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Official figures report at least 30 elephants killed every day by poachers in Tanzania. The rangers of TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks) risk their lives daily trying to confront the poachers and to protect the elephants. There’s the urgent need to train the rangers in order for them to work more efficiently and in a safer way.
In partnership with PAMS Foundation (www.pamsfoundation.org), the Elephant Action League is supporting an anti-poaching program in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania’s largest National Park, which forms the heart of a unique and large ecosystem, with over 4 million hectares of protected areas. With the growth in the illicit ivory trade, the Ruaha elephant population is becoming increasingly targeted.
EAL’s director Andrea Crosta visited Ruaha in August 2013 to see the excellent work that PAMS Foundation is doing in the field. Mr Crosta spent a few days with PAMS’s directors Wayne Lotter and Krissie Clark, met TANAPA’s directors in Ruaha and assisted to a training exercise.
PAMS activities have produced some meaningful successes since 2011, reducing poaching, facilitating over 360 arrests and the seizures of over 460 weapons and 93 ivory tusks.
The Elephant Action League supports the work of PAMS Foundation in Ruaha National Park by co-funding (together with IFAW) anti-poaching training and activities.
The Project’s main objectives are:
• providing advanced training on anti-poaching
• establishing an informer network in communities adjacent to the National Park for the gathering and analysis of intelligence information needed for enabling effective preventive and reactive actions against poacher networks
• providing incentives for exemplary performance
• developing a security plan for the Park
After this on site visit, EAL is really proud to support the work of PAMS Foundation. Many elephants and rangers owe their lives to Wayne and Krissie’s amazing work.
In the picture:
1. the wonderful elephants of Ruaha
2. EAL’s director Andrea Crosta (blue shirt) talking to TANAPA’s responsible and istructors, Wayne Lotter and Krissie Clark
3. Shooting exercise during the anti-poaching training
Photo credits: Elephant Action League
