SWT Aerial Surveillance Unit Report February 2019

AERIAL SURVEILLANCE UNIT MONTHLY REPORT

FEBRUARY 2019

AERIAL STATISTICS

HOURS FLOWN

KMS COVERED

AREAS PATROLLED

FEBRUARY 2019

172

21,818

Tsavo East, Tsavo West, Mt. Kenya Chyulu Hills, Old Donyo Wuas, Kimana Sanctuary

FEBRUARY 2019

MONTHLY AERIAL PATROL MAP

MONTHLY AERIAL SUMMARY The month of February saw a significant increase in poaching activities in Tsavo. Two recent elephant carcasses and two fresh carcasses were discovered by the Aerial Unit. Fortunately, both of the fresh carcasses were discovered before the poachers could remove the tusks.

On one occasion, the carcass was still warm, having died only a few hours before. Post mortems on both carcasses revealed poisonous arrows in the abdomen and upon further follow-up, two recently used harbours and a shooting blind were discovered within close proximity to one of the carcasses. The entire area was swept and unfortunately no other human sign was discovered. However, several aerial patrols were conducted in the area over the course of the following weeks and no further carcasses were discovered, so it is assumed that the poachers were spooked and exited the park.

A fresh elephant carcass was discovered in the Park

On a positive note, we were able to locate several elephants with injuries and treat them before they succumbed to their wounds and the poison. On occasions, arrows were extracted from the wounds, and along with gallons of pus, several kilograms of necrotic flesh removed. Despite the gruesome nature of these treatments, all but one of these elephants was given a good prognosis for recovery. Only one was initially assigned a guarded prognosis due to the depth of its wound, possibly entering into the stomach. It was observed several days later, however, and appeared to be recovering well. In another part of the Park, one of our fixed wing aircraft discovered a large bull standing stationary with what appeared to be a large cable snare attached to his leg. With assistance from the helicopter, the elephant was darted from the air and the snare removed before cleaning out the deep wound where it had cut into the flesh around the foot. Fortunately, it was discovered early enough, and he will make a full recovery. It’s situations like this that just further emphasise the importance of aerial support because without eyes in the sky all these elephants saved would have ended up poaching statistics.

In addition to the fresh or recent carcasses discovered, two old carcasses were also found with ivory still intact. These mostly likely died of natural causes, but it is impossible to confirm this so long after their deaths. We are thankful that we have the resources to quickly react to poaching incidents like these, saving the lives of nearly 9 elephants and preventing the attempts on the lives of many more by acting quickly and dominating areas where poaching is suspected to be occurring.

Cattle incursions into the Park were relatively small in scale, with only a few areas experiencing illegal grazing and all only a short distance into the Park. This is a huge improvement over previous years and an encouraging reward for the hard work that has been put in by everyone involved. No charcoal burning activity was noted anywhere in the Parks in February, which is also hugely encouraging. However, a few isolated incidents of logging were observed in the Northern most extent of Tsavo East.

.

The helicopter was busy for most of the month and in addition to assistance to the veterinary unit, it responded to 4 human-wildlife conflict callouts, including one near Kimana Sanctuary where 4 out of 5 elephants were successfully pushed back into the sanctuary through the fence. In the later part of the month, the Trust helicopter received a callout from KFS and the Mt Kenya Trust to assist with several fires that were ravaging the moorland and forest inside Mt Kenya National Park. There were two huge fires raging on the mountain – one on the north-eastern side and the other on the south-eastern side. The helicopter spent two days (10 hours) water bombing the eastern side of the NE fire and moving ground crews along the fire line. With just one helicopter dropping water on such a big fire we were unable to make a significant difference, but we were successful in breaking the NE fire line in several places over those 2 days.

The challenge was lifting such a large load (350-500 litres of water at a time) at 11,000 ft from Lake Ellis in windy conditions.

The helicopter also assisted in two orphan elephant rescues airlifting small orphans to the Trust’s nursery. Sadly, one of these orphans was found in a state of collapse and was unable to be recovered. The helicopter also assisted in the darting and treatment of an elephant with a spear wound from a suspected human-wildlife conflict incident near Ol Donyo Wuas.

Highlights of the month included several sightings of wild dog by the helicopter and fixed wing, as well as numerous rhinos and signs of rhinos. On one flight, the helicopter pilot was fortunate enough to spot the very rarely sighted striped hyena as well as 5 rhino and wild dog in a single flight.

Photographs copyright © 2019 The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust