| Elephants are highly intelligent and lead intricate social and emotional lives. They experience pain and fear,
recognise the remains of their dead and mourn their loss. The devastation left behind by ivory poachers therefore
extends far beyond the decimation of populations to a trail of death, suffering and anguish. The indiscriminate
slaughter of elephants for their tusks also leaves behind orphans who have no hope of survival without our help. | |
| CWI has fought ivory poachers and helped care for orphaned elephants for nearly 25 years. In fact, CWI’s support
for the rescue and rehabilitation of elephant orphans at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust through our Elephant
Adoption Programme was one of the very reasons CWI was set up. Since then almost 100 elephant calves have
been painstakingly hand-reared and more than 40 have successfully rejoined Kenya’s wild herds - a wonderful
testimony of what your support can achieve.
As part of this initiative, CWI supported the creation of two
elephant rehabilitation facilities in Tsavo East National Park.
These centres act as halfway houses for rescued calves in
transition from the Nairobi nursery to life in the wild - a journey
of up to ten years. A team of specialist elephant carers take
over the role of the orphans’ lost mother and family until they
are old enough to live free amongst other wild elephants.
But part of living free means facing the same threats as wild
elephants - including poachers. |
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| Since the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES) sanctioned the sale of stockpiled ivory from
southern Africa, there has been a rise in poaching. The nursery
too has had to take in more orphans than ever before. But
elephants also suffer as a result of poaching for illegal
bushmeat. Caught in wire snares set for animals such as
antelopes, zebra and wildebeest, elephants usually manage
to free themselves, but the wire pulls tight in the process and
cuts into limbs or trunks. This causes agonising injuries and
can even lead to starvation. These problems have been
intensified by mounting inflation and rising unemployment.
To stay safe after their return to the wild the orphans need
extra protection in these difficult times. The same is true for
the rest of Kenya’s elephants. | |
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| CWI supported desnaring teams in Tsavo National
Park and the Maasai Mara that have saved the lives
of more than 26,000 animals in 2008 and arrested 40
poachers. But the pressure is mounting. Unless we
can step up our anti-poaching efforts, neither wild
elephants nor rehabilitated orphans will be safe.
At least 44 elephants were wounded or killed with
spears, poison, arrows or bullets in the last 15 months.
On 15th February this year, four elephants were
slaughtered in a single day near Tsavo National Park.
Although no other body parts were taken, their tusks
had been removed. This situation is mirrored in
Amboseli National Park and elsewhere. Multiple killings
such as these have not been seen in Kenya for many
years. We need your help to act now, so these killings will stop. |
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| Perhaps the most worrying development of all is the fact that the
frontline between supply and demand for ivory is now a great deal
closer. CWI found that Chinese labourers and contract workers in
nearby camps not only act as ivory buyers but move tusks back to
the world’s largest hub for ivory trafficking. According to our sources,
Chinese nationals in Kenya also buy up rhino horn, bushmeat and dogs.
Kenya’s elephants, including those in Tsavo, are under attack.
We are determined to keep them safe and with your help we can
achieve this. Please give what you can to help Kenya’s elephants
fight back. |
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| Emily, one of the elephant orphans to be raised through CWI’s
adoption programme, gave birth to a calf named Eve in December
last year. There are other calves like Eve, whose lives in the wild
are only just beginning. In one of the most extraordinary gestures
of trust and friendship, these orphans turned mothers return to
the stockades to introduce their infants to the orphan herd and
human carers from their past - an acutely poignant reminder that
elephants never forget and make friends for life. It is up to us to
repay their trust and stand between them and the people who
wish them harm. | |
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