Kenya recovers 6 elephant tusks from poacher
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E-mail Xinhua, January 29, 2013
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers said on Monday they have recovered six elephant tusks from a suspected poacher who was shot dead in Tsavo National Park over the weekend.
KWS director William Kiprono who led a high powered delegation to the scene on Sunday and showed journalists the criminals' hideout said the suspected poacher was shot dead in one of the Taita ranches in southeast Kenya after a fierce gun battle involving KWS rangers.
"An intensive hunt for five accomplices who escaped arrest is underway in Tsavo. Two axes, weighing scale, mosquito nets, three AK 47 rifles and 574 rounds of ammunition were recovered," KWS said in the statement.
Poaching has been on the increase despite KWS introducing the Canine Unit with sniffer dogs on a 24-hour basis at the Jomo Kenyatta in Nairobi and Moi International Airport in Mombasa to detect movements of illegal ivory. The unit has since 2009 netted more than 10 tonnes of raw and worked ivory.
The East African nation remains an important link on trade routes to international destinations for illicit consignments of wildlife products and particularly ivory due to her vibrant ports of Jomo Kenyatta airport and Mombasa sea port.
Kiprono warned poaching syndicates that their days are numbered and assured the public that the government had put all security agencies on red alert over the poaching menace.
He described poaching as an assault against Kenya's national heritage and warned poachers that KWS was determined to protect and conserve wildlife at all costs.
The KWS director described the recovered items as "an armory in the hands of civilians" and "weapons of mass destruction."
He linked the increased poaching to criminals disguising themselves among herders in Taita Ranches, stockpiling of ivory for speculative purposes ahead of the CITES meeting in March in Bangkok and incredible demand for ivory in some Asian countries.
Kiprono called on owners of private ranches like the one the suspect was killed and elephants tusks recovered to vet all herders and report suspected criminals to security agencies.
The number of wild animals in Kenya has reduced drastically, threatening the existence of one of the country's major attraction to tourists. Wildlife brings in most of foreign exchange, new data released by KWS indicates.
One of the most affected wildlife species is the lion whose number has reduced by about 1,000 between 2002 and 2008 threatening to wipe off one of the country's largest wild cats.
The country had 30,000 lions in the 1960s when it gained independence from Britain but poaching, drought and human-wildlife conflict have seen the population drop drastically.
Most of the lions in Kenya are found in Maasai Mara that host 825 of them followed by Tsavo National Park with 675 lions, 230 lions in Laikipia and 40 in Meru National Park with the rest distributed across the country.
He clarified that the government had no policy to kill and gave priority to arresting suspects for prosecution in courts of law. "We are dealing with people ready to kill anybody who stands in their way."
The latest killing brings to total of 4 suspected poachers killed in this week after the killing of three others in Shimba Hills National Park in Kwale in southeast Kenya.
The director said two suspects who had been arrested over the recent seizure of 638 pieces of ivory in Mombasa were arraigned in court and denied bail. Other suspects are being followed, Kiprono said.
He dismissed as diversionary any unsubstantiated claims of involvement of KWS staff in poaching. "The killed suspect is not KWS staff. We have internal mechanisms for dealing with any rogue employees and won't hesitate to take necessary action," he said.
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