SWT Aerial Surveillance Unit Report | October 2023

SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST

AERIAL SURV EILL ANCE operated in partnership with the kenya wildlife service

oc tob e r 20 23 re p ort

AERIAL STATISTICS

HOURS FLOWN

KMS COVERED

AREAS PATROLLED

OCTOBER 2023

160

20,569

Tsavo East, Tsavo West, Chyulu Hills National Park, Galana Ranch, Shimba Hills National Reserve, Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve, South Kitui National Reserve, Kishushe Ranch, KARI Ranch.

OCTOBER 2023

MONTHLY AERIAL PATROL MAP

With the beginning of the rains in Tsavo, we observed a drop in most illegal activities, which is to be expected as poachers put a pause on their work to prepare their farms.

Signs of poaching activity observed during the month included one old water container in a remote part of the Park, likely stashed by a poacher to be used later. On Galana Ranch, one of our fixed wings was also called out by an SWT ground team who had encountered two poachers in the field. With assistance in locating and following one of the poachers from the air, the ground team was led in to make a successful arrest.

Secondary evidence of poaching presented itself in four veterinary cases attended to by the Aerial Unit. First was a giraffe with a snare that had been sighted on Kulalu Ranch. Fixed wing pilots searched for it on two different occasions, and the second attempt was successful. Once located, our helicopter pilot flew to Voi to collect the KWS/SWT Mobile Vet and transported him to the scene for a successful darting and snare removal.

In the north of Tsavo East, a bull elephant was found with an arrow wound. However, in this instance, the vet opted not to treat it, since the wound appeared to be healing on its own. Another case of an arrowed bull elephant was also detected during a routine fixed wing aerial patrol to the east of Tsavo East. The SWT/KWS Mobile Vet Unit organised a treatment — and they found that the relatively small, oozing wound had in fact been caused by a poisoned arrow, which was still lodged in the elephant’s rump.

In southern Tsavo East, a female elephant was found with a wound oozing pus. In this case, the vet — who again attended to the elephant from the ground — determined that the wound was caused by a spear. The wound was cleaned out and the elephant was given an excellent prognosis for recovery.

Five elephant carcasses of various ages (from recent to very old) were detected in October. Ivory was recovered from all of them; all are presumed to have died of natural causes. Additionally, two giraffe carcasses were found, again both presumed natural deaths.

One illegal activity that has continued unabated outside of the Parks, but still inside protected areas, is charcoal burning. This is particularly true on Kulalu and Galana Ranch where industrial-scale charcoal burning was observed on several aerial patrols. On Kulalu, there actually appeared to be an increase in charcoal production, which ground teams have been addressing.

The Aerial Unit attended to seven cases of human-elephant conflict over the course of October. The most challenging case involved an elephant family of four. For several months, they had refused repeated attempts to be pushed out of the community by helicopter. Unfortunately, the matriarch of the herd attacked a community woman in October.

While it was non-fatal, it became imperative that the family be moved. With the coordination of a large number of SWT assets, including a helicopter, fixed wing aircraft, a flat-bed lorry, frontend loader, tractor, trailer, crane truck, and several Land Cruisers, along with the participation of dozens of personnel, two KWS/SWT mobile vets and a representative of Save the Elephants, we were able to successfully dart and translocate the entire family back into the safety of Tsavo East National Park.

One fire in the Chyulu Hills National Park was attended to by the Aerial Unit; however, ground teams had largely succeeded in putting out the flames. The fixed wing aircraft’s main purpose was providing coordinates to the ground team for places where small fires were still smouldering along the edge of the burned area. These were quickly attended to by the team on the ground and extinguished before they could reignite a larger bushfire.

One of our helicopters also conducted the medivac of a young boy from Kone town on the Eastern boundary of Tsavo East who had been bitten by a snake. He was flown by SWT with his parents to Mutomo, where he could receive the medical care needed.

Highlights for the month included a sighting of 25 wild dog and a herd of 300 elephant.

Photographs copyright © 2023 The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust