NAIROBI, Kenya — As the Trump administration announced a lift on a ban put in place by the Obama administration to stop hunters from importing elephant trophies into the United States from Zimbabwe and Zambia, African conservation groups continue to work to protect one of the continent’s most precious animals.
According to the African Wildlife Foundation, 100,000 elephants were slaughtered between 2010 and 2012 by poachers for ivory. At current poaching rates, elephants may be extinct in certain parts of the wild in as little as 10 years.
In Nairobi, Kenya, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is committed to stabilizing and growing the elephant and rhino population. Founded in 1977, the group works to combat removal of the animal’s tusks for use as trophies and slaughter of the animals to be consumed as bush meat.
At 6 a.m., Peter Mbulu, 38, is following behind a group of baby elephants as he leads them into the forest at Nairobi’s National Park. A humid and a sunny morning, the elephants begin grabbing the tree branches and playfully pushing their keeper Mbulu along. Mbulu has worked for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust for 18 years and knows the elephant’s daily routine.
“Every day we take the babies around the park at 6:00 am, stay with them until 11:00 am, then we take them out for the public 11:00 am to 12:00 pm,” said Mbulu. “Then we bring them back again into the field for the rest of the day.”
The trust has saved over 200 infant elephants and has rehabilitated the orphans back into Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park. Rehabilitation back into the wild typically takes between five and 10 years. The trust was created in 1977 by Dr. Daphne Sheldrick, who spent more than 60 years working with wildlife.
I am broadly interested in how human activities influence the ability of wildlife to persist in the modified environments that we create.
Specifically, my research investigates how the configuration and composition of landscapes influence the movement and population dynamics of forest birds. Both natural and human-derived fragmenting of habitat can influence where birds settle, how they access the resources they need to survive and reproduce, and these factors in turn affect population demographics. Most recently, I have been studying the ability of individuals to move through and utilize forested areas which have been modified through timber harvest as they seek out resources for the breeding and postfledging phases. As well I am working in collaboration with Parks Canada scientists to examine in the influence of high density moose populations on forest bird communities in Gros Morne National Park. Many of my projects are conducted in collaboration or consultation with representatives of industry and government agencies, seeking to improve the management and sustainability of natural resource extraction.
