Order immediate ban on elephant hunting, President Suluhu urged
Order immediate ban on elephant hunting, President Suluhu urged
Gilbert Koech, The Star
March 19, 2024
Over 50 conservation organisations have petitioned Tanzanian President
Samia Suluhu to order an immediate ban on elephant trophy hunting.
The organisations warn the ongoing trophy hunting in the Enduimet area of
Tanzania risks wiping out the shared resource.
WildlifeDirect, Wildlife Conservation and Management Professionals Society
of Kenya, ElephantVoices, Ulinzi Africa Foundation, Amboseli Trust for
Elephants, and Save the Elephants have signed the petition.
Others signatories are the Conservancies Association of Kenya, Luigi
Footprints Foundation, Maniago Safaris, Wildlife Clubs of Kenya, Teens For
Wildlife, Stand Up Shout Out, Nature Kenya, Amboseli Ecosystem Trust,
Action For Cheetah Kenya, Big Life Foundation, and Conservation Alliance of
Kenya.
The petition says that each elephant is known individually, most of them
from birth.
It says the recent trophy hunting not only endangers elephants but also
jeopardises this irreplaceable body of knowledge and the genetic legacy of
some of Africa's largest-tusked elephants.
"The targeted elephants are males in their reproductive prime and, with
tusks symbolising their grandeur, are critical for maintaining the
population's genetic propensity for large tusks, which are a major draw for
tourism, a vital sector for both our countries."
The petition says the hunting of these individuals undermines conservation
efforts, disrupts the social structure of elephant communities, and poses a
significant threat to the future of this population.
"We implore you to recognise the scientific, ecological, and economic value
of the Amboseli elephants and to grant permanent protection to these icons
of Africa in the cross-border area that is part of their regular range,"
the petitioners say.
The organisations want Suluhu to formalise regulations to ban hunting of
elephants in Enduimet Wildlife Management Area, Narco Ranch, Longido GCA,
Lake Natron East GCA, and Lake Natron North GCA, and collaborate with Kenya
to find alternative conservation strategies that ensure the Amboseli
elephants' protection.
There was an international outcry when four individually known elephants,
subjects of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project, were shot by trophy
hunters on the Tanzanian side of the border in 1994.
In 1995, a moratorium on trophy hunting of this cross-border elephant
population was agreed upon between nations.
Late last year, however, two adult males were shot south of the border in
Tanzania, ending a 30-year trophy hunting moratorium.
A third elephant was shot in the same area in late February 2024, and, as
of March 10, a further three licenses are said to have been granted,
raising alarm and putting the integrity of the Amboseli elephant population
in jeopardy.
The Amboseli elephants live in Kenya and Tanzania.
The ecosystem includes Amboseli National Park and the surrounding
conservancies and lands in Kenya (8,000 km2) and the Enduimet Wildlife
Management Area and beyond in Tanzania.
There are currently 2,000 elephants in this ecosystem.
For 51 years, these elephants have been closely studied by the Amboseli
Elephant Research Project.
It is the longest continuously running study of elephants in the world and
one of the longest studies of any animal.
Each elephant is known individually, has a code number or name, and is
documented photographically.
Birth dates for all but a few of the older individuals are known, as are
those of the mother, the family, and, in some cases, the father.
A detailed database contains every elephant identified over five decades,
including births and deaths, and numbers over 4,000 individuals.
A linked database houses every recorded sighting.
The Amboseli data is an extraordinarily rich and important body of
knowledge.
Each individual and each record is a building block that underpins this
immense scientific achievement gained over the past half century.
There are 63 elephant families in the Amboseli population, of which 17
families, consisting of 365 members, regularly spend time in Tanzania.
In addition, approximately 30 adult male elephants, over the age of 25 use
the Enduimet area and beyond in Tanzania as part of their home range.