2012 Save The Elephants Anual Report

7/27/2019 2012 Save The Elephants Anual Report

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SECURING A FUTURE FOR ELEPHANTS

Annual Report 2012


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SECURING A FUTURE FOR ELEPHANTS 1

The warnings we gave 12 months ago on the risingtide o ivory poaching have now been confrmedby many other parties, rom the ongoing body count o

MIKE, the ivory seizures recorded by TRAFFIC and

investigations o illegal ivory in the Far East markets. Save

the Elephants has catalysed a coalition o like-minded

individuals, NGOs and Governments to respond beore it

is too late. We have testifed beore the U.S. Senate, made

riends in China, spread the word throughout the media,

contributed to crucial CITES technical meetings and, in common cause with allies like the

Kenya Wildlie Service, orcibly brought this crisis to the oreront o peoples consciousness.

At the root o the killing is a lack o awareness on the part o ivory buyers o the killing they

cause. It was a breakthrough when Yao Ming, the amous Chinese basketball player, came to

Arica or the frst time. We hosted him thanks to WildAid in the reserves o northern Kenya,

to witness living, playing, interacting elephants in Samburu, but also to come ace to ace, in

the wild country around, with elephants reshly killed or their ivory. His words o shock and

dismay struck a chord that was relayed around the world.

On the ground there have been rays o sunlight. A baby boom brought 50 newborns to

our individually known elephants, compared to only two last year. The new community

conservancy project we sponsor at Nasuulu, part o the Northern Rangeland Trust, has already

changed local attitudes who now see elephants more as part o their livelihood and security.

Elephant poaching here has dropped dramatically, but sadly is rampant across the rest o Arica.

Our Mara Elephant Project is tracking elephants in part o the great Serengeti ecosystem and

protecting them rom poachers

Ironically, human elephant conict has not gone away. Persecuted elephants like human

beings seek reuge in sae havens and cause resh problems to habitats and the local cultivators.

Our innovative bee project, run by Dr Lucy King, is making good headway with more trials o

her beehive ence at home and urther afeld in Arica.

In times o struggle like this we look to our donors as never beore and thank them or their

unstinting support in these difcult times, and as always thank WCN or being our anchor in

the United States.

Dr Iain Douglas Hamilton

Founder and CEO

A Letter rom Our Founder Our Mission

Ater witnessing how illegal ivory was obtained, I really was speechless. Ater seeing theseanimals up close and watching them interact in loving and protective amily groups, itwas heart wrenching and deeply depressing to see them cruelly taken beore their time. People

have spent their lives studying and living intimately with these animals and now, just like in

1989 beore the international ivory trade was banned, they must spend their lives looking or

bodies. Unortunately, I saw fve poached elephants in close proximity to each other while in

Kenya an indication o the seriousness o the poaching crisis. It was a harrowing experience

I never want to repeat, but something that everyone thinking o buying ivory should see the

wasteulness o these animals cruelly slaughtered just so a small part o them could be used.

Would anyone buy ivory i they had witnessed this?

To secure a future for elephants and sustain the beauty and

ecological integrity of the places they live, to promote mans

delight in their intelligence and the diversity of their world, and

to develop a tolerant relationship between the two species.

Yao Mings Words - yaomingblog.com

Front cover photo by Daryl Balfour/wildphotossafaris.com. In this photo, Cherry of the Hard Woods,

leads her family in Samburu Naonal Reserve. The matriach, Ebony, was killed last year by poachers.

Photo by Krisan Schmidt for WildAid. On August 14th, 2012, Yao Ming looks over the carcass of an unnamed mature

female elephant killed by poachers.


3/19

www.savetheelephants.org2 SECURING A FUTURE FOR ELEPHANTS 3

Dear Friends:

This year, again, was a terrible year or the elephants.It was bad not only in Samburu but Arica-wide.Many areas important or elephants were hit much more

seriously by poaching than the two little reserves at the

heart o STEs core operations.

However, the onslaught seems to have woken up the

public worldwide, and many national governments, into redoubling their eorts to do something

about it, both on the ground and in the press. This is excellent news. And it gives us hope that

the Arican elephant is not doomed to the extinction it might well ace i its protection is not

ensured and enorced.

Protection o the elephants means, not only guarding herds against gangs o poachers, but

ensuring that protected habitats are well guarded so that elephants will be able to fnd what

they need or survival. It also means that the armers surrounding elephant reserves need to be

sympathetic and that they appreciate that emerging conicts should ideally be resolved to the

beneft o both species, human and pachyderm.

STE addresses the issue o human elephant conict with its bee project, which is going rom

strength to strength under Dr Lucy Kings enthusiastic and capable leadership. The issue o

anti-poaching measures is complicated, and requires raising awareness o the elephants plight,

actively supporting boots on the ground anti-poaching projects, and ultimately lowering the

demand that uels the killing.

Save the Elephants and its team rely heavily on the feld data they collect, as well as the

scientifc analysis and interpretation done by a large group o researchers working in-house and

as collaborators. This team is rapidly growing. We need to ocus on details directly relevant

to elephant conservation while at the same time probing fner inormation on elephant ecology,

behaviour and consciousness. Managing this balance between applied and pure science will

test the powerul scientifc advisory team recently assembled by Dr George Wittemeyer. But,

and that is the core belie o all at STE, good scientifc data and their interpretation will, in the

long run, be key to elephant conservation through appreciation and appropriate management.

Professor Fritz Vollrath

Chairman

A Letter rom Our Chairman

Photo courtesy of Daryl Balfour/wildphotossafaris.com


4/19


Protection

Protection

Anti- Poaching Intensiedby David Daballen

It is no secret that across Arica poachinghas surged exponentially. The result hasbeen devastating or elephant populations

across the continent. Samburu is no exception,

with three years o population decline.

Responding to this crisis, the Liz Claiborne

and Art Ortenberg Foundation (LCAOF)

provided emergency support in August 2011

to Save the Elephants to acilitate close

collaboration with the Northern RangelandsTrust (NRT) and Kenya Wildlie Service

(KWS).

This support has been tremendous and the

last 12 months flled with successes and steps

in the right direction.

Two vehicles for enhanced

intelligence and patrolling

in Nakuprat and Nasuulu

Conservancies- The provisioning

o an anti-poaching vehicle

to the Nakuprat Conservancy

greatly increased their ability

to conduct patrols and engage

poachers. The support o

volunteer scouts in the Nasuulu

Conservancy with a second

anti-poaching vehicle operated

and maintained by Save the

Elephants personnel has also

made a world o dierence.

Establishment of game scouts,

observation posts and mobile monitoring

unit - In Nasuulu, the community crossed

tribal lines and elected a proper committee.

This allowed them to join the NRT ofcially

blessed, literally, by the council o elders.

The volunteer scouts continued to do good

work, but were augmented by a new ofcial

orce composed o three Somalis, three

Boranas, three Samburus and three Turkanas

in an ethnic balance. It was a proud day

when their uniorms arrived and we had an

ofcial handing-over ceremony o tents and

other equipment (e.g, night vision goggles)

sponsored most generously by Aricom

Foundation.

In due course these young men will go or

ofcial ranger training at Manyani, the KWS

training school on the edge o Tsavo NationalPark. In the meanwhile a large batch o scouts

rom all over NRT were sent to the training

school including one o our STE men, Chris

Leadismo. They fnished three months o

intensive para-military training which greatly

enhanced their skills.

The training o Chris at Manyani had an

immediate impact. With sergeants rom two

neighbouring conservancies, Chris recently

conducted an intensive two-week training

o the Nasuulu volunteer community scouts

in basic operation techniques and is now

actively involved in patrol management with

the Conservancy. As morale and community

support increased, poaching went down.

