13 Elephants to be put on a 7000km flight
By Judy Jerono
Kenya is set to receive a troop of 13 elephants from the United Kingdom to be released into the Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary in Kwale County.
Thirteen African elephants weighing 25 tonnes are expected to be flown from the United Kingdom more than 7,000km across the globe to their ancestral homelands in Kenya for rewilding.
The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has said that the project includes returnin
[caption id="attachment_16301" align="alignnone" width="1638"]
File image of elephants at a national park in Kenya. |Courtesy| SoundPasta|[/caption]
g captive elephants and that the elephants which were raised at the Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent, UK, will be transferred in a joint project by UK-based nonprofit Aspinall Foundation, the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
This is the first time a herd of elephants has been returned to Africa from Europe where the authorities say that the elephants have been living as a family in the UK and need to be rewilded together to maintain the family bonds of the animals’ social structures.
The elephants which now live in an eight-acre enclosure at the park in Kent were born in captivity in Europe where their ancestry has been traced to Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
NEMA further revealed that the elephants will be screened for diseases before the translocation and several times afterwards. And that some will be fitted with satellite collars for tracking and monitoring.
Eight of the elephants are female, with the oldest being 34 while the youngest is 1.2. The project is expected to discourage the trade in live elephants in the global zoo industry.
The transportation of the animals will be organized by TAF and its partner Kester Vickery of Conservation Solutions, which has successfully translocated over 100,000 animals.
File image of elephants at a national park in Kenya. |Courtesy| SoundPasta|[/caption]
g captive elephants and that the elephants which were raised at the Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent, UK, will be transferred in a joint project by UK-based nonprofit Aspinall Foundation, the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
This is the first time a herd of elephants has been returned to Africa from Europe where the authorities say that the elephants have been living as a family in the UK and need to be rewilded together to maintain the family bonds of the animals’ social structures.
The elephants which now live in an eight-acre enclosure at the park in Kent were born in captivity in Europe where their ancestry has been traced to Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
NEMA further revealed that the elephants will be screened for diseases before the translocation and several times afterwards. And that some will be fitted with satellite collars for tracking and monitoring.
Eight of the elephants are female, with the oldest being 34 while the youngest is 1.2. The project is expected to discourage the trade in live elephants in the global zoo industry.
The transportation of the animals will be organized by TAF and its partner Kester Vickery of Conservation Solutions, which has successfully translocated over 100,000 animals. What's Your Reaction?
