Kenya to track elephants by satellite collars

NAIROBI - Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is set to begin tracking 10 elephants using satellite technology to help reduce conflict and beef up security operations in the world famous reserve.

IFAW Eastern Africa Regional Director, James Isiche said on Sunday the collared elephants in Tsavo East and West National Parks, will assist in mapping out the migratory corridors in the Parks and the buffer zones within the 43,000 square km ecosystem.

"Cases of conflict, particularly around Tsavo, have risen sharply over the years. By monitoring movements of the collared elephants, we anticipate that incidences of death, injury and damage to crops and property arising from conflict with elephants will be minimized by rapid deployment of rangers to those areas," Isiche said.

"The exercise which begins on Monday will effectively equip the KWS to design intervention measures for human-elephant conflict mitigation as well as mount security operations for the pachyderms," IFAW said in a statement issued in Nairobi on Sunday.

The conservation group said the collared elephants' movements will be closely monitored for close to 20 months, as long as they retain the collars.

"In addition, given the rising elephant poaching in Kenya, we envisage that by monitoring them, more efficient and effective anti-poaching and law enforcement operations will be conducted by Tsavo's management," said Isiche.  

Both male and female elephants, which will be collared by research scientists from KWS and IFAW in a week-long exercise, are spread out in different sites within the ecosystem.

Isiche stressed the need for Kenya to embrace cutting-edge technology in the management of its elephant population.

"In addition to providing an on-site technical team, IFAW has supplied the collars, satellite image receivers and software, and fuel for the helicopter, spotter plane and vehicles," the statement said.

According to Isiche, five elephants were collared last year by the same team, two of the elephants have since died whilst the movement of the remaining three continues to be monitored.

Before last year, the last collaring in Tsavo was done in 1972 using conventional collars that required manual tracking with radio transmitters.

The Tsavo ecosystem is critical for elephant conservation as it is home to the largest population of elephants and covers approximately four per cent of Kenya's landmass. An aerial census conducted last year established 12,573 elephants, a 2 percent increase from 11,696 in 2008.

Some of the common challenges facing Tsavo's management are poaching for ivory, human-elephant conflict, human encroachment and habitat destruction, livestock incursions into the Parks, and the adverse effects of climate change such as severe droughts.

IFAW has partnered with KWS in Tsavo since 2005 to enhance management operations in anti-poaching and law enforcement efforts, human-wildlife conflict mitigation and resolution, research, park infrastructural support, community conservation initiatives and education.