Integrating anti-poaching and intelligence

efforts in Samburu - STE has been directly

involved in NRT operations in Nasuulu and

Nakuprat. We have provided intelligence

and honed down our response time so that

reactions are very ast.

The reaction time o our new system was

tested a ew months ago, when the poachers

shot indiscriminately into a large herd o

elephants killing two elephants and injuring

another. The response was very quick andwithin 20 minutes our cars arrived to the

scene with community scouts. Ian Craig o

NRT also arrived and began searching,

and quickly located the carcasses and

the poachers. Although the night was

ast approaching, we called or more

reinorcement both rom Lewa and

KWS. The poachers used the cover o

darkness to escape, but very early in the

morning everyone was on their trail.

Though two elephants were killed,

swit action o STE, NRT, KWS and the

council rangers caused the poachers to

run or their lives and leave behind the

tusks. The unds provided by LCAOF

have meant that the feld orce and our

researchers are equipped. The poachers

now know that they will have to dealwith a tough group o committed local

people backed by adequate resources.

Aerial surveillance to spot carcasses

and poachers - Aerial surveillance is

being conducted in the Nasuulu and

Nakuprat Conservancies approximately

once per quarter. This is being used to

enhance patrolling by the Conservancy

scouts, demonstrate the logistical

support or the Conservancy, and

identiy carcasses or our continued

monitoring o poaching levels.

The LCAOF unds have stimulated a

new direction or STEs research where our

monitoring and analytic skills now ocus

on intelligence. We hope this will provide

security with better inormation and the

means to analyze it while increasing the scope

o research. This has particularly transormed

the objectives o the STEs Radio-Tracking

Programme in the Samburu region. We are

currently tracking elephant individuals that

are considered high risk (with large ivory

or wide ranging). This radio tracking basedmonitoring is allowing new insights into how

and where elephants are being poached.

Scouts being led by STEs Chris Leadismo during a military parade

With quick reacon our team managed to stop the poachers

from removing the tusks


5/19


Protection

The Mara Elephant Projectby Marc Goss

Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephantsby Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton

Protection

From 2007 to 2011 the Mara ecosystemexperienced a huge upsurge inelephant poaching. Over 100 elephants were

killed during this period. In September 2011,

under the guidance o Save the Elephants, the

Mara Elephant Project (MEP) started. The

Heritage Group, Globe Foundation, ESCAPE

Foundation and Asphalt Materials o China,

pledged unding to cover a new Landcruiser,

hire and train o a team o local rangers. In

parallel, 10 elephants in the Mara were to becollared and tracked.

Ater the rangers underwent their

paramilitary training they were ready to

combat elephant poachers and to respond to

elephant conict with armers and herders.

One year later the team has arrested 46

individuals, both red-handed when

poaching elephants, and in sting operations

when trying to sell ivory. As we continue

to Mop-up poachers we have started to

record a decrease in elephant poaching rates.

In December 2011, STE/MEP collared 10

elephants in the Mara ecosystem. We also

loaned our more collars to KWS or their

trial translocation operation, designed to

remove elephants rom Narok and set themree in Mara. For the frst time elephants

were tracked through the length and breadth

o the ecosystem, between protected areas

and surrounding danger zones. Some o the

KWS elephants went deep into the Serengeti

and established new home ranges This

inormation is invaluable to the conservation

planners.

MEP owes its inherent success to the

close partnership we have with KWS, and the

dynamic support o Suzie Fehseneld. This

powerul partnership has led to poachers

being put behind bars and a bright uture or

the project.

We have now started a second MEP team

in the Transmara part o the Mara. The MEP

teams engage young people rom the local

communities who now have an active roll in

the protection o their elephants. MEP strives

to empower the Maasai community to be

proud o their heritage and to protect what

has been endowed to them.

Since 2001, Savethe Elephants hasimplemented the MIKE

system in the Laikipia /

Samburu site, as technical

assistance to KWS, who are

mandated by CITES to report

on this and three other MIKE

sites in Kenya. The procedure

is an ongoing body count o

elephant carcasses confrmingthe cause o death. Thanks

to support rom the Barrett

Foundation and the trust

and cooperation o local

communities, we achieved

the highest success rate o

detecting illegally killed

elephants or any MIKE site

in Arica or Asia. With KWS

we have catalogued over

1,800 elephant carcasses in

the 10 years since we started.

Our devotion to this work is in the belie

that MIKE can give early warning o elephant

massacres so that action can be launched by

governments in time to prevent a holocaust o

elephants ever recurring as happened in the70s and 80s.

The red warning light ickered in 2011.

The MIKE reports came out in 2012, and

backed by good statistics massively supported

the conclusion that there had been signifcant

increases in levels o illegal killing o elephants

or ivory in all our regions o Arica. This

level could not be sustained.

However the smoking gun that has

remained unpublicised is the MIKE record or

individual populations, published only as an

inormation document on the CITES website.

Here we see that some iconic elephants

populations o amous protected areas are

exhibiting extreme proportions o illegally

killed elephants that spell potential doom

or those elephant populations. For example

Murchison Falls at 92%, Ruaha Rungwa at94% plus, and the immense Selous Game

Reserve which holds East Aricas largest

elephant population at 63%.

MIKE has now come o age. The

inormation that was confdential and

restricted is now at last in the public domain

and shows how deeply worrying the elephants

situation is across Arica. The map on this

page rom our new website Elephants in Peril,

shows at a glance where the red hotspots o

poaching are and the ew green coloured sae

havens as yet untouched by the elephant

poaching surge in Arica.

Heritage, a collared bull, had a massive leg wound,perhaps from running on to a sharp stump, on aboutJune 1st. KWS twice helped us to treat this horrendouswound. Heritage has since made a full recovery

MIKE sites in 2011 measuring illegal killing of elephants across Africa.Red shows where illegal elephant killing is very high, green shows healthy,stable or increasing elephant populaons. Yellows and orange in between

STEs Chris Leadismo collars an elephant with DrJulius Kipngech, Director of KWS


6/19


Grassroot education

Changing Attitudes and Modifying Behavioursby Vella Kwamboka

Grassroot Education

This year, the EducationProgramme has joinedthe ranks in combating poaching

by waging war on negative

attitudes towards elephants.

From the results o a needs-

assessment study conducted

in primary schools last year, it

was clear that some children

in Samburu see elephants as adanger to humans, crops and

villages and are only useul or

the revenue received rom ivory

and tourism. With this in mind,

STE educators and scientists, in

partnership with Disney Animal

Kingdom, came up with a

structured curriculum specially

designed or primary schools located in areas

aected by elephant poaching.

The new tutorial titled Living in Harmony

with Elephants has three sections: Discover

African Elephants; Save the Savannah; and

Protecting Elephants Future and Ours. It

makes use o pre/post evaluations, photos,

video clips, visual aids, posters and both

indoor and outdoor physical exercises. Theinteractive environment created is an exciting

change or the children, pulling them out

o the rigmarole o normal lessons into a

captivating scene that allows them to see their

natural habitat with resh eyes. The tutorial

is geared at improving students knowledge

and attitude towards elephants, drawing on

childrens inherent desire to nurture the world

around them. All the three modules have

already been presented to standard 8 students

in the target schools.

