Poachers kill three elephants in Mau Forest (Kenya)

Poachers targeting elephants for ivory tusks have invaded the Mau forest complex and killed three elephants in the last three weeks.

According to Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) Assistant Director in charge of Central Rift Lydia Kisoyan, two of the elephants were killed a week ago in the South Western Mau forest while the third was killed in Maasai Mau forest, Kuresoi District.

She said following the incidents, KWS rangers from Kericho have arrested four suspects and recovered two ivory tusks weighing 4kg each in Brooke town near Kericho town with a street value of Sh320,000.

SUCCUMB TO INJURIES

Kisoyan further revealed that poachers had invented a new method of killing elephants by using traps mounted with spears.

"Elephant poachers are no longer using guns. They have resorted to using traps mounted with spears set on top of trees along elephant paths such that when an elephant steps on the trap, it is speared through the back leaving it for dead," she said.

The assistant director said the poachers’ camp in the forest following the animals for hours or days until they succumb to their injuries so that they can extract the ivory, which they sell to middlemen.

"After getting a tip-off from our source that some people were involved in poaching of elephants, we dispatched our officers who laid a trap near a house the suspects had rented in Brooke town where they arrested a woman on Tuesday last week," she added.

OKOA NDOVU

She said four other occupants, including the woman’s husband, escaped arrest after noticing the rangers in plain-clothes within the estate.