Kenya to set aside part of ivory stockpile set for burning

Kenya Wildlife Service will save almost seven tonnes of the ivory and rhino horns stockpile set for incineration on April 30, 2016 to showcase them in a new museum. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has said it will save the biggest tusks, those that weigh over 50 kilograms, from the stockpile to showcase them in a new museum that it will set up.

  • Mr Mbathi said that elephants seemed to have evolved and now grow smaller tusks to avoid being targets, adding that those with huge tusks hide from humans.

  • KWS forensic lab has also secured small shavings of all the tusks and rhino horns of the pile to be incinerated to create a database of representative sample of the entire stockpile.

Kenya will not burn the entire stockpile of the 137 tonnes of ivory and rhino horns inventoried last year, instead some of it will be showcased in a new museum for education purposes.

A twenty-five tonne stockpile is still required for ongoing court cases while almost seven tonnes have been saved for education and research.

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has said it will save the biggest tusks, those that weigh over 50 kilograms, from the stockpile to showcase them in a new museum that it will set up.

“The early poachers and game hunters in the early century have gradually taken away the genes of the big tuskers. The very large tusks that are over 50 kilograms are being retained for scientific research, education and exhibition,” KWS director general Kitili Mbathi said.

Mr Mbathi said that elephants seemed to have evolved and now grow smaller tusks to avoid being targets, adding that those with huge tusks hide from humans.

“Unfortunately today we have found that the tusks on our elephants continue to grow smaller. We believe the elephants have been mutating in response to the threat they face of going extinct. Most of the mature elephants we have left now carry tusks weighing only about 20 kilograms,” said Mr Mbathi.

IVORY BURNING

President Uhuru Kenyatta will lead conservationists, Statesmen within the Giants Club Summit and other stakeholders in burning 105 tonnes of ivory and 1.35 tonnes of rhino horns this Saturday.

An inventory done last year listed 137 tonnes of ivory and rhino horns and recorded about 25,000 tusks. More horns have since been seized and turned over to the wild life authority.

Although KWS Spokesman Paul Gathitu said some of the tusks were not a complete set of two, this translates to about 12, 500 poached elephants. He said few elephants had died from human wildlife conflict cases or of natural causes.

The KWS forensic lab has also secured small shavings of all the tusks and rhino horns of the pile to be incinerated to create a database of representative sample of the entire stockpile using the unique DNA profile of individual animals.

This is in line with RHODIS (Rhino DNA Indexing System), a tool that involves collection of unique DNA profile of each individual rhino into a database.

The database can be presented by the government as legal evidence in cases of rhino poaching in the country. Many poachers remain unpunished due to unavailability of evidence to incriminate them as the killers. The method has already been in use in South Africa.

Mr Mbathi said that even though majority of the ivory and rhino horns to be burnt are from wildlife killed in Kenya, some are from animals poached in Central African countries, Uganda and Tanzania.

“We will be taking their DNA to study the characteristics of the elephants, where they are from and also try and understand about the elephants which were able to carry these big tusks,” said Mr Mbathi.

Mr Mbathi said he had received several big tusks from the Finnish Embassy and from anonymous individuals. He, however, expressed concern that many Kenyans were yet to return their illegal materials for fear of prosecution.

The KWS officials urged Kenyans to take advantage of an amnesty extended till Saturday to return their illegal possessions.