Tracing the tracks of the dead man (poacher).
Category: Forest surveys, Forest wildlife, Poaching wildlife | Date: Nov 17 2008 | By: davidngala
Tracing the tracks of the dead man (poacher).
In an earlier blog I had mentioned the story of the poacher who died in the forest after he accidentally stepped on an elephant snare that was set by another poacher who was targeting to kill an elephant. I later on when to do a follow up of that story and retraced the path taken by that poacher. I started by visiting the dead man’s family, I was taken to his family by some community members. I however did not refer to the dead man as a poacher this was to show some respect to the family. The family gave me their view of what they thought happened. I was also informed that on that fateful day the dead man was accompanied to the forest by his elder brother, his elder brother retraced the last moment and he even agreed to take me to the forest and show me the path where it all happened.
The household of the man.
The grave.
We followed the path that the dead man took, as we continued following the path I came across 31 snares they seemed to be snares for small animals such as Sunis, however most of them were dismantled. The path we took lead us to the road from Kararacha to Nyari view point. At this particular spot the elder brother showed me the path that he had marked, it was sort of an agreement between him and his brother on which route not to take. Unfortunately it seemed the dead took a wrong path and ended up stepping on the snare. After stepping on the snare he tried to walk for a while however he could not go far as the poison on the snare was quickly running through his body, he decide to sit down and he asked his brother to go get help, when his brother returned with help unfortunately he was already dead. He quickly went back home to inform the rest what had happened and they found a way to carry his body from the forest.
Me being shown the path.
The sign.
When I asked his brother what they were looking for in the forest he simply said mushrooms, I was not full convinced that they were looking for mushrooms, as why would they go deep in the forest to look for that and secondly why would they take the paths that are restricted, and why take the elephant tracks? I kept on wondering this but I did not want to raise it up with his brother as it would be pointless to argue with him on that.
The brother of the dead man holding mushrooms.
The mushrooms.
Personally I am very sorry that his brother died, am mostly sorry for his family. However I still feel that they had ill intentions especially where the elephants were concerned. The elephant trap has not been found till now and this poses a big risk not only to the elephants but to those who use the forest daily such as researchers, tourists and even me!
It was helpful to be shown the path and to follow it, we now have a clue where the traps could be located for we also took the GPS coordinates, it just a matter of time before we actually locate the them, in as much as we have a clue where to start from, no one is willing to take the risk of going to look for the traps without the proper equipment for fear of being the next victims. We tend to think that they are many snares in the forest.
As we lack the necessary equipment such as metal detectors to enable us to locate the traps quickly, the snare continue to pose a big risk. We are kindly requesting for your help in purchasing a metal detector and good walking boots, to be used for patrols in the forest, these equipment will assist us to remove the metal snare that are normally targeted for elephants and make the forest much safer for them and for people as well.
Yous David Ngala
Friends of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest
Conservation Officer.
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Tags: Arabuko-Sokoke forest, Elephants, Friends of Arabuko Sokoke Forest, Poaching, snares
14 year old boy caught poaching!
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 15 2008 | By: davidngala
Hi this is David,
Over the past weeks there has been a lot of activity here at Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. More and more people continue to poach wild game as well as trees for timber and fuel wood despite the joint efforts of Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest Service and other support groups such as the Friends of Arabuko-Sokoke forest (FoASF)
Last week I took some forest guards to the western part of Arabuko-Sokoke forest. A place known as Malanga in the local language. I was showing them various paths the locals use, and some that I suspect the poachers use for hunting down game meat.
Accompanied by the armed forest guards, we took to three different transects, and we randomly walked to the three points that I had marked on my GPS. Two of the way points that I had selected had snare activity, poles were tied in ropes at the two places.
We took a visible path along the nature reserve boundary and followed it east wards, about eight kilometres from the edge of the forest, before we suddenly came across two young boys and one of them had a dead female suni (a type of antelope) in his possession. On seeing the forest guards, one of the boys ran away while the other one was caught by the guards.
The young 14 year boy handcuffed by the forest guards.
The 14 year old boy later confessed to the forest guards that his father sent him to the forest to trap animals. His father had about five hundred different snares which he uses to snare animals such as the suni, dicker, bush pigs and at times buffalos. The boy was later detained and his apprehended.
Young boy confesses of poaching the suni.
The boy’s father handcuffed with the suni on his neck.
We are slowly having progress with getting the poachers as we have backing from the Kenya Forest Service, however the illegal activities still continue and the forest continues to be destroyed.
Tags: Arabuko-Sokoke, FoASF, Poaching, Suni
A poacher killed in the line of “duty”
Category: Forest surveys, Poaching wildlife | Date: Sep 10 2008 | By: davidngala
sorry i was not able to load the photos well, here they are…
Hi this is Carol,
Activities at the forest have been quite overwhelming, data is collected daily on the illegal activities in the forest and the results are just overwhelming. Recently there was a poacher who was killed in the forest. The poacher was accidentally killed by a trap laid for elephants by other poachers.
The number of poachers within the forest is increasing, and with Arabuko Sokoke forest having big game such as elephants, there is intense survey of the forest and also of poachers, yet some go unnoticed.
Map of illegal activities in the forest.
David reported to me that last week, a poacher was killed in the forest when he accidentally fell for an elephant trap that was laid by another group of poachers. The poachers normally lay down the traps deep in the ground and cover them with earth and grass making it look almost normal ground that one may not be able to see the trap.
These traps are normally laid down inside the forest where elephants can be found roaming. It is difficult to lay a trap along designated paths as people often use these paths and rangers are often on patron on such paths hence the traps are hidden deep in the forest away from the designated walking paths.
Designated foot paths in the forest.
The poachers make the trap using long nails that are pinned on wooden frames and the tips of the nails have poison on them, such that when an elephant accidentally steps on the tips of the nails, the nails will penetrate through the elephant eventually releasing the poison to the animals blood stream fast enough to kill it almost instantly. They later remove the elephant’s tusks and will eventually sell them to middlemen and to the ivory black market.
These are some of the activities that are on going in the forest and that David monitors daily. These activities pose a danger for researchers and others that don’t use the designated paths when going about their business.
David is still carrying out more survey on illegal footpaths in the forest. He has set up a meeting with the chief to discuss how the community can get involved.
That’s all for now, I will keep you updated on any occurrence within the forest.
Tags: Arabuko-Sokoke forest, Elephants, illegal activities, Ivory, Poaching
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