From the evaluations carried out beore

and ater the lesson presentation, the

education programme is proud to call this

initiative a success. We have seen a tremendous

improvement in students perception and

knowledge o elephants attributable to the

use o un, inspirational and empowering

techniques. The next step is to connect

students with nature through game drives

into Samburu National Reserve as well as to

identiy more schools to teach conservation

education. These lessons will be presented to

the new standard 8 students in all the schools

next year. In all this, the vision we see on thehorizon is one where our modest steps in

orming new attitudes in these young minds

will produce a generation o leaders who

have an intrinsic love or the elephants that

traverse their land.

In the meantime, the outcome o the

lessons will go a long way in bolstering

eorts by the Northern Rangelands Trust, in

conjunction with local government and Kenya

Wildlie Service to create a new conservancy

in Turkana where local communities can

truly take responsibility or and beneft rom

wildlie conservation.

Unveiling of an interacve informaon chart for primary schoolsprepared by Disney and STE

Improving Learning Experience in Schools

In an eort to upgrade learning acilitieso local primary schools in Samburu,STE teamed up with Inspire Worldwide Group

to paint classrooms in Ngare Mara, one o the

schools supported by our Grassroots Education

Programme. Ngare Mara Primary School is

part o the Isiolo district in the eastern province

o Kenya and is a mixed day school. It has an

enrolment o 762, a student-teacher ratio o 47.6

and an average o 54.4 pupils per classroom.

Although our hope is to ameliorate cramped conditions o classrooms and improve thequality o education, we also know that just the appearance o ones learning environment is

crucial in inuencing overall attitudes to education. With this in mind, Hurst College Group -

through Inspire Worldwide Group, the STE team, and Ngare Mara students set about changing

the ace o the school in a painting exercise that was carried out on the 15th o July, 2012; a total

o 45 people took part.

By the end o the day, our classrooms were painted both inside and out. To top it all o,

and to give Ngare Mara students new reason to run to school every morning, the outer walls

were sprayed with beautiul images o natures fnest Arican auna. The icing on the cake was

a dazzling mural on one o the big walls acing the schools gate.

Transforming Lives Through Education

Early this year, eight students benefted rom this years education programme sponsorships.In keeping with the programmes vision to produce well-rounded students who willorm the uture o dryland ecosystem and community conservation in Kenya, we are proud

to announce that two o our students are pursuing undergraduate degrees in Environmental

Science and Environmental Education in Egerton and Kenyatta Universities respectively. The

remaining six are new students are starting out their frst year in various high schools across the

country. This would not have been possible without the generosity o our dear sponsors Kris

Norvig, Dr. Charles Balch, Marti & Jay Weaver, and o course Iain and Oria Douglas-Hamilton.

Turning to our students, Benjamin Loloju, our frst-ever scholarship student to get straight

As in his fnal exams - appearing in the countrys top 100 students o 2009 - has this year

embarked on a new adventure as he takes on the technical world o Geospatial Engineering at

the University o Nairobi. As we set o on a new journey with Benjamin, other journeys are

coming to a bittersweet end. This year brings an inspiring conclusion to our journey with a

young man who joined the education programme 11 years ago. As a young orphan boy, Antony

Lekoitip nurtured a dream o becoming a medical doctor some day. Thanks to the Chip Owen

and STE/EWS scholarship programme, he was enrolled into Macci Boys Secondary School in

Isiolo, where he emerged as a top student. Antony has fnally fnished and graduated as a

ull-edged doctor rom the University o Nairobi. He is currently interning at Isiolo District

Hospital. Congratulations Dr Lekoitip!


7/19


conservation tourism

Elephant Watch CampResponsible Tourism - Conservation - Training and Educationby Oria Douglas-Hamilton

Elephant Watch Camp is growing romstrength to strength in responsibleecoutourism. For the frst time we have

a complete Samburu Team running the

Camp and helping in the conservation o

wildlie and the environment.

Elephant Watch is much more than a

lodge. It is a place where guests get immersed

with the wildlie and get close to the people

o Samburu. Their experience is oten lie

changing and they want to leave a piece o

themselves behind. Many o our guests have

become education donors, through Save the

Elephants. As I write, we have been able to

send 75 students to High School. We are

proud that our frst graduated doctor, Dr

Anthony Lekoitip, is now working in the

Isiolo Hospital. Today we have 18 o our

girls and boys in Colleges and Universities.

It is so satisying to watch them become

energetic, sophisticated and new thinking

young Kenyans.

We are also striving to train new leaders in

ecotourism. Five o our students are working

here in camp and being trained to become

top guides. Other graduated students are

teaching in some o the neighbouring Primary

Schools as volunteers and talking about how

elephants helped them get sponsored.

All o this is having a positive eect on the

communities.

Elephant conservation has also been high

on the agenda o many o our guests. Iain

and I, together with our teams, are extremely

grateul or this support. The unds have

allowed us to do anti-poaching as well as

support communities so that they can work

with us to stop the killing o elephants or

ivory. Last but not least we aim or a positive

dialogue with as many Chinese people as

possible, to gain their understanding to help

stop the demand or ivory. We hope that

the year ahead will eel the winds o change

throughout our elephant world.

Thank you all our riends, supporters,

donors and children who stand by our sides.

Oria Douglas-Hamilton and the EW Team

Samburu - northern Kenya

savethe elePhants - southern africa

Save the Elephants - Southern Africa ContributesTowards Peace Parks Versus Piece Parksby Dr Michelle Henley

The metapopulation concept, linkingprotected areas, allows occasionalmovement between discrete populations

to contribute to genetic vigour, ecological

viability and long-term survival. The Peace

Parks initiative linked the Limpopo National

Park (LNP) in Mozambique, to the Kruger

National Park (KNP) through the Greater

Limpopo Transrontier Park (GLTP),increasing the area under conservation by 50%.

It is intended that Gonrenzhou in Zimbabwe

should also be included. STE has tracked 12

elephants rom the Makuleke Concession, in

the ar north o KNP since 2008. For the frst

time we have mapped elephant movements

rom Kruger to Gonarezhou, through and

outside the proposed Sengwe Corridor, a

straight line distance o approximately 40km.

Two o our study animals made this journey.

Gila, a mature bull largely circumvented the

proposed corridor in a month long journey

to reach Gonarenzhou in mid-2010. Zingi, a

mature cow, frst made a two month journey

to Zimbabwe at the beginning o February

2011 into unprotected areas. On Christmas

Eve she embarked on a remarkable trek to

Gonrenzhou arriving circuitously rom the

north and exiting eight months later. She

returned to KNP overnight via the saer

Sengwe corridor or the frst time. Ourtracking data has shown the Concession area

is important or providing key resources and

saety. Our northern KNP study, although

only fve years in the running compared to the

10 years o research we have been conducting

throughout GLTP, calls or the continuation

o STE tracking initiatives in collaboration

with all stakeholders within the Peace Parks

vision. We thank the USFWS Arican Elephant

Fund and our generous South Arican donors

or supporting the radio tracking

Transboundary elephant movements from South Africa into Zimbabwe in me density map


8/19


research & conservation

Elephants and Bees Project in Kenyaby Dr Lucy King

Research & Conservation

It has been both an exciting andchallenging year or the Elephants andBees Project in Kenya. We are aiming to use

our discovery o elephants natural ear o

honey bees to help keep them out o armers

felds whilst at the same time improving

productivity or the arms. This Disney

Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF)

unded project directly addresses one o the

main missions o Save the Elephants, that

o developing a more tolerant relationship

between elephants and man. Critical to our

project is the understanding o elephant

behaviour and responses to bees and

other threats in their environment and this

vital research work continues with active

participation rom Dr Joseph Soltis at Disneys

bioacoustic laboratory in Florida. Several

important research papers are presently being

worked on or publication and our strong

academic status is being maintained.

