Poaching drops by 53 percent in Northern Kenya

NAIROBI, KENYA: Elephant poaching has reduced by a significant 53 per cent in northern Kenya, a study by Northern Range-lands Trust (NRT) as revealed.

This has been associated with increased community awareness on the importance of wildlife and the tough anti-poaching laws which came into effect in June which spells a fine of not less than 20 million for poachers.

The stiff punishments are meant to tackle the rising cases of poachers killing wildlife for tusks, horns and skins for sale in the thriving South Asian market. Weak laws have seen Kenya become a conduit for smuggling illegal animal trophies.

In their findings, the consortium which works with some 29 wildlife conservancies in the Northern corridor to fight poaching and enhancing wildlife conservation found that during the first half of 2014, overall carcass numbers across the NRT conservancies dropped.

The positive gains may reflect the increasing deterrent of strong new anti-poaching legislation, the ongoing training and high levels of commitment of community rangers, increasing community awareness and support for elephants, an increased focus of county governments on poaching, and more effective and coordinated action on information on wildlife trafficking.

The report read in part: "In the first 6 months of 2014, the ratio of illegally killed elephants to other deaths was 53 per cent, which is significantly less than the 59 per centin 2013 and the high of 81 per cent  PIKE in 2012."

Of concern was Namunyak Conservancy, which covers a large area and has a significant population of elephants; a prime target for poachers. So far this year, only 2 elephants have been poached, in contrast to a total of 13 in 2013.