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Dear Friends,
Too often good news in conservation is just the absence of bad news. But today on World Elephant Day we want to celebrate some good news for elephants that is transpiring in several of the parks under our management.
Thanks to our government partners, key funders and supporters like you, African Parks has been able to make significant headway in restoring and safeguarding Africa’s elephants. Over the last few years alone we have managed to:
- Increase elephant numbers in Zakouma National Park in Chad for the first time in decades. Between 2002 and 2010, 4,000 elephants were killed for their ivory, and only 450 remained. In 2010 African Parks assumed management of Zakouma, in partnership with the Chadian Government, and immediately restored security to the region. The elephant population has since increased to over 560 individuals, with 127 calves under the age of five years old counted last year. In 2011, we counted just one.
- Rehome 520 elephants in Malawi. By August 2017 African Parks completed one of the world’s largest elephant translocations in history. We repopulated Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve with 520 elephants and over 1,350 other game animals to restore the reserve and relieve pressure on Liwonde National Park’s and Majete Wildlife Reserve’s ecosystems.
- Decrease elephant poaching by 98% in Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The park was once home to as many as 22,000 elephants as recently as the 1970’s; today fewer than 1,200 remain as a result of decades of rampant poaching. But in 2016 we overhauled Garamba’s law enforcement strategy, significantly reducing elephant poaching where only two were lost in 2018.
- Secure the largest stronghold of elephants in West Africa. In partnership with the Government of Benin, African Parks assumed management of Pendjari National Park in 2017 and began protecting the remaining 1,700 elephants within the park. In the last two years we have collared 25 elephants in order to collect valuable data to monitor and better protect them.
But we cannot do it alone.
We need your help to continue this invaluable work, to safeguard this threatened species, secure their vast landscapes, and to protect these gentle giants for generations to come. |