The greatest challenge has been the

temporary loss o access to our largest

study site in Ngare Mara. The community

there have ed or the dubious saety o a

Red Cross reugee camp outside o Isiolo,

ollowing a series o atal tribal clashes with

a neighbouring tribe. Initially a temporary

set back, the intertribal clashes have now

continued or eight months and we have had

to put the project site on hold until security

improves and the villagers can return to their

arms. This signifcant challenge has reed up

time to ocus and develop our other research

site in Taita-Taveta county in southern Kenya,

working with communities suering rom

elephants coming out to crop raid arms next

to Tsavo East National Park. With generous

donations and support rom DWCF, Bella

Matata Productions, The Ruord and Kileva

Foundations and The Carlisle Overseas

Aid Trust, we have managed to expand our

beehive ence network to nine more arms in

this area. The armers have been trained in

beehive ence construction and management

techniques and we are now awaiting the rains

to arrive which will bring owers and bee

swarms to the protective beehive ences

Our connection with Honey Care Arica

has blossomed into a healthy partnership

with Honey Care sta helping to construct

Langstroth Beehives with specifc beehive

ence attachments and contributing training

and bee advice to our team. We now have over

160 beehives in the Tsavo project site area

and plenty o plans to expand. Our project

has been greatly boosted by the inclusion o

beehive ences into Kenya Wildlie Services

Conservation and Management Strategy orthe Elephant which was launched in February

2012. We were particularly honoured to have

one o our beehive ence photos adorning the

ront cover o KWS strategy.

Communication about the project has been

enhanced by the positive press surrounding

Dr Lucy Kings DPhil study winning the

UNEP / CMS Thesis Award 2011. News o

the beehive ences has been spreading ar and

wide with test sites developing independently

in Uganda, Tanzania and India. Additionally,

Lucy has been invited to both Botswana and

Mozambique to help these southern Arican

countries test the concept.

A stunning Natural World flm called

Queen o the Savannah was aired on BBC2

this year highlighting the complex lives o

Arican bees and their relationship with both

elephants and man. The flm, produced by

the Secret Lie o Elephants producer Verity

White, reveals extraordinary behaviour o

bees living in one o our beehive ences. The

use o thermal imaging cameras has, or the

frst time, captured some ascinating shots o

elephants avoiding the beehive ences at nighttime. It is worth watching.

A second edition o our Beehive Fence

Construction Manual is now reely available

or download on the project website

www.elephantsandbees.com and there are

also links to various TV and news programmes

made about the project.

A heartelt thanks to all o our donors

and supporters or making this last year a

success, despite some signifcant personal and

practical challenges.

The Irimbe self-help group learning about how to construct a beehive fence around a farm that is regularlyraided by elephants coming out of the nearby Tsavo East Naonal Park

A beehive construcon workshop in Mwakoma village

Joseph and Lucy recording elephant behaviour


9/19



Elephants in Peril - www.elephantsinperil.orgby Rob Heittman

Conservation Strategy for Kenyas Elephantsby Dr Lucy King


Save the Elephants is shininga bright light on the elephantpoaching crisis with its new web

initiative, Elephants In Peril

(www.elephantsinperil.org). Launched

at the IUCN World Conservation

Congress in Jeju, September 2012,

the site publishes current news and

emerging research about potential

threats to the uture o elephants.

By combining dierent public data

sets on maps and thematic web pages,

Elephants In Perilstrives to give access

to a complete picture o a challenging

situation. The latest population,

range, and monitoring data rom

IUCN and CITES make up key

parts o the story, alongside original

research and outreach by the Save

the Elephants team and associates.

Beyond the headlines, interested

visitors can dig deep and explore our

visualisations o the original data over time,

to orm conclusions about the deteriorating

situation or themselves.

In 2012, Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton

kicked the tyres on the new Elephants In

Peril visualisation ramework by presenting

troubling indicators o increased illegal killings

across the Arican continent. His warning

captured media attention and galvanized

justifed concerns about the poaching

problem. Because the Google mapping

technologies in Elephants In Peril provided

the ability to share visualizations and deep

data by just emailing a web address, Save

The Elephants was able instantly to supply

interested journalists with all the supporting

data they needed to rame conclusions and

develop their own expositional materials,

getting the story quickly to print.

Going orward, Elephants In Peril aims

to be a shareable, citable source or the latest

and deepest understanding o the poaching

problem. It will incorporate eeds rom the

Melissa Groo News Service and the onlinebibliography. To raise awareness credibly,

both traditional and social media need

backing by trustworthy source material. As

originator o this initiative, Save the Elephants

brings its reputation or truth-telling and

quality science on the ground.

The initial development o Elephants In

Peril was unded by a Tides Foundation grant

sponsored by Google Earth Outreach, and

produced by Solertium and Thinc. The team

continues to work to improve and extend the

site, including a Chinese translation planned

or 2013.

In February 2012, KenyaWildlie Service launched themuch anticipated Conservation

and Management Strategy or the

Elephant in Kenya which lays out

the ten-year plan or protecting

and conserving our elephant

population. KWS included many

stakeholders and conservation

proessionals in the strategicprocess and the result is a solid,

participatory document outlying the

governments ramework or coping

with an elephant population that

has been growing, but one that now

is threatened by an upsurging ivory

demand rom the Far East.

Implementing the plan is not

going to be easy, given Kenyas

growing human population and

the increasing conversion o bush

to arm land and inrastructure

development. There is a great

deal o emphasis on biodiversity

conservation, capacity building

and co-ordination, the need

or urther scientifc researchand managing human-elephant

conict hotspots. Critically, the document

re-emphasises Kenyas opposition to the

ivory trade and pledges to continue its

work with the other Arican elephant range

states to reduce elephant poaching and to

engage diplomatically with ivory consuming

countries. Save the Elephants ully supports

KWS ambitious plan and looks orward to

working with both their senior sta and feld

ofcers to protect the elephants in Kenya.

Strategy Vision:

A secure uture or elephants and their

habitats, based on peaceul and benefcial

co-existence with people, now and or

generations to come.

Overall Goal:

Maintain and expand elephant

distribution and numbers in suitable areas,

enhance security to elephants, reduce human-

elephant conict and increase value o

elephants to people and habitat.

Derived from www.elephantsinperil.org


10/19




Long Term Monitoring of a Changing Populationby Shifra Goldenberg

Elephant Society After Disturbanceby Shifra Goldenberg

The long-term monitoring (LTM) teamo STE has continued its daily work,thanks to Suzie Fehseneld, in recording

the presence and behaviour o the elephant

amilies and bulls using Samburu and Bualo

Springs National Reserves. A project o this

nature that ollows individuals through time

allows us to record births and deaths when they

occur, providing a rich database rom whichto understand the

demographic trends o

the population. The

past year has seen

an impressive baby

boom, with 52 new

calves recorded in

the frst hal o 2012

alone. A uctuation in

ecological conditions

may have enabled this

boom, as more emales

would have come into

oestrus when resources

were more abundant

ater the 2009 drought

passed. In contrast

to 2011, births were

higher than deaths ormost months, a result

o both the baby boom and the presence o

the Nasuulu Conservancy scouts to the south

o our study area. This change in trend gives

us hope ater the disheartening number o

deaths seen in the last ew years.

The LTM team has had to adapt to the

poaching o recent years, as bulls and older

emales have been targets or poachers

because o their larger tusks. As the older

bulls that we once knew in these reserves

have been poached, the LTM team has

worked diligently to record the new, younger

bulls that are coming into the reserves. This

age skew among males will likely aect the

mating behaviour and strategies that we

see. Because we check in regularly with the

elephants, we will be able to pick up on the

incidence and subtleties o these behaviours,

which will allow us to understand how

reproductive dynamics are aected by age

skew caused by poaching.

