AERIAL SURVEILLANCE UNIT MONTHLY REPORT
JULY 2018
AERIAL STATISTICS
HOURS FLOWN
KMS COVERED
AREAS PATROLLED
JULY 2018
184
21,858
Tsavo East, Tsavo West, Amboseli, Amu, Witu Cooperative
JULY 2018
MONTHLY AERIAL PATROL MAP
MONTHLY AERIAL SUMMARY As is typical for this time of year, signs of poaching activity increased in July. Both fixed wing and helicopter patrols revealed several harbours and evidence of used campfires. These coordinates were all visited by either the helicopter or ground teams, however, they did not lead to any direct arrests. Interestingly, no new shooting blinds have yet been discovered this year leading to the conclusion that poachers must be changing their methods in order to avoid detection.
Aside from the regular patrolling of the K9 Unit, checking on known harbours, waterholes and high-risk areas used by poachers, there were two helicopter/K9 emergency callouts during the month, the first being a response to a theft where a battery, tools and parts were stolen from the DSWT grader that was stationary on a remote road due to punctures. The K9 Unit was able to track the perpetrators to where they crossed the Athi River out of the Park and one suspect was briefly apprehended on the community side of the river; however, he was quickly released when it became apparent that he was not involved. In the days following, the K9 Unit was able to find the real perpetrator and all items were successfully recovered. The other K9/Helicopter callout was in response to tracks of ivory poachers discovered by a KWS anti-poaching team on the Yatta. The K9 team were able to track the poachers to a spring where they descended to collect water. Contact between the poachers and the KWS resulted in them dropping their items and evading capture. The teams recovered 7 elephant tusks, as well as an assortment of bows, arrows and arrow quivers. The poachers’ tracks were picked up again to the north and followed for two days before they escaped out of the Park crossing the river. An investigation into their whereabouts is ongoing by KWS.
Stolen articles recovered, and an arrest made
Several marijuana farms in the Chyulus that had been uprooted in the recent joint exercise between DSWT, KWS, Big Life and Tsavo Trust was discovered to have regrown, presumably from dormant seed. Therefore another operation was mounted by KWS to uproot these again as well as destroy a number of small farms that had been missed in the initial operation. This operation is still being completed. Livestock has generally reduced from this time last year with only a few herds of livestock and bomas found along the Eastern Boundary of Tsavo East and again to the East of Ndiandaza in Tsavo East. These comprised mostly of sheep and goats with far fewer cattle than last year. This is attributable to more pressure from KWS and also increased graze outside of the park following good rains. In Tsavo West, there are still a number of all types of livestock; however, much less than last year.
There was an increased number of Human-Elephant Conflict cases attended to around Kanziku area during the month. Fixed wing aircrafts were called on multiple occasions to locate the elephants and then the helicopter was used to try and push them back into the Park. Unfortunately, these attempts were unsuccessful as the elephants were unable to be herded closer than 15 metres from the fence before turning around. In the end, the DSWT fence attendants had to resort to luring the elephants through the gate into the Park using staged water on both sides. This method has been used successfully in Kibwezi and they succeeded in getting 9 elephants back into the Park this way.
Human-Elephant Conflict mitigation in Kanziku
Three veterinary treatments were attended to by the Aerial Unit in July. The first included an old bull elephant north of Ithumba who had 2 arrow wounds and had been sighted the day before at the Ithumba waterhole. Early in the morning, a DSWT super cub arrived to search the area, only succeeding after nearly 3 hours. Once located, Dr. Poghon was retrieved from Voi in the Trust’s Cessna 206, and assisted with the help of one of the Trust’s helicopters to dart the elephant. Unfortunately, the elephant went down in an area with thick, nearly impenetrable bush. The helicopter landed about 500 metres away and Dr. Poghon ran to the scene with a few essentials. Meanwhile, several vehicles, carrying water and rope, were guided in along narrow animal tracks by the super cub, sometimes having to drive straight through small bushes in order to get there in time. The helicopter pilot followed behind Dr. Poghon carrying the rest of his medical equipment and everything came together for a successful treatment. Given the amount of resources involved and the number of people collaborating to make this happen, we were relieved that Dr. Poghon gave the bull an excellent prognosis for recovery. This bull has subsequently been sighted drinking at the Ithumba waterhole and is making excellent progress.
Elephant treatment north of Ithumba
The second veterinary case attended to with help from the Aerial Unit involved a super cub searching for an injured rhino that had been recently translocated by KWS to Tsavo East from Nairobi National Park. Due to complications, the rhino had escaped from the sanctuary that was to be its new home and fallen prey to a lion attack. After being located by aircraft, Dr. Poghon was able to treat the rhino; however, at the time of writing this, and after several more treatments, the rhino eventually succumbed to its injuries. The third vet case involved the transfer of Dr. Poghon to Amboseli where an elephant calf had fallen into an old pit latrine. Being that it was located in a marshy area, the hole was filled with thick mud and the calf had spent the entire night and morning trying to get out, unsuccessfully. The calf’s mother was still standing guard and would not allow a vehicle anywhere near the calf so had to be darted. Once the mother had been safely darted, a tractor was brought in to haul the calf out of the hole using a thick rope. Once free, it moved a short distance away into a palm forest and the mother was recovered from anaesthesia and they were shortly reunited.
Outside of Tsavo, the Aerial Unit also performed patrols on Amu ranch in Lamu County, due to continued flooding, which has hampered foot and ground patrols on the 60,000-acre group ranch. Very little was found in terms of illegal activities except for one instance of logging. Since much of the area has been underwater, wildlife has also moved away and up into higher ground to the Northwest. Buffaloes in particular were not sighted at all, and only small numbers of topi and giraffe were seen. However, a lion was spotted on one patrol, which was a huge highlight, as these are so seldom sighted from the air on Amu, despite there being a healthy, diverse population.
Photographs copyright © 2018 The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust