Seven arrested as war on poachers stepped up

Two most wanted poachers were among seven people arrested by the Kenya Wildlife Service within the Tsavo conservation area over the weekend.

They were found with 200 snares.

One of them, nicknamed ‘Museveni,’ who is alleged to be behind the killing of many elephants in the conservation area, was arrested by rangers at Ithumba on Saturday.

The KWS assistant director Robert Obrein said the other suspect, a former convict who at one time was jailed for 11 years for poaching, was also seized at Ithumba.

The arrests come in the wake of a massive operation by the KWS following the killing of two elephant bulls by poachers last week.

Mr Obrein said rangers, acting on a tip-off, launched a crackdown in Ithumba area on Saturday, resulting in the arrest of the suspected poachers and two others.

Poisoned arrow

The wanted suspects, he added, were also found in possession of poisoned arrows and game meat.

“The arrest of ‘Museveni’ is a big achievement for KWS as we had been hunting him for years,” he said.

A chief in Taita-Taveta county assisted in the arrest of three other suspected poachers at Kasigau.

They were found with snares, poisoned arrows and 40 kilogrammes of giraffe meat.

They will be charged in court Monday.

KWS has also arrested three herders for grazing cattle in the Tsavo East National Park. They were found with 600 cattle.
Last week, two elephants were shot dead by poachers in one of the Taita-Taveta ranches, bringing to 24 the number of pachyderms killed in the Tsavo conservation area in the last two months.

In the last three months, four elephants have died from poisoned arrow wounds, while one died from snare wounds.

The poachers were said to have killed the animals using AK-47-assault rifles since rangers recovered 25 spent cartridges in one of the ranches.