A urther challenge o the poaching o

recent years has been caused by the deaths

o older matriarchs. Targeted killing has

worked through our oldest cohorts, and

in some sad cases o a ew amilies, all the

mature emales have been killed, leaving only

young calves. These calves are much harder

to identiy than were their older mothers

and aunts, especially when they are on their

own. In the last ew years we have seen

the remnants o these groups, and are now

making a priority o identiying them to keep

up with this changing population.

Ijoined STE during this past year as aPhD student under the instructiono Dr George Wittemyer at Colorado State

University. As experienced mothers are

lost to poaching or drought, an increasing

number o young emales are let without

older amily members to ollow. It is unclear

how these emales will are in the coming

years. I am addressing how disruption aectsthe social and reproductive lives o individual

elephants by studying the social bonds they

orm and examining correlations o bonding

with demographic parameters like survival

and calving success.

I am also interested

in how disruption

rom poaching

and drought alters

the larger social

structure o the

population. Social

bonding patterns

determine the ow o

ecological processes

like inormation

exchange and disease

transmission. By

comparing the socialstructure o the

population beore

and ater intense

periods o disruption

it is possible to get a sense o how ecological

processes may be changing.

I work closely with the LTM team to identiy

individuals and then record the preerred

companions o individual elephants, as well

as the riendly and aggressive interactions

among them. To do this I sit with a single

group or several hours and ollow individuals

in order to understand all the nuances o

their relationships.

I collect data rom

both disrupted and

undisrupted groups to

understand whether

elephants rom these respective groups

navigate their social systems dierently.

Such a comparative study is only possiblewhere the histories o individual elephants

are known. In a species with as much social

complexity as elephants, it is important to

understand the context o social interactions.

The data-rich histories gathered by the LTM

team will provide me with a oundation

rom which to understand recent population

changes, and what these changes mean or

the elephants. We can then use these data

to iner to understudied, less accessible

populations experiencing similar pressures

across the continent. I am grateul to the

National Science Foundation or supporting

this project.

Sapache, the Matriach of the Oldonyo family, leads her calm, intact herd down from

the hills to the Ewaso Nyiro River to drink and play

Calves from two families, the Spices and Swahilis, share shade during the midday heat


11/19

www.savetheelephants.org18 SECURING A FUTURE FOR ELEPHANTS 19Photo courtesy of David Bebber


12/19



CITES Standing Committee and the Ivory Crisisby Dr Lucy Bates


On behal o STE, I attended the62nd CITES Standing CommitteeMeeting (SC62) in July 2012, thanks to

Nancy Abraham and Singa Rankin. About

350 delegates were present rom CITES

member countries and observer NGOs. All

CITES work is discussed at SC meetings,

but elephant matters dominated over several

days. SC meetings are pre-cursors to the

much larger Conerence o Parties (CoP), thenext o which takes place in March 2013 in

Bangkok. Based on my observations at SC62,

the March meeting could prove critical or

elephants.

It was apparent throughout SC62 that

CITES recognises the perilous situation acing

elephants, and is working to publicise the

ivory crisis, or example by raising poaching

and wildlie trade issues at UN Security

Council meetings. Positive outcomes o SC62

are that all countries implicated as being part

o the ivory trade - either as source, transit, or

destination countries - are to submit a written

report detailing their control measures.

Additionally, DNA samples rom all uture

seizures o ivory will be taken, to assist with

identiying the origin o the ivory. These

measures will help track and control the ivory

trade, and indicate where resources can most

eectively be deployed.

However, little was done actively to

encourage demand reduction. Despite general

acknowledgement that demand or ivory is

outstripping supply, and Mr Patrick Omondi

o Kenya Wildlie Service asking the CITES

Secretariat how they plan to reduce demand,

no specifc demand-reduction strategies were

discussed. This must change at the upcoming

CoP meeting, because reducing demand for

ivory is the key to saving elephants.

Furthermore, stark polarisation over

the ivory trade issue remains. It was clear

rom reports that previous one-o sales

have done nothing to reduce poaching, but

a handul o countries - particularly those in

southern Arica - still believe a resumption

in legal ivory trading is the way orward.

However, many Parties agreed that a legal

trade would not halt or reduce the levels

o illegal killing that Aricas elephants areexperiencing and the report commanded

little support. The issue is ar rom resolved,

and urther applications or legal ivory sales

are expected at orthcoming CoP meetings.

In conclusion relaxing the ivory trade ban

would only encourage urther demand and it

must be concluded that no trade in ivory is

viable in the the current circumstances.

Real-Time Monitoring of Elephant Movementsby Jake Wall

In addition to an upgrade o the Savethe Elephants tracking system tothe Amazon Cloud, we have continued to

improve our system or real-time monitoring

o elephant activity. Through sophisticated

algorithms and server data processing we are

now able automatically to process movement

data straight rom a collar unit intoconservation and management outputs that

ocus on two simple but central questions:

what is the current location o an elephant

and what is it doing?

Google Earth has become our primary geo-

browser or visualizing elephant movements

and or which we have created a near real-

time tracking service. Subscribed users can

instantly look up the location o an elephant

using Google Earth, or query its coordinates

using a smart-phone. At present, individual

users, representing organizations such as the

Kenya Wildlie Service, the Lewa Wildlie

Conservancy, the Northern Rangelands

Trust and our monitoring team in the Kruger

ecosystem, are actively ollowing the activities

o elephants using this system.

In response to the recent increase

in elephant poaching, we have created

sotware, based on the powerul

ESRI sotware components, to

analyze tracking data or elephant

mortality, and to send out alerts inthe orm o email and SMS should

elephant immobility be detected.

Since 2010, nine collared elephants

have been killed underlining the

need or such systems.

Elephant injury and illness is

another condition that our tracking

system is constantly looking or in

over 75 tracked elephants. Injuries

are detectable when an elephant

slows down below its normal daily

speed cycle, as was the case o the

bull elephant Ngelesha when he

received a spear wound to the leg,

and the emale elephant Resilience,

ater she was shot by poachers and died

weeks later. We hope to urther refne thistechnique to pick up on other behaviours

such as elephant migration, pregnancy in

emale elephants, or bull elephants coming

into musth.

In the coming year, we will incorporate

newer sensor and tracking technologies within

our tracking system to expand the types

o inormation we can record. Continued

advances will help improve our conservation

outputs, including downloadable apps to

help wildlie managers protect and save

elephants. We are working on a major new

tracking project to be unded by The Nature

Conservancy or NRT.

Ma, a long distance migrator - being tagged on June 25 th, 2012, ashe came through Samburu - who now transmits data hourly

Naonal Geographics powerful expos, brings lightto the violent, crooked, and unsustainable nature ofthe internaonal ivory trade (see page 26 for moremedia revelaons)


13/19


Global communications

Our Chinese Initiative - Yao Mings visit to Kenyaby Elodie A. Sampr

Ivory and Insecurity: the Global Implications ofPoaching in Africa - U.S. Senate Committee on ForeignRelations

Global Communications

Last year, we talked about raisingawareness in China and laying theground or urther cooperation and using

Chinas inuence in Arica to oster better

protection or our elephants.

This year we write to share a very exciting

event in Save the Elephants history. In

August, along with crucial conservation

partners in Kenya, Save the Elephants withWildAid hosted Yao Ming or his frst-ever

visit to Arica.

