Our friends at the Kenya Wildlife Service report that one poacher was killed and six arrested in three separate recent incidents. During one week in late March, KWS officers gunned down six elephant poachers in two separate incidents.
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I surely don’t want any African lives lost — human or elephant. But I’ve seen enough elephant poaching and read enough stories of valiant park rangers losing their lives that it’s about time the good guys won some battles in the ivory war.
Those who pursue the violent yet cowardly “suppliers” in the international trade of body parts such as elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns too often pay with their lives. In recent years, dozens of KWS officers have been killed by poachers.
I wish there were some quick, efficient way to end the poaching problem that did not involve shootouts on the savannah. Alas, as long as there is demand for ivory from elephants there will be suppliers. And they must be forcibly captured — or if they resist with powerful violence, wildlife law enforcement officers must defend themselves with the same vigor they use to defend wild animals.
It’s a cruel world, I know. And Born Free does all it can to equip those who put their lives on the line every day to save wildlife. Animals everywhere need heroes. And in the Kenya Wildlife Service I know there are many.
Blogging off,
Will