October 8, 1995
Web posted at: 11:20 a.m. EDT (1520 GMT)
From International Correspondent Gary Strieker
NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- A marksman's shot from a helicopter sent a tranquilizer dart into a bull elephant and began the first experiment in what could be a radical new approach to elephant conservation in Kenya.
In the small Mwea National Reserve, a population of nearly 50
elephants is twice as many as the food supply can sustain.
According to David Western of the Kenya Wildlife Service,
park officials feel that the future of elephants in the Mwea reserve (22K JPEG image) is "very bleak indeed." Farmers in the area often complain to wildlife officials that elephants wander outside the reserve, threatening their families and their crops.
Until now, the only way to deal with problem elephants has
been to kill them. But this month, for the first time in
East Africa, a system developed in Zimbabwe will be used to
capture 26 elephants in Mwea and transport them to another
region. (1.5M QuickTime movie)
In the past, translocating elephants was thought to be impossible. But now, with a combination of new drugs, heavy equipment and the right technique, entire families of elephants can be moved away from areas of conflict. Just one day after it was captured, the bull elephant was released in Tsavo East National Park, an area where elephants were almost exterminated by poachers during the 1980s. Officials say Tsavo has the capacity to absorb thousands of elephants from other parts of Kenya.
If this first experiment succeeds, translocating elephants could become a common method of solving the growing problem of elephants and people competing for the same space.
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