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The People 8th Jan 2013:Eleven elephants were killed by poachers during the weekend, in a shocking resurgence of full- scale poaching last witnessed in Kenya in 1988. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the poaching occurred on Saturday at Bisadi area of Tsavo East National Park. Carcasses of jumbos, with their tusks hewn off, made grotesque sights as they lay coated under swarms of flies in the sultry sun of the expansive wildlife reserve.

KWS said on Monday its rangers had launched an intensive hunt for a poaching gang believed to have slaughtered the jumbos and carted away tusks hived off the carcasses. “The entire family of 11 elephants has been confirmed poached and tusks chopped off. All the carcasses had bullet wounds,” KWS said in a statement issued in Nairobi. The number in the poaching gang was not immediately established, but initial reports indicated 10 were believed to be behind the incident in the vast protected area.

Rampant poaching has continued in the Tsavo, Kenya’s largest elephant sanctuary, despite KWS introducing the Canine Unit with sniffer dogs on a 24-hour basis at the Jomo Kenyatta in Nairobi and Moi International Airport in

Mombasa to detect smuggling of ivory. The unit has, since 2009, netted more than 10 tonnes of raw and processed ivory. This, according to the wildlife agency, has effectively led to reduced smuggling of il- legal trophies. Plans are at an advanced stage by KWS to also introduce sniffer dogs at the Eldoret International Airport as well as other exit and entry points.

Stiffer penalties related to wildlife poaching have also been incorporated under a pro- posed wildlife law to deter poaching- related cases and incidents in Kenya. Tsavo is the country’s largest contiguous ecosystem, the size of Rwanda and home to an estimated 13,000 elephants, according to a 2011 census.

“The poachers are being pursued in adja- cent areas by a strong team on foot backed by canines and aerial units. We will update this as soon as we have reports from the field,” KWS said, according to the statement.

Most of the ivory being poached from Kenya is believed to be smuggled to China, where product is worth more than US$2,000 a kilogramme and where a rising middle class has the cash to spend on such luxu- ries. Other Asian countries as also major destinations. The ivory is used variously as an aphrodisiac and as prized game trophy.