DSWT Annual Newsletter 1998

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THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST P.O. Box 15555, Nairobi 00503 Kenya. Tel: - +254 (0) 733 891 996 Website: http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust org Email: info@sheldrickwildlifetrust.org NEWSLETTER FOR 1998 Few informed conservationists actively concerned with the welfare of Kenya's National Parks, will find it easy to come to terms with the decay of the past four years. Therefore, probably the less said about it the better, for it is a dark Chapter best forgotten in the 50 year history of our National Parks. Suffice to say, however, that all the disturbing predictions contained in the Trust's controversial 1996 Newsletter, unhappily, came to pass. On the 19th September Dr. David Western was removed from his office as Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service for the second time in the year, the first time having been reinstated following pressure from certain sympathetic Embassies and large Aid organisations. To everyone's amazement, none other than his predecessor, Dr. Richard Leakey, was appointed Director of the ailing Kenya Wildlife Service in his place, a post he previously held from 1989 until he was forced to resign in 1994 due to political leanings. No one even dreamt that the return of Richard Leakey would be politically feasible, but few doubted that he was probably the one person best equipped to salvage the demoralized and totally bankrupt Service, once again riddled with in-house corruption. After all, no one knows the players, the problems, and more importantly, the politics of the day better than he. Only the chosen few who had waxed fat within the upper echelons of what has become known as "The Gravy Train" did not greet Leakey's return as good news. Elsewhere it was widely celebrated in every Park, as it was by most concerned folk, for the administration of the National Parks had gone sadly wrong, An earlier precursor that triggered a glimmer of hope and which came as an equally welcome surprise was the appointment of Kenya's highly esteemed erstwhile Attorney General, Charles Njonjo, as the new Chairman of the K.W.S. Board of Trustees, and also the establishment of a new more representative Board. Thus we embark on the countdown to the new millennium on a note of cautious optimism, wishing all our Supporters a VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS LAST YEAR OF THE NINETEEN HUNDREDS. For us 1998 has been one of the most challenging the Trust has ever had to face. A particularly traumatic event was the August 7th bombing of the American Embassy which inflicted untold misery and suffering on thousands of innocent Kenyans as well as the targeted Americans. One such tragic death that touched us deeply was that of Louise Martin, one of the Trust's most dedicated Volunteers. It was she who so painstakingly and diligently nursed our injured Rhino "Scud" for the 10 long months it


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