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Our warmest thoughts reach out to you across the world. We look back on this last year with feelings of pride and some anguish. We are still on high alert and remain deeply concerned about the elephant poaching surge in Africa. It is a dangerous time, but working with communities, fellow conservationists and the KWS we will do our utmost to contain the elephant poaching. Our new elephant tracking project in the Mara ends the year on a high note. With ten Mara - Serengeti elephants now tagged, their future prospects improved. Thank you for your interest, and goodwill and peace to you this season. For those who have donated a deep thank you as it means everything to us. Below is a brief end-of-year update with more details about our recent efforts which we hope you will enjoy reading.
We hope you will come and see us next year in Kenya and wish you the happiest of New Years.
Iain and all of us at Save the Elephants
THE MARA ELEPHANT
PROJECT: Our team has just returned
from a major elephant collaring project in the Masai Mara ecosystem (4th - 10th Dec 2011. Using a
helicopter and a trained on-the-ground team, we immobilised and fitted advanced
satellite GPS radio collars on 5 mature males and 5 females, including a
magnificent bull we named Heritage. The project was especially challenging
because of recent torrential rains, which resulted in flooding far and wide
across Kenya. The highly detailed elephant movement data we collect from these
collars will help to identify hotspots of human-elephant conflict and poaching
pressure as well as migratory patterns and trans-boundary routes between Kenya
and Tanzania. We will make the data immediately available, and we will share it
freely with other NGOs and stakeholders. The collaring is part of a larger
project in which we have partnered with the Kenya Wildlife Service, Narok
County Council, Masai Mara Conservancy and Richard’s Camp to establish and
train a “rapid response” team to protect the Mara’s elephants.
ANTI-POACHING
ACTIVITIES: We continue to address the recent spike in
poaching in the Samburu-Laikipia area. The price of ivory has shot up to more
than $700 per kilo, so it is no wonder that poachers have stepped up their
efforts to cash in. Some of our most iconic bull elephants and older
matriarchs have been killed, their tusks hacked out. Thanks to help from
generous donors, we have been working, quite literally, night and day to put a
stop to this. We have developed a strong network of key informants in the villages
and have well-equipped a mobile scout, allowing us to investigate incidents and
report information quickly. We are beginning to see results from our efforts:
in October, the number of illegally killed elephants declined slightly, giving
us a glimmer of hope that this positive trend will continue.
EWASO NG’IRO
FLOODING: The week before our collaring project was set to
begin, Save the Elephants’ research camp on the banks of the Ewaso Ng’iro River
was saved from the second so-called “100-year flood” in two years. The 2010
flash flood had been a major blow to our operations.
Last year’s disaster was met with a flood of donations that helped our staff to
recover, to “flood proof” and rebuild our camp, and to replace lost equipment
and supplies. I am pleased to report that our rebuilding efforts paid off. In
this November flood, our team, the facilities and our precious records stayed
out of harm’s way as the flood waters lapped at the door. As I surveyed the scene, with the bridge between Buffalo Springs Reserve and
the STE research camp half crumbled, the road washed away, debris mounded
against trees – so much of the same destruction that I witnessed last year – I
felt so grateful to our wonderful friends that STE was, this time, able to
avoid heavy losses.
“ELEPHANTS
AND BEES” PROJECT: You might have read in the Save the Elephants’
2011 Annual Report the story entitled
“Elephants and Bees,” about Dr. Lucy King’s important research. A few weeks ago, Lucy’s work with this Save the Elephants’ initiative was
recognised internationally, with the highest of honors. Lucy was awarded a
coveted environmental research prize from the United Nations Environmental
Programme, which she received at the UNEP/CMS (Convention on the Conservation
of Migratory Species) meeting in Bergen, Norway. The prize for the most outstanding PhD thesis on the biology
of migratory species of wild animals is conferred only once every three years,
and Lucy is only its third recipient. Her thesis, submitted to Oxford
University, is entitled “The interaction between the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the African
honeybee (Apis mellifera scutellata)
and its potential application as an elephant deterrent.” Her
research supervisory team included Professor Fritz Vollrath, Chairman of the
Board of Trustees of Save the Elephants, and myself. Fritz and I could not wish
for a better student.
I know you
will join me in congratulating Lucy on this important achievement, and in
following the milestones of the Elephants and Bees initiative as it is
implemented in the field.
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE: In November, in a presentation to the Royal Geographic Society in London on “Technology and
Conservation,” I made a plea that I will repeat to you in closing here:
“Technology can save elephants and
rhinos, but only when combined with the political will to conserve these
species, which at root must enjoy local support. With better technology and
with more eyes watching, the data is better than ever before.
“We must recognize the huge surge in demand for ivory that is driving ivory
prices ever higher. We in the western world must institute every means possible
to reduce this demand. It’s the only way to prevent a recurrence of the mass
slaughter that happened in the ’70s and ’80s.
“I ask all conservation bodies, all nations – whether ivory producers,
consumers or just people who want to know that elephants are still out there
living their lives in security – to take cognizance of the facts and prevent a
new elephant slaughter that could be even greater than what we experienced
before the ivory ban.”
Because
of your support and influence, and the support of other like-minded individuals
and institutions, I have fervent hope that our elephants can survive and thrive
in freedom and peace through 2012 and beyond all of our lifetimes.
Your wonderful generosity to this cause is in my thoughts as we launch this
holiday season. I wish you and your family all the best.
Yours truly,
Iain Douglas-Hamilton
Founder and CEO, Save the Elephants