Yao Ming, ormer NBA player and one o

Chinas avourite sons, came to flm a eature-

length documentary and to learn about the

current elephant and rhino poaching crisis.

Ater his retirement rom a proessional

basketball career, Yao Ming has been working

with WildAid to stop the use o wildlie

products. Lately he successully completed a

campaign against the use o shark fn soup.

He is now ocusing his energy on rhinos and

elephants.

Yao spent 3 days in Samburu with our

team. He was hosted at Elephant Watch by

Oria, Iain and their team. He spent numerous

hours in the feld, watched and observed

amilies o elephants, he danced with the

Samburus, played basketball with children

rom a local school, and ew up north to

look at poached elephants, experiencing frst-hand the devastating eects o poaching.

This visit is signifcant in many ways, but

leads the way or a new direction or Save the

Elephants. While our project o protecting

elephants is well established in Samburu

and well unded, we now need to ocus our

attention on trying to stop the demand in

countries ar rom Arica, particularly China.

Partnering with organisations like WildAid,

the Kenya Wildlie Service and many others,

Save the Elephants intends to lead the way in

raising awareness to stop the demand.

On May 24th, 2012, Dr Iain Douglas-

Hamilton testifed beore the Senate

Foreign Relations Committee together with

John Scanlon, Secretary-General o CITES, and

Tom Cardomone o Global Financial Integrity

on the links between the surging illegal trade inelephant ivory and insecurity.

Chairman Senator John Kerry openedurging action beore it would be too late or

the elephants, reminding o the responsibility

to uture generations to be good steward-

caretakers o endangered species.

How shockingly destructive and historically shameful it would be if we did nothing

while a great species was criminally slaughtered into extinction.

In his recommendations to Congress, Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton summarized the inormation

sources and gave examples that showed how elephant poaching had escalated in the last three

years across Arica, driven by a demand or ivory, principally rom China. This demand created

security threats with much o the trading being led by organized crime allied to roaming armed

groups which undermined good governance. He also gave examples o where anti-poaching

eorts, linked to Community Conservancies had held in check the elephant poaching.

He suggested:

Increased unding or anti-poaching eorts specifcally rom the Arican Elephant

Conservation Fund o USFWS, support or CITES MIKE, and cooperation between USFWS,

State and USAID

For the United States to work at the highest levels o diplomacy with China to reduce

demand. He specifcally called or discussion with China to seek a 10-year moratorium on

all ivory importation at the upcoming CITES COP

The need to establish a Central Arican Wildlie Trafcking and Law Enorcement Network

The use o high tech solutions to enhance monitoring and law enorcement with help rom

US government agencies.

Photo by Krisan Schmidt for WildAid. Yao Ming, with STE, Elephant Watch and Kiltaman Village

Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton and Senator John Kerry.Photo by Mannie Garcia 2012/ARR.

Royal Geographical Society - The Tusk Lecture

On November 17th, 2011, Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton gave a lecture at the Royal

Geographical Society on behal o Tusk Trust on Technology or Conservation. Hetook the opportunity to sound the warning on record elephant poaching levels and encouraged

Tusk Trust to join the global community o individuals, NGOs and Governments that are

making common cause to reduce the demand or ivory and the killing o elephants.


14/19


ste news

STE News

Then and Now by Resson Kantai

Im sitting at my desk in Nairobi today, staringout at the rain-soaked trees. Its the perect dayto reminisce about the wonderul year that has been.

I went to the University o Oxord to do an MSc. in

Biodiversity, Conservation and Management almost a

year ago. An intimidating world lay beore me, ull

o eloquent intellectuals who made me increasingly

aware o how much I didnt know. A world ull o

strange traditions such as wearing regalia to do exams

and saying Latin prayers at meal times. It was a world

that has exposed me to the world, with its plethora

o culture, its constant questioning about lie and theway things are done and its unremitting creation o new realities.

In a land o giants I was driven day ater day to know more, to think more careully about

what I think and how I express it, and to develop deeper knowledge o my feld. In the same

breath, my passion or conservation hasnt let me either. I handed in my thesis titled Tracing

the Evolution, Power Relations and Sustainability o Community Conservation in Northern

Kenya having poured my heart and soul into thinking about what I love most: conservation

in Kenya.

Now that Im frmly back with Save the Elephants, Im determined to use all Ive learnt to

bolster the initiatives we already have, and hopeully create some new ones. But as I sit here in

anticipation, in the same spot I did one year ago, Im overwhelmingly aware o the act that I am

a new person. A person crated by people who took a chance on a timid girl. I will be orever

indebted to Iain Douglas-Hamilton and all o Save the Elephants or their constant support, to

WCN or the amazing scholarship opportunity that has catapulted me here, to Joan Greenfeld

who gave o hersel because she believed in me and to the Mittelmans who will never know the

magnitude o their donation to me. I hope that I live up to all [your] expectations.

Elephant Adopts Army Camp by Shifra Goldenberg

Taurus, a collared matriarch and heramily o 16 - the Zodiacs - had beenseen moving in and out o the Army Barracks,

east o Isiolo, since April 13 th, 2012. On July

10th, the STE team learned that the Zodiacs

had been trapped inside the compound or

the last three months ater the completion

o a 12,000-volt electric ence. KWS and the

Kenyan army attempted unsuccessully to

drive the elephants out using a combination

o tanks and cars in late June, and again on

July 25th, 2012.

The assistance o the STE team was

requested, and on July 26th, the team headed

to the barracks. For three days huge eorts

were made to drive the Zodiacs out, however,

these were unsuccessul as Taurus had strong

memory o the ence position. On the third

day, with the help o a helicopter, they

managed to drive 12 o the amily out except

or Taurus and her three calves. Ater the

ourth day o Taurus still reusing to budge, the team decided that the elephants needed to

be captured and removed by a KWS capture unit. Fortunately, the night beore the capture

operation, Taurus let on her own heading straight or Bualo Springs. The STE team quickly

went to fnd Taurus to make sure all o her calves were with her. They were in act all present,

and a ew days later Taurus had reunited with the rest o the Zodiacs. Many thanks go to the

Army, KWS, Batian Craig and STE personnel or such close collaboration.

UNEP Awards Elephant Researcher for Bee Solution toHuman-Animal Conict

The UNEP/CMS Thesis Award 2011 was wonby STEs own, Dr Lucy E. King. Lucy is thethird winner o the Thesis Award or her work on

The interaction between the Arican elephant and the

Arican honeybee and its potential application as an

elephant deterrent submitted to Oxord University in

2010.

At a ceremony at the UN wildlie conerence in

Bergen, Norway, Dr King was presented with the

international research prize o the Convention on the Conservation o Migratory Species o

Wild Animals o the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/CMS) or developing the

ence as a natural deterrent rom crop-raiding elephants.

New Scientic Advisory Board for STE

Save the Elephants conducts high profle policy and scientifc work that oten orgesnew ground in the conservation arena. To help us continue this high level perormance,Save the Elephants has ormed a Scientifc Advisory Board constituted o experts in the areas

important to the ulfllment o our mission. We are excited to present the members o STEs

Scientifc Advisory Board. In addition to the chairman o the Scientifc Advisory Board Dr George

Wittemyer, board members include Dr Peter Leimgruber Research Biologist at the Smithsonian

Conservation Biology Institute, Patrick Omondi Senior Assistant Director and Head o Species

Conservation and Management o the Kenya Wildlie Service, Dr Thure Cerling Proessor o

Geology and Biology at the University o Utah and a member o the U.S.A. National Academy

o Science, and Dr Lucy King an expert on novel solutions to human-wildlie conict issues and

the leader o STEs Elephant and Bees Project. We look orward to working with these experts

to help secure a uture or elephants.

