1. pets
2. large animals

MA
Y 2015
The HandsfOf
Our Elephants Campaign Newsletter
T
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The month of May marked the
first anniversary since Satao's
death. Satao was probably the
biggest Tusker in Kenya, if not
in the world. He was speared by
a poacher's poisoned arrow and
died on 30th May.
!
Community program officer Robert Kaii with a copy of the just published Guide Book
WildlifeDirect's Guide book to
Kenya's Wildlife Act is out!
The guide, which will be
distributed in all the 47
counties across the country, is
designed to involve the
Kenyan public in
understanding the new law
that will govern Wildlife
management and
conservation.
"I am really excited that this
book is finally published and
ready for distribution," says
Robert Kaii, the program
officer who spearheaded the
writing and publishing of the
book."I travelled throughout
the country meeting
communities and wildlife
stakeholders,
had lengthy discussions and
got recommendations on the
content of the book before
finally going to press. Their
contribution and input has been
invaluable towards finally
having a guide book that
speaks to the people it is
intended for," says Robert.
''For a long time, there has been
debates on different options to
engage the community in
wildlife conservation, and what
a better way to do that than by
making them understand
Wildlife law in a simplified
way that explains their rights
and their responsibilities in
regard to the law!'' he added
The guide book is available at our offices in Karen Connection,
offices 8&9.
E
S
To remember his life, and to
create awareness about the few
remaining big tuskers in Kenya,
we invited our followers on
Facebook and Twitter to
participate in the
#SataoChallenge. The
challenge included different
activities that our followers
could participate in including
changing their social media
profile pictures to pictures of
tuskers; to sign a petition
urging the President to offer
armed protection to the
remaining tuskers; to visit
national parks to see elephants
and finally a call contribute to
an open letter to the newly
appointed chairman of KWS,
Dr Richard Leakey, with
suggestions for him on how to
deal with wildlife crime. Some
of the suggestion for Dr Leakey
included to declare elephants a
national treasure, to reduce the
Singapore/ Thailand seizures
Independent investigation by
Wildlife Direct has revealed
that the main person involved
in the ivory export is Nicholas
Jefwa. He remains at large.
However the National Police
Service has charged him in
absentia at the Mombasa Law
Courts.
Vietnamese National case
Anh Tuan, a Vietnamese
national, was arrested on 16th
May 2015 was arraigned at
Kibera court on the 18th May
2015 for possession of 15kgs
of rhino horn on the
price of park entry fees, to burn
Kenya's entire ivory stockpile, to
reduce the number of camps and
lodges at the Maasai Mara among
others. By the time of going to
press, there was over a hundred
suggestions for Dr Leakey.
WildlifeDirect will present these
suggestions to Dr Leakey on 5
June, the world Environment day.
The Remembering Satao page stays live. Visit it here:
C
In the month of May, our legal
department was following up
on these cases:
Satao, (courtesy of Mark Deeble)
18/05/2015. However he could not
plead either guilty or not guilty due
to a language. He was charged with
possession of wildlife trophy
contrary to section 95 of the WCMA.
C
B
Policy Regulation
Wildlife Direct has been a
participant at the KWS Experts
Meeting on the 2015 Wildlife
Conservation and Management Act
Regulations held at Ole Sereni on the
27th May 2015.
WLD participated as a stakeholder in
reviewing and moderating the 18
pieces of regulation developed by
KWS consultants. They will be
gazetted by the Cabinet Secretary to
guide the operationalisation of key
parts of the Act.
On a sad note, we broke the
news of the retaliatory killing of
elephants, by community
members of Ilbisil, Kajiado
County. A calf was speared as
well as it's mother and another
juvenile. working to find lasting
solutions. The community
claimed that the elephants had
been causing great problems for
them,
The community claimed
that the elephants had
been causing great
problems for them, and
that KWS had been
ignoring their calls for
help. WildlifeDirect
condemned the killing
of these elephants and
urged the relevant
government agencies to
respond to community
concerns in a timely
manner. We also pleaded
with the local
community to stop
killing elephants as the
authorities were
working to find lasting
solutions.
