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The first half of 2022 has brought a mixture of good and bad news for elephants in Africa. Poaching levels remain low across most of Africa, but there are some places where it endures and it seems that ivory trafficking may be picking up again. Meanwhile the threat from human-elephant conflict continues to escalate.
Communities living alongside the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania are breathing a collective sigh of relief after the installation of elephant-proof grain stores. Farmers traditionally store grain in huts made from mud and sticks, however, these are no match for elephants in search of food. To solve this problem, the ECF has supported Frankfurt Zoological Society to install ‘elephant safe’ grain stores, made of bricks and cement and each able to hold up to two tonnes of dried grains.
A trailblazing, collared bull elephant named Swazi has made headlines after crossing three countries - South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique, and navigating busy roads, human settlements, farms and mines. Along with two other bulls, Swazi is mapping the connectivity of a vast landscape. ECF partner, Elephants Alive, which collared Swazi and one of the other bulls named Gutano, is tracking the trio’s movements in real time. The valuable data from their epic journey can advise on future development plans to enable humans to live harmoniously with wildlife.
The New York Times has written an in-depth piece about the successful prosecution of Yunhua Lin, a high level wildlife trafficker operating out of Malawi. Lin, Southern Africa’s most notorious ivory trafficking kingpin, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in September for dealing in rhino horn, possession of rhino horn and money laundering.
Rory Young of Chengeta Wildlife was a good friend and partner of the ECF. He was tragically killed while working in Burkina Faso in April 2021. We first got to know Rory when he was training rangers in Malawi and Guinea. He became pivotal in the struggle to save the last desert elephants of Mali, following the jihadist uprising, which made the Gourma elephant range one of the most dangerous places in Africa.
The Elephant Crisis Fund has been supporting anti-poaching work in Lomami National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2014. In 2019 it started funding a new unique type of conservation work - the reform of two notorious forest elephants poachers called ‘Ranger’ Lavino and Kitona Kilo.
The magnificent, intelligent, and highly endangered forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) made headlines in March this year when the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) updated its status to critically endangered. Their population is believed to have declined a staggering 86% in just 31 years. Yet most people would be forgiven for not knowing about them.
WCS announced today that it has fitted six elephants with GPS/satellite collars over the past two months in Nigeria’s Yankari Game Reserve. The collars are providing real-time tracking of elephant herds, allowing ranger teams to shadow the elephants at all times and alert the reserve manager whenever elephants are in danger or stray outside of the reserve.