Matriach Taurus and family streak north to safety, aerthree months connement in Isiolo army barracks


15/19


new Publicationsby ste authorsandcollaboratorsinthelast 12 months

Scientifc PublicationsIHWAGI, F.W., CHIRA, R.M., KIRONCHI,G., VOLLRATH, F. and DOUGLAS-HAMILTON, I. (2012), Rainfall patternand nutrient content inuences on Africanelephants debarking behaviour in Samburuand Buffalo Springs National Reserves,Kenya. African Journal of Ecology, 50:152159.

In Pressde SILVA, S. and WITTEMYER, G. A

comparison of social organization in Asianelephants and African savannah elephants.International Journal of Primatology.

SOLTIS, J., WILSON, R.P., DOUGLAS-HAMILTON, I., VOLLRATH, F., KING,L.E, and SAVAGE, A.1. Accelerometers incollars identify behavioral states in captiveAfrican elephants (Loxodonta africana).Endangered Species Research.

WALL, J., WITTEMYER, G.,KLINKENBERG, B., LeMAY, V., andDOUGLAS-HAMILTON, I. Characterizingproperties and drivers of long distancemovements by elephants (Loxodontaafricana) in the Gourma, Mali. BiologicalConservation.

Popular Articles

DUNN, D., (2012) At Dinner with Save theElephants Founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton.Cond Nast Traveler.www.cntraveler.com/daily-traveler/2012/05/elephant-poaching-save-elephants-babar

SHOUMATOFF, A., (2011) Agony & Ivory.Vanity Fair Magazine.www.vanityair.com/culture/eatures/2011/08/elephants-201108

Important Media Outreach

New WebsiteElephants in Peril. www.elephantsinperil.org. News, potential threats and emergingresearch

FilmsEco Crime Investigators (ECI) & NationalGeographic: Blood Ivory Smugglers. (Dec29, 2011) The Environmental InvestigationAgency investigates the world o elephantpoaching and the international ivory trade.

BBC One Panorama: Ivory Wars: Out ofAfrica. (April 12, 2012). British Journalistand writer Rageh Omaar visits Samburuand goes on the trail o the ivory poachers,smugglers and organised crime syndicates

BBC Two Natural World: Queen of theSavannah (April 16, 2012). Film eaturingThe Arican Honey Bee and Save theElephants Elephants and Bees Project

BBC One Planet Earth Live. (May 2012) BBC Presenters Richard Hammond &Julia Bradbury ollow the real lie and deathstruggles o baby animals rom aroundthe world, including the baby elephants oSamburu.

PressChina star battles to save elephants with achallenge to ivory tradition (Aug 16, 2012)The Times.

Former NBA star Yao Ming in Kenya tohelp raise awareness on ivory poaching (Aug16, 2012) Washington Post

Using Chinese star power to ght ivorypoaching in Africa (Aug 28, 2012) TheChristian Science Monitor.

Would anyone buy ivory if they hadwitnessed this cruel slaughter? (Aug 23,2012) The Guardian.

Elephants Dying in Epic Frenzy as IvoryFuels Wars and Prots (Sept 03, 2012) NewYork Times.

Yao Mings Blog on his trip to Arica andfrst hand experience with the eects opoaching. yaomingblog.com



16/19


our donors

Our Donors

Nancy AbrahamArican Parks NetworkAlexander Abraham FoundationDiscovery CommunicationsGlobe Foundation Suzie FehseneldSanjay Kumar

Liz Claiborne and Art OrtenbergFoundation

Marlene McCay (STE-SA)Saaricom FoundationRussell Train, WWFVodaone Foundation

Lifetime Donations - Founders Circle: $250,000 and Above

Nancy AbrahamAricom FoundationMary BoardmanGillian BurrCarol Lavin Bernick Family Foundation in

honour o Ted AdamsJerry and Madeleine Cohen (STE-SA)Disney Wildlie Conservation Fund

Tony McClellan (STE-SA)The Nature ConservancyKris & Peter NorvigSingleton RankinAnne & Connie Sidamon-EristoTides FoundationU.S. Fish & Wildlie Service (STE-SA)Wilderness Saari Trust (STE-SA)

Conservation Visionaries - $20,000-$99,000

Jennier AmadeoGisele & Lonnie Autry BrissonDavid BergerThe Brin Wojcicki FoundationCaroline CareyCGMK FoundationWendy ChaseSusan & Curtis CombsDudu Douglas-HamiltonOria Douglas-HamiltonEugen Friedlaender Foundation, Inc. in

honour o Nancy AbrahamKathryn FullerSteven & Florence GoldbyMeryt & Peter HardingInternational Elephant FundAllen LapidesLewa Wildlie ConservancyMr Song Lin (STE-SA)

Beverly & Ken Lipson SpectorJean McBride GreeneNan NewtonChip OwenAnne PatteePhyllis Gower Trust (STE-SA)The Ruord FoundationSidney Weinman Memorial FoundationThe Snite FoundationSouth Arican Breweries (STE-SA)David & Karie ThomsonTanda Tula Saari Camp (STE-SA)Transrontier Arica (STE-SA)Tusk TrustWildcon Saaris (STE-SA)Wildlie and Environmental Society o SouthArica (STE-SA)The Woodchester TrustWorld Women Work

Benefactors - $5,000-$19,999

Arican Wildlie Tracking(STE-SA)

Anonymous on behal oJakob Stepanyants

Anonymous on behal oVanessa Lawson

Beagle FoundationCharles & Carol BalchDaphne BarbieriJanine BoneparthJo CangelosiBecci and Mark CroweNancy DenisonIain & Oria Douglas

HamiltonEnviro-Arica Conservation

ServicesMr & Mrs FergusonFirbank Charity Trust

Friends o AricaInternational (FOAI)

Maggie GallagherBarbara GillesGodshill CharityLouise Kelso GoodwinGrace CharityKim GrifnJamie HansonJoe HollsteinCraig JonesMarshall JonesJust GivingMichelle Kehoe

Winnie LamJohn & Kellie LehrHelen Lin-MurphyAbbie & Mark Lloyd

Radord

Kent & Gloria MarshallHowe NgMelanie & Larry Nussdor

in honour o theirdaughter Inna Dexter

Shanna & Terrence OHaraMichael PiuzePolly ReulingLA ScottWilliam ShanahanJEK SmithAnthony Smith in memory

o George Alan SmithTracy Sprayregen in honour

o Suzie and FredFehseneld

John StuelpnagelWilmot Wheeler Foundation

Sponsors - $1,000-$4,999

Ted AdamsAnonymous on behal o

Ann OrcuttBritish Broadcasting

Corporation (BBC)Anoushka Channe DanninAshley CheechooKandy ChikSheila CullenCurran DandurandKaren DattiloDisney Employee Matching

Fund

Easy DNS TechnologiesKatherine EvansSusan FandelSandra FonvilleMarilyn FurmanTaieen GastiBruce GelvinKathy GervaisBarbara GillesGreen Mountain GlassKristi GrifnHaberman FoundationRobert Halem

Julie HeinPam & Larry HoenigSid IdrisKathleen JonesWinnie LamSam and Laurel Mayer

LawsonJohn LehndardtMegan LeslieRoger LewisMichael LinvillRichard & Gail LyndesAnne MacDonald

James & Trish McKayAnne McLaughlinJustin MikachMilwaukee County ZooJill MitchellMoore FoundationNancy MulholandSmita NayakAlden OBrienCelia OBrien on behal o

Miss Porters SchoolKevin & Stewart Pearce

Kellogg

Pamela PearsonJoyce and Duane PhillipsDavid QuammenRandi ReichelCaroline RismanBarbara Robin in honour

o Josh & Kate Robinswedding

SATIB Trust (STE-SA)Francesca SandersLea Sellon in honour o her

sweet 16th birthdayMargaret Shipstead

Helen SmithEd & Sally SuppleeLinda Tabor-BeckJunko TakeyaTyler ThornhillLucas Tucker in honour o

his 9th birthdayBarron WallThe Weatherlow FoundationHeather WeberElaine WilsonMohammad Younus

Friends - $250-$999

Save the Elephants is deeply grateful for the support it receives. We are thankful for everygift, each of which is an investment in the future of Africas elephants.