Wild
P
TPWF has given a very
generous donation to
WildlifeDirect which will be
used to advance our
organisation's work with Court
monitoring of wildlife crimes
and in enhancing relations with
the Chinese community,
especially those residing in
Kenya.
The Perfect World Foundation
is a Swedish based non-profit
independent organization
established in 2010 to raise
The purpose of the Perfect
awareness, funding, and to take World Foundation is to take
action together with animal and action for and increase
F
The Perfect World Foundation's founders Mr and Mrs Jacobsson pose with
WildlifeDirect´s CEO, Dr Paula Kahumbu.
awareness, knowledge, and understanding of critical
environmental and animal situations.
Thank you Perfect World Foundation!
Paula
Kahumbu
in South
Africa
for the
Wildlife In Dr Paula Kahumbu was in South Africa
the second annual
Crisis attending
Conservation Lab. She was one of the
thought leaders and industry
Meeting sixinfluencers
to address the conference on
Dr Kahumbu with Adam Welz of WildAid
M
W
nature conservation projects
around the world.
Highlights
WildlifeDirect is proud to
announce a new partnership
with The Perfect World
Foundation.
P
F
L
WildlifeDirect and our youth partners Stand Up
Shout Out had a meeting with our patron the First
Lady Her Excellency Margaret Kenyatta, at her
office in State House Nairobi.
Among issues discussed included the upcoming
launch of a community project with the women of
Imbirikani (more on this in the next issue). The First
Lady reiterated her support to the campaign.
he first lady Margaret Kenyatta (middle) posers with WildlifeDirect staff and SUSO team members.
W
D
P
I
S
T
S
crucial issues of conservation and sustainable
development.
According to the organisers, the Conservation
Lab isn't about deciding on a right or wrong
answer to the conservation question; it's about
open, intelligent idea sharing. It's about
raising awareness and providing a
comprehensive overview of the issues and
potential solutions.
On South Africa's proposal to be allowed to
sell its stockpile of rhino horn legally, Dr
Kahumbu strongly argued that it would put
the entire continent's rhino population at risk.
She appealed to South Africa to think about
their responsibility and what their stand might
do to damage South Africa's reputation.Ok
to the media urging the
president to order for the
After two huge probe of the circumstances
ivory seizures surrounding the transiting
were made in of the ivory containers
through the port of
Thailand and
Mombasa. The statement
Singapore
within a month, was run in almost all the
WildlifeDirect local dailies and on
international outlets as
sent a
well).
statement
D
I
S
pollinators, boost crop
yields, and benefit
WildlifeDirect would like people and livelihoods in
East Africa. Dr. Martins,
to congratulate Dr Dino
who is a Harvard PhD
Martins for winning the
2015 Whitley Gold Award. and an entomologist,
works at both the local
The £50,000 award was
and government level
given to Dr Martins in
and his efforts have led
recognition of his work
with local communities to to the development of
Kenya's first legislation
raise awareness of the
importance of pollinators, to specifically protect
bees from harmful
and to encourage the
pesticides.
adoption of more
Congratulations Dr Martins!
sustainable farming
practices that conserve
We are proud of your achievements!
GET INVOLVED
I" started off Volunteering at WildlifeDirect
and now I am an intern. It has been great,
I have learnt a lot of things that are helpful
in my career and my life in general. The
one thing that has stuck with me is that ,
We cannot do everything at once, but we
can do something at once. I will never
forget that!- Vincent Ontita
You too can help save Africa's endangered
magnificent species by joining the Hands
Off Our Elephants campaign.
To be registered as a volunteer with us,
please send an email with your CV and a
Letter of interest to
volunteers@wildlifedirect.org
To Donate, please go to wildlifedirect.org,
or to our MPESA Paybill Number 917856,
Account Number 0
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Dr Dino Martins receives his Whitley Gold Award from HRH Princess Royal