The sky was blue with a light dusting of whispy clouds as
the sun was reaching her throne at noon.
We passed through several ecosystems, riverine, acacia woodland, and
scrubland, the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro poking through the light clouds as a
constant backdrop. Unlike national
parks where driving was confined to set gravel roads, here in Kimana Game
Sanctuary, our driver Sipaya defined his own roads as he helped us track down
ungulate populations. As we were
counting a herd of zebra, someone pointed to a massive grey blob in the middle
of the savanna. As Sipaya drove
closer we realized it was an elephant.
Dead. And missing a face.
The
male elephant had been lying on his side for several days as we could ascertain
from the stench and vulture droppings sprayed along his stiff body. Where was once a face, now rotted flesh
and muscle spilled out on the ground.
The elephant’s trunk, hacked off, was lying next to the body. The tusks were nowhere to be
seen. Suddenly the blue sky and
Kilimanjaro backdrop grew shadowy.
A sticky silence hung in the air.
I closed my eyes but the stench of the elephant remained in my
nose.
While
my classmates and I believed this was the result of poaching, we later found
the elephant died due to human-wildlife conflict. A farmer had speared the elephant numerous times with
poisoned arrows after the elephant had destroyed his field. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) had
later been called when a villager saw the dead elephant and confiscated the
tusks to prevent poachers from taking them. The elephant represents an ever-increasing conservation
conflict in East Africa where elephants, rhinos, and lions especially have been
killed due to poaching and human-wildlife conflicts. In 1930 there were approximately 5-10 million elephants in
Africa, now only about 450,000, less than 1% of the 1930 estimate, remain. In two Tanzanian game reserves alone,
31,348 elephants were killed in three years[1].
The
continent of Africa, often considered the last frontier for mega fauna, is believed
to lose most elephants, rhinos, and lions by the year 2030[2]. If that were the case, African
countries would be following the footsteps of Western cultures. Europe lost most of its wildlife
species centuries ago, and while some populations are making a comeback, they
will never return in the same abundance as they once were. Writers such as Gene
Stratton-Porter and William Temple Hornaday described the extermination of
North American wildlife species, the passenger pigeon and American bison, respectively. In the cases of the passenger pigeon
and American bison, as well as many other wildlife species such as the wolf,
rampant hunting and lack of management regulations caused premature extinction
and endangerment. Humans share the
world with more species than our own and must begin to live with an ethic.
The
Maasai, a tribe in Kenya and Tanzania, have long lived with a land ethic of
caring for the environment around them.
This past January, I had the opportunity to meet up with a good friend,
Francis, in Kenya who is part of the Maasai tribe. The last time we had spent time together was December 2012
when he guided me for eight days along a river in Kenya so I could collect data
for research. During data
collection in 2012, we would often discuss wildlife conservation. I learned from Francis that the Maasai
have long lived among the wildlife and have deep respect for the land. It is taboo for Maasai people to hunt
or eat any wildlife, it is also taboo for Maasai to cut down trees as they
believe trees have a spiritual presence.
The land ethic of the Maasai is similar to Aldo Leopold’s as the Maasai
see the land in a collective sense and realize they have survived because the
of the land. To the Maasai, the
land has more value than economic.
As
I met with Francis this past January, he updated me on the Amboseli Ecosystem,
a region in southern Kenya where a large population of Maasai people live
alongside wildlife, also where Amboseli and Tsavo National Parks are located. Francis is involved in conducting
elephant research with Dr. Moses Okello, a top conservation researcher in
Kenya. According to Francis, this
past year a record number of elephants returned to Amboseli during their annual
migration route. While this is
excellent news, there is still much more work to be done in wildlife
conservation in East Africa.
The
largest contributing factor to decreasing wildlife in East Africa is
poverty. The dead elephant I
witnessed was dead because of poverty.
The farmer that killed the elephant no doubt was upset because a
rummaging elephant destroyed his very livelihood. Human-wildlife conflict occurs most often when wildlife
destroys farms or eats livestock.
Livestock and agriculture are the primary means of existence for many
people in East Africa and to loose it means their family will very well go
hungry.
Often
times local people are blamed for poaching, however poaching is a hierarchal
system where wealthy foreigners come supplying sophisticated technology to
locals who are paid a small salary to help track the animals. Local people take such jobs to provide
for their families even if they do not agree with the act of poaching. The only people who economically
benefit from poaching in East Africa are the government officials who are paid
bribes to look the other way despite the irony that killing the wildlife
decreases tourism, the largest economic activity in East Africa.
Wildlife
conservation in East Africa is about humans just as much as wildlife. Humans need wildlife for ecosystem
services, tourism revenue, and intrinsic value. Wildlife needs humans for protection and management
regulation. However, neither side
will be successful unless poverty alleviation occurs. The people of East Africa have a land ethic Leopold would
agree with, but they also need to feed their families. Finding a way to maintain respect and
admiration for the collective land while finding ways to feed their families in
sustainable ways would hopefully mean elephants, rhinos, and many other African
species have a chance at surviving through the next generation.
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| Dead male elephant seen November 2012 in Kimana Wildlife Sanctuary |
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| Female white rhino seen November 2012 at Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya. Lake Nakuru NP is a fenced in wildlife sanctuary for both white and black rhinos. |