The following individuals and organisations contributed nancially to the mission ofSTE from September 1st, 2011 to August 31st, 2012.

We thank all our anonymous donors, and those who gave less than $250, or those who donated through

JustGiving or Network for Good. We thank Oria Douglas-Hamilton and Elephant Watch for huge support

to STE through advice, fundraising, and involvement in our work.

Bianimales FoundationMary BoardmanBetsy Searle and Michael BranhamThe Late Joe Cullman

Disney Wildlie Conservation FundEnvironmental Systems Research (ESRI)The Heritage GroupInternational Elephant FoundationInternational Fund or Animal WelareJ.R.S. Biodiversity Foundation

Kris & Peter NorvigChristopher OndaatjeThe Late Prince Bernhard o The

Netherlands

Singleton Rankin and World Women WorkAnne & Connie Sidamon-EristoThe Tapeats FundU.S. Fish & Wildlie ServiceWild FoundationWildlie Conservation Network

Lifetime Donations - Founders Circle: $100,000-$249,000


17/19


Save the Elephants totally relies on donations and grants to run our operations successully.For this reason we operate to high standards and strict fnancial controls. In 2011, 84%o the unds raised went to support our programmes in the feld. 16% o the unds went to

Fundraising and Administration. All grants and earmarked donations are used 100% on the

intended projects.

financial statement

Statement of Revenue and Expenses US $

Calendar Year Ending 2011

REVENUE

Donations, Grants, Royalties $1,452,828

Interest Earned $91

TOTAL REVENUE $1,452,919

EXPENSES

Programme Grants & Services $910,684

Fundraising and Administration $173,761

TOTAL EXPENSES $1,084,445

CHANGE IN NET ASSETS $368,474

2011 Analysis of Expenditure

Fundraising & Administration 16%

Programme Grants & Services 84%

Complete nancial reports are available upon request.

Converted from UK audited accounts at a rate of 1.604 Pound = $

how you can helP

How You Can Help

There are tough times ahead or elephants. Under renewed threat rom the ivory trade,and with rising costs o living in developing countries, human-elephant conict isincreasing with competition or land. There is an urgent need to understand how elephants vote

with their eet. Our approach o viewing conservation rom an elephants point o view is done

through our extensive radio tracking programme with multiple collaboration with stakeholders

on the ground.

Save the Elephants (STE) is a small NGO with passion and exibility to respond rapidly to

crises. With 15 years o applied operational experience we need support or our feld activities

and developing partnerships. We have also developed educational and community projects

as vital pillars o our programme. We are uniquely placed to make a dierence with our

intensive training o people rom local communities, strong connections to government wildlieauthorities, and collaboration with similar minded NGOs.

We urgently need your support, while there is still time. Please look at our four programmes

below and choose where you would like to donate to secure a future for elephants. If you cant

donate then please help to raise consciousness on the elephants plight or lobby to lower demand

for ivory.

RESEARCH & CONSERVATION

We support vital research on elephant behaviour and ecology

and have pioneered GPS radio tracking in Arica to provide resh

insight into elephant ways o lie. By understanding elephant needs

and movements, we can approach conservation rom an elephants

perspective.

PROTECTION

We assist wildlie departments in their fght against ivory traders

and poachers. We protect and monitor elephants with aerial

surveillance and early warning systems or poaching and believe

that a renewed ivory trade remains the greatest potential threat to

elephants.

GRASSROOT EDUCATION

We involve local people in research and education to develop a

conservation ethic based on local knowledge and elephant needs,

and recognize that the best potential ambassadors or elephants are

the people with whom they share their land.

GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS

Elephants are intelligent creatures with complex levels o

consciousness and we intend to bring this to the worlds attention.

We disseminate this locally and internationally through flms,

publications, a computerised elephant library, a news service,

social networks and our website.

David Bebber



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www.savetheelephants.org32

contact us

Why Choose Save the Elephants

We believe that Save the Elephants continued presence at the oreront o research intothe ecology and behaviour o elephants represents a crucial building block or theconservation and well-being o elephants across Arica. Our involvement in tackling the ivory

demand goes to the root cause o the current threat to elephants, and the solutions we seek to

implement are based on long experience in the feld and the corridors o power.

How to Donate

IN THE UNITED STATES

Cheque donations (tax deductible) may be sent to:

Wildlie Conservation Network / Save the Elephants Project25745 Bassett Lane

Los Altos, CA 94022

Tax Exempt ID #30-0108469

Please remember to specify the donation is for Elephants in the Designation eld.

IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Cheque donations may be sent to:

Save the Elephants c/o Ambrose Appelbe

7 New Square Lincolns Inn

London WC2A 3RA

Reg. Charity No 1118804

If you give through the Gift Aid Scheme we receive an extra amount deducted from your taxes at no

extra cost to you (UK tax payers only).

IN SOUTH AFRICA

Cheque donations may be sent to:

Save the Elephants South Arica (STE-SA)

Account number: 331632284

Standard Bank branch code: 052752Hoedspruit Southern Arica

International Banking Account Number: SBZAZAJJ

Tax exempt number: 930030852

Contact UsMain Ofce

Save the Elephants

Marula Manor, Marula Lane, Karen

PO Box 54667-00200

Nairobi, Kenya

Phone: +254 (0) 20 236 2730

Ofce Mobile: +254 (0) 720 441 178

Email: [email protected]

Southern Africa Ofce

Dr Michelle Henley

Tanda Tula Saari Camp

Timbavati Private Nature Reserve

Limpopo, South Arica

Phone: +27 (0)15 793 0369

Mobile: +27 (0)71 006 3900

Email: [email protected]

Laikipia-Samburu

Chyulu

MaasaiMara

Serengeti

KrugerNationalPark

AsantaSanaRanch

South Africa

Mali

Kenya

ChinaGabon

Understanding forest elephantmovements in Central Africa while

there is sll me, allows our

partners to plots detailed elephant

needs and strategies, and is used at

the highest government levels to

promote elephant survival.

We are analysing movement data ofrare surviving desert elephants in Mali

who live in extreme heat, where the

Sahara meets a scaering of trees and

shrubs. This will help secure their future

with the resident nomadic people.

Sharing knowledge with the increasingly affluentmiddle classes of China is vital if the destrucve

force of their buying of ivory is to be reduced.

China will be increasingly influenal in Africa in

the coming years and could become a posive

factor in the survival of the African el ephant.

Kenya is the centre of our East Africanelephant research, protecon, and

community outreach. Understanding

elephant dispersal and vital corridors will

improve wise land use and elephant

management strategies.

Adjoining the greater Krugerecosystem in Southern Africa our

sciensts track elephants across

internaonal boundaries. We idenfy

individual elephants, examine the

effects of elephants on key tree

species and provide scienfic

knowledge to all stakeholders.

savethe elePhants areasof involvement


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Documents

2012 Save The Elephants Anual Report