KWS said in a statement issued on Wednesday evening that the tusks were recovered on May 13 by the security operations team in Meru National Park who were on routine wildlife patrols at Magado area near Bisanadi National Reserve.
The team had received information from the local community that there were two elephant carcasses, which had been sighted by herdsmen.
“The security officers swiftly moved to the said location in the company of two members of community who had given out the information,” KWS said.
It said the officers managed to locate the two carcasses and also established the cause of death for both elephants as gunshots. In both cases, the tusks had been hacked off, an indication of poaching.
The wildlife agency has been working closely with elders from local communities under a new strategy to fight poaching.
Using the same strategy, the team has unraveled the identity of three suspected poachers who recently killed two elephants whose carcasses were discovered in the precincts of Bisanadi National Reserve recently.
The suspects reportedly went into hiding since the start of the joint KWS and local Community meetings for fear of the reprisals. “The elders have promised to arrest and hand over the suspects to KWS when they resurface,” KWS said.
KWS said it has scheduled a series of meetings with the local community in coming days to address a number of wildlife security related challenges.
“The team thereafter mobilized a number of elders from the community within the area and held a meeting. The meeting was strategically meant to unearth the perpetrators and recover the missing trophies,” KWS said.
“The elders promised the KWS team to come back for feedback after four days. The four days were to lapse last Wednesday (May 17),” it said.
KWS said after requesting for more days, the elders called commander of KWS security team telling him that the trophies had been recovered and that KWS should proceed to Eskot town where they were to meet with the elders and have the trophies handed over to them.
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