Friday, June 6, 2014

Shock as 117 elephant carcasses are found in Kenyan game reserve

Narok, KENYA: Scientists who have been carrying wildlife census in Maasai Mara Game Reserve have stumbled on 117 fresh and old elephant carcasses. The elephants, whose tusks were missing, may have been killed by poachers or the local community in human-wildlife conflicts. Last month, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) acting Director General William Kiprono said elephant population in the Mara was declining at an alarming rate and called on residents to help security agencies reverse the trend. A senior scientist, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media on the issue, said the distribution of elephants in the expansive reserve was not even, adding that most herds had relocated. The week-long exercise was funded by Word Wide for Nature to the tune of Sh3 million. The exercise in Serengeti National Park is still going on due to the vastness of the park. CENSUS RESULTS Narok KWS Senior Warden William Sang said the results of the census that also targets all other wildlife species except rhinos will be announced soon in Soronera in the Serengeti. Tanzania National Park officials, where a similar exercise is being carried out, said the census targets elephants and buffaloes. The exercise is being funded by various animal protection groups. “Apart from poaching and human-wildlife conflict, we suspect that some herds of elephants have moved to Loita and Mau forests because of the dry spell in Mara,” said the scientist, who added they would soon conduct a special census for rhinos. The census was also to find out wildlife distribution and movements. The scientists said they came across a large number of livestock in wildlife rangelands, adding that the encroachment may see some animals disappear. ends

8 comments:

  1. what do people expect, just look at the state of the countries , do you think they realy care, only a handful of the populations of these countries have money, and most are corrupt , and easily bought, its the asians demand for ivory and horn ,they are the curse,

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  2. Why is the TRUNK MISSING, but the IVORY TUSKS ARE STILL INTACT?! And it appears fresh....WTF? Isn't the poaching ALL ABOUT THE TUSKS?! This makes no sense!

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    1. Now that they're being cut off from selling the ivory, they've taken a position "organized crime" takes .. when someone welshes on a bet .. they don't care about the money .. they're showing you that they are still in charge .. :((

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  3. JD Roberts... look closely to the flesh.. there is a axe beside the ivory on the right side.. it seems poachers hack out the ivory with the axe till the dental root :( :(

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  4. This is truly horrible...These beautiful creatures do not deserve this horrific death/murder. What will happen when they are hunted to extinction?!? The trunk appears to be cut off...Poachers must have been scared off not to have finished the tusk removal...Something MUST be done :(

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  5. This is very devastating, KWS is well funded but seems not to be able to the job. Unless corruption is tackled , the the poaching will continue.

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  6. This is an old picture, and I think a rehashed story. How many times do we have to read and see the same horrible things over again. One time is too many.

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