BIG TUSKER MONTHLYSeptember 2014

BIG TUSKER PROJECTTSAVO TRUST

TSAVO TRUST’s Big Tusker Project works alongside and in support of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in southern Kenya’s Tsavo National Parks. We work in partnership with Save The Elephants and other donors who make this project possible, including many generous individual supporters.

The TSAVO TRUST ‘Big Tusker Project’ works to provide extra protection for Tsavo’s elephants, with special emphasis on the region’s iconic 100-pounder tuskers - bull elephants bearing ivory weighing in excess of 100lbs (45kg) per side. Devastated by poaching fueled by an illegal international ivory trade and by sport hunting in other parts of Africa, the Tsavo region in southern Kenya hosts the planet’s last viable gene pool of these magnificent giants among giants.

Decades of conservation service to Tsavo: our Super Cub aircraft 5Y-ACE, donated to TSAVO TRUST by Stuart Herd.

Project leader: TSAVO TRUST Co-founder & Chief Conservation Officer, Richard Moller

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SA2 (photographed in June’14)

SEPTEMBER 2014: Big Tusker Project Overview

During September, we recorded fewer sightings of the big tuskers than usual. The giant bulls were scattered and not so easy to find. Nonetheless, 8 known big tuskers plus one large cow elephant were observed. Poaching figures were low for the National Parks but the Taita Ranches saw an upsurge in poaching this month. Joint Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) / TSAVO TRUST operations recovered 2 tusks, bringing this year’s tally to 30 tusks, representing a significant amount of revenue denied to poachers.

TSAVO TRUST also continued to provide aerial support to KWS for their rhino security operations, both in Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks with coverage of the rhino holding areas and rapid response as and when requested. The joint KWS / Tembo 1 team continued to make progress against bushmeat poaching activities, including the arrest of 3 poachers on Kulalu Ranch who had killed a Lesser Kudu. 5 endangered Hirola antelope were sighted during the month and predators observed from the air included wild dogs, leopards and honey badgers.

SA80 (3 July 2014)

Above: A poacher’s shooting blind overlooking a water source where animals come to drink. Right: August 2014 flight path for TSAVO TRUST aerial monitoring aircraft; giant Tsavo tusker KA1 (6 Aug.’14)

AR1

AS1F-XT1KA1KA2

LU1SA2SA80WS1

TUSKERCODE NAME

NUMBEROF TIMES SEEN DURING MONTH

One-day old carcass observed from the air on 20 September 2014. The joint KWS / Tembo 1 team had recovered the two tusks earlier.

KA 1 with younger bull companions (photo courtesy Michael Viljoens)

SEPTEMBER 2014 STATS

No. of hours flown 36

2,683

75mph

8 bulls +1 cows

10

2 tusks

All previously recorded in our database

3 in National Parks (2 natural death, 1 unconfirmed cause); 9 on Taita Ranches from poisoned arrow (4) and gun shot (5)

• Flights carried out with a KWS officer or ranger as rear seat observer, for immediate reporting to ground units for action

• All flights low level• Tsavo very dry most

places; small amount of rain in Tsavo East; strong winds

From 1 fresh carcass (natural death)

Average speed

Miles covered

No. of big tuskers seen

No. of elephant carcassesrecordedIvory recovered jointly by KWS/ TSAVO TRUST

KA 1, one of Tsavo’s finest big tuskers

Map showing the flight path of 5Y-ACE, our aerial monitoring and anti-poaching support aircraft (green shows the Tsavo National Parks and the red line our flight path). In September 2014, the aircraft flew 36 hours, covering a distance of 2,638 miles. The table to the right shows outcomes of our joint aerial monitoring and anti-poaching efforts with KWS.

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BACK ISSUES

Richard Moller BIG TUSKER PROJECT Leader

Co-founder and Chief Conservation Officer of the TSAVO TRUST, Richard Moller is one of Kenya’s most respected conservation project managers and an acknowledged expert in conservation management of endangered species, particularly black rhino and elephant. Richard is a Kenya citizen, fulltime Tsavo resident and Honorary Warden with the Kenya Wildlife Service. A passionate conservationist and naturalist, he brings to TSAVO TRUST over 15 years of hands-on field experience in wildlife conservation, low level bush flying, aerial censuses, anti-poaching, wildlife capture and translocation, and the logistical and practical aspects of protected area management.

TSAVO TRUST works to improve the safety of wildlife and people in Kenya’s expansive Greater Tsavo Ecosystem, the region’s most important protected area and home to Kenya’s largest population of elephants, currently endangered by ivory poaching and the global ramifications of wildlife crime.

We do this through the development of Community Wildlife Conservancies, multi-use conservation areas which address the human factors leading to the destruction of wildlife and the environment, as well as through direct wildlife conservation initiatives, including our Big Tusker Project.

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