night poaching is the method of poaching most prevalent in this area, and is unfortunately a harder method to control.

Ziwani / Mhoho farm

We ended our patrols at Ziwani where 27 snares were lifted, 5 targeting large game, 14 targeting medium sized game and 8 targeting small game.

Poaching in this area has also declined due to our continued patrols and de-snaring efforts. We have been working very closely with the Mhoho farm rangers in an effort to combat poaching in the area which has contributed its decline.

Report by Henry Lekochere