Save The Elephants

We have received the following email from Lucy King who is on the team representing STE and Kenya at the ongoing CoP15 CITES Conference in Doha, Qatar. We cannot express enough our joy at hearing that Tanzania and Zambia’s proposal have been defeated….!!

HUGE SUCCESS AT CITES!!!  We are delighted to email you from the conference center in Doha to spread the news that both the Zambian and Tanzania elephant proposals to downlist their elephants from Appendix I to Appendix II and to sell their ivory have been DEFEATED at CITES CoP15 with important support from many countries from around the world. The tension in the room was incredible and there was some seriously upset delegates who were not allowed to talk etc etc but in the end the vote has gone our way and we are all elated. I was literally shaking from head to foot after the Tanzania vote, the high significance of the vote was not lost on anyone and I almost felt physically sick that we were about to see the opening of the ivory trade once and for all. The Kenya delegation has worked so hard and for many, many months to get this result and they should all be applauded for their efforts.  The Kenya amended proposition to try to change the CoP14 wording of the agreement to stop any more proposals being submitted to down list was, however, rejected. This is a small disappointment as it means we could well be back here in 3 years with another down-listing proposal to battle but for now, it is a something that we are able to live with knowing that the ivory trade has not been opened again. We hope that the African Range States will follow the spirit of the agreement and remain with the 9 year proposed moratorium but I’m afraid that may be too much to hope for.  Special credit must go to Iain, Joyce Poole and Sam Wasser who gave a very well attended presentation yesterday lunchtime to 350 delegates explaining the data problems behind the proposals, the consequence of poaching on elephant society and the DNA proof that Zambia and Tanzania were heavily implicated in multiple ivory seizures from around the world. This talk from such well respected scientists was an eye opener to many delegates who had not yet made up their mind on the vote. This should be seen as a major achievement by Save the Elephants to contribute science and years of data to the discussion within the largest international forum that there is for the trade and conservation of the African Elephant. Well done to all members of STE who have contributed to the data that Iain was able to present so clearly to the world.  Best wishes from Qatar,  Lucy

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/10/google-earth-outreach-in-africa.html

Today I witnessed something I never dreamt I would ever see, an elephant Postmortem. We travelled on foot into the bush were a local village had reported a dead elephant. One of the rangers from the area had been watching him for several days. The young bull had been getting steadily weaker and was finally found collapsed from exhaustion.

MIKE (monitoring of the illegal killing of elephants) requires that a postmortem be performed on all elephants found in a preserved enough state to make it possible.

I had never seen anything like it. As layer after layer of skin and muscle and tissue was pulled back he appeared no longer as a mighty beast of nature, but as vulnerable and weak.
A member of the village watched intently as an animal that they view as part of the tribe was diminished in front of him.

We are really pleased to announce that Mali’s elephants will get through this year because of the early rains and the back up we have, with your generous support, and in collaboration with the DNCN, facilitated of working pumps and a concrete water tank.  However, their future is uncertain in the Gourma region, and their range and water requirements need to be protected.  The current water crisis needs to be converted into an adequate plan for their long term survival using the information we now know about their detailed movements and migration patterns.

We are hugely appreciative of all the support that we’ve received, both financially from all of our donors, and in kind from colleagues and associates on the ground in Mali. We would like to thank the Malian Directorate National de la Protection de la Nature (DNCN) for their response to the elephant water crisis and for their support in the emergency action.

For a full report visit the publications section of our website: www.savetheelephants.org/publications.html