TUI-backed charity launches new elephant initiative

A TUI-backed charity has launched a new partnership to prevent poaching of wild elephants in Kenya.

The TUI Care Foundation is working with the International Fund for Animal Welfare(IFAW) in the Tsavo Conservation Area, one of Kenya’s most visited tourism destinations, which is home to 12,850 elephants.

Included in this population are at least 11 of the world’s 30 or so remaining ‘big tuskers’, named because their tusks almost reach the ground, which all face the threat from poaching fuelled by demand for ivory.

Announcing the partnership in the run up to World Elephant Day on August 12, TUI Care Foundation said IFAW was aiming to create a co-ordinated wildlife security network, ‘trained and equipped to stay one step ahead of organised poachers’.

Technology, systematic data processing systems and intelligence collection are the key to the initiative, it said. Local communities keep a vigilant eye on any suspicious activity – from detecting unknown tyre prints to seeing camp fire smoke from outside a village area.

This data is then catalogued and forensically analyised and any emerging patterns shared with field rangers who can put plans in place to counter potential threats.

Rangers are provided with communications and mobility equipment (including GPS, smartphones, radios and satellite equipment) which enable them to respond more effectively and more rapidly to intercept poachers

In partnership with Kenya Wildlife Service and Tsavo Trust, the initiative provides training and mentoring to 130 Kenya Wildlife Service and community rangers.

Thomas Ellerbeck, chairman of the board of trustees of TUI Care Foundation, said: "An exciting aspect of this project lays in its combination of local knowledge, on the one hand, and the latest technological developments on the other. Together with various local stakeholders, we are helping to build a strong basis for a sustainable social-ecological environment. After all, empowering the local community and building sense of ownership is crucial for long-lasting change."

IFAW senior vice president Faye Cuevas added: "TUI Care Foundation has made it possible for us to provide urgently needed equipment to community rangers such as mobile devices, cameras and boots so they can collect information on potential threats to wildlife and people.

"State-of-the-art crime scene investigation training supported by TUI Care Foundation means that rangers can now better protect Tsavo’s ‘big tuskers’ from unique threats like poison arrow poaching through more efficient collection and preservation of forensic evidence at a poaching crime scene."

As part of its TUI Elephant Aid programme, TUI Care Foundation has been actively supporting projects for the protection of elephant populations worldwide since its foundation.

In Tanzania, local farmers were taught how to protect their crops with elephant-friendly solutions, and in Thailand, TUI Care Foundation currently supports local entrepreneurs to develop elephant- friendly venues where visitors can experience elephants in their natural habitat.