Animal Welfare Updates - January 2021

Kasighau Guardians Intensify Their Patrols Amid Rising Poaching Cases

During the month of January 2021, the ANAW supported Wildlife  Guardians covered a total of 27 patrols within the expansive Kasighau ranch. The team spotted a total of 18 giraffes, 19 zebras, 20 elephants, 6 lesser kudus, 9 gerenuks, 34 impalas, 3 elands, 15 warthogs, 1 cheetah and 5 buffaloes.

This month, the team focused most of their patrols at Mghongonyi in order to disrupt a group of illegal miners who had been camping around the area and some of them were also suspected to be poachers.

Several incidences of bushmeat poaching were encountered: two incidences of apprehended poachers and three encounters of giraffe poaching. Through the intervention of the hawky wildlife guradians, four suspected poachers were arrested by the Kenya Wildife Service Rangers at the border of Kasighau and Maungu Ranch on January 6, 2021.

On 14th January 2021, the Kasigau team laid an ambush and netted a motorbike carrying a panga, 5 dead gerenuks, 2 dikdiks and 1 impala near the Ranch’s Gate A. The suspects run away leaving their loot.

ANAW has with the help of the Kasighau Wildlife Guardians continued to engage the communities neighboring the ranch with a view to creating awareness on the importance of preserving wildlife for our future heritage.

Infant Sykes Monkey Rescued From A Dog Attack

The month of January 2021, Colobus Conservation – Primates Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre saw a total of 10 welfare cases attended to. Out of the 10, 6 were Sykes, 1 Baboon, 2 Colobus and 1 C. jacobinus bird. Out of these, 5 came in dead, 2 were euthanized, 1 was admitted to the orphan care program.

Goodnews; an infant Sykes monkey was rescued from a vicious dog attack, and she was then entered into the orphan care program, too.

ANAW continues to support the important work of conserving the primates by providing a resident Veterianarian Officer.

ANAW-WTG Donkey Project Kicks Off

The implementation of the ANAW-WTG project that aims to address Cross-border Movement of Donkeys Across the East African Borders succesfully kicked off on January 9, 2021. The project focusses on Kenya-Ethiopia and Kenya-Tanzania border towns of Marsabit and Migori Counties.

Some of the activities undertaken during this first phase of the project included;

1. Recruitment and training of 18 Research Assistants on data collection regarding cross-border movement of donkeys along the expansive Kenya-Ethiopia border stretch. The method of data collection was through comprehensive questionnaires administered via KoBo Collect - an open-source tool that allows data gathering in the field through use of mobile devices.

2. Consultative meetings were held with Marsabit County Department of Veterinary Services, local chiefs, village elders and opinion leadersand other key stakeholders to have an in-depth discussion on the donkey welfare status in the County and the implications of the skin/hides trade on the local donkey population. Other areas of discussion involved; donkey welfare and health, past and current dynamics of donkey movement between Kenya and Ethiopia as well as general transboundary livestock issues facing the two countries.

3. Focus Group Discussions with border communities in Somare, Sololo, Butiye, Nana and Yaballo were conducted within 5 key border villages where donkey movement was common. During the discussions, it was noted that the donkey is an overly critical animal among the communities residing in the area, vital in carrying water, food, firewood, and goods for trade and in reference to their traditions, the donkey was considered as a member of the family. Vitally, it was noted that the women bear the biggest burden when their donkeys were stolen. The loss of a donkey affects women empowerment and their social lives. The women refer to the donkey as ‘dhahabu gorille’ that means ‘the donkey is my comfort’.

4. Training of Local Information Networks (LINS) on keen surveillance skills meant to help them gather intelligence on the nature, extent, and frequency of donkey movement across the Kenya/Ethiopia border was conducted. In this regard, four (4) LINS were established in Nana, Somare, Sololo and Yaballo and thereafter trained on collating the collected data on suspicious donkey movement and sharing that critical information with the area chiefs as well as the village elders.

Africa Conservation Education Fund (ACEF)

The sad story of bush meat is that unemployed youth have nowhere else to turn to for educational support and skills development.

Africa Conservation Education Fund (ACEF) provides education scholarships to needy children and youth from the indigenous Watha community who neighbor Tsavo East National Park. The education fund is intended to support educational infrastructure development in local under-resourced schools and promote vocational training for out-of-school youth. It will provide needed educational resources for children from communities in wildlife areas by helping them access quality education, stay in school, complete their education, and overcome issues of poverty.

Meet Pascal Mwachofi from Birikani village alongside Tsavo National Park whose dream has come true after receiving the much-needed educational support. Click Here to access the video: https://youtu.be/3G5tGELYGNA . (Alternatively, you can copy-paste the link onto your web browser).

Africa Conservation Education Fund (ACEF) is a program of Africa Network for Animal Welfare that was established to raise funds for the education of children from the Watha community in the Tsavo East National Park ecosystem. Click here to donate: https://bit.ly/3tXXpK3 or follow this link to find out more about the programme: https://bit.ly/3qcX0Bj

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