It was a pitiful scene: powerful muscles, large paws, and a regal head, all rendered inert. Golden fur contrasted sharply with the bare, dark earth, and laboured, monotonous breathing was the only indicator that this male lion was still alive.

He lay barely a hundred metres from the carcass he’d fed on the night before. The lions had killed a cow and the cow’s herder had laced it with poison in retaliation, which is illegal in Kenya.

Big Life rangers and our partners at Lion Guardians hurried to the scene and were soon joined by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust-funded KWS Amboseli vet. He administered treatment immediately and moved the lion to a safer location, but despite everyone’s effort, the lion died that evening.

Lion Guardians tracked the 6 others in this male’s group, who fortunately all seem to be fit and well, and the remainder of the carcass was destroyed to prevent further devastation.

This incident occurred just inside an area called Kaputei, neighbouring Big Life’s core area of operation. It is an area that is unfriendly for wildlife, but animals don’t know that, and without fences they roam freely.

If the lions had killed the cow just 1.4 km south of this spot on Mbirikani Ranch, inside Big Life’s core area, this male would likely still be alive. Why? Because Big Life’s Predator Compensation Fund (PCF) works.

PCF reimburses livestock owners a portion of the value of depredations on the condition that no predators are killed in retaliation.  Since 2015, only one poisoning incident has happened on Mbirikani, and that was done by a Kaputei resident who came onto Mbirikani who’d had a cow killed by lions.  Over the same period, 9 lions have been poisoned in Kaputei ‘next door’.

This comparison is a stark illustration of the impact that conservation interventions can have, but also highlights the challenges in protecting free-roaming wildlife. Amboseli is an open system and animals come and go. What we can do is create a safe zone for predators, so long as we can maintain our PCF coverage.

Please donate and help keep our PCF program funded and predators like lions, leopards, and cheetah protected from retaliation.

And a special thank you to our partners at Lion Guardians, KWS, and Sheldrick Wildlife Trust for their support. Photo: Josh Clay

Isinya is a hot, dusty town situated along the Namanga Highway, a key artery connecting Nairobi to Tanzania. It’s a key refueling station for the hundreds of trucks that pass through it every day. And for those who might be tempted, a seemingly perfect location to sell illicit items before disappearing without a trace.

To combat this, Big Life has built a wide and highly effective network of informers across Kenya and Tanzania to ensure such people are exposed and prosecuted.

That is exactly what happened to two men attempting to sell 24 pieces of ivory weighing 56 kg near a shopping center in Isinya last week. Using Big Life intelligence, a KWS agent acted as a buyer while another team swooped in to make the arrest. This bust brings the total ivory confiscated this year to 213 kg. While it is suspected that the tusks are 2-4 years old, it continues an upward trend we’ve been tracking in ivory trafficking.

According to our data, there was a clear reduction in confiscated ivory from 2017 to 2021, dropping from 1,000 kg to 370 kg. But alarmingly, these numbers have been creeping back up. Last year, we confiscated 1,482 kg, the most since our records began in 2016.

It is very difficult to point the finger at any one cause. But is likely due to a combination of “opportunistic” ivory sales following high elephant mortalities during the recent drought, lower farm yields and labor opportunities, overshadowed by nationwide rates of inflation and rising cost of living that could be making such incomes from illegal means appear more attractive. The rate of elephant poaching, while still low, has also risen elsewhere in Kenya since 2020.

The illegal trade in elephant ivory is a serious threat. Big Life's intelligence network and partnership with KWS are critical in the fight against this trade. Together, we continue to demonstrate that wildlife conservation is a collaborative effort that spans governmental organizations, NGOs, and the local community.

We want to end the week on an uplifting note.

Last November, we shared the exciting news of a new baby rhino calf in the Chyulu Hills area. It was tiny and vulnerable and we had lost many at this age before, so our hope was also tempered by worry.

Big Life and KWS rangers kept close tabs on the camera traps in the area it had been seen, and tracks were also helping us keep tabs on it. Then the signs dried up, and weeks went by. It wasn’t necessarily bad news, but it was concerning.

So imagine our excitement in spotting it on camera again: bigger and still very much alive.

The Eastern black rhino is critically endangered. There are estimated to be fewer than 1,000 remaining, so this calf is a major event, taking our resident population from 7 to 8. The calf is still young, but every day that it survives, it gets stronger and more likely to make it to adulthood.

These are some of the last wild and unfenced black rhinos in East Africa and the remnants of a population that we intend to re-establish as a stronghold for the species in Kenya.

Thanks to Big Life’s rangers, working in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service, we haven’t lost a single rhino to poachers in more than 8 years, but births have been rare in such a small population.

These are the successes that make it all worthwhile. Thank you to all who support our rhino program, particularly USFWS and Chester Zoo, as well as our partners at Royal African Safaris.

There aren’t many ways to stop a bullet and Kevlar armor doesn’t come in ‘Super Tusker’ size. We’re hoping a tracking collar will be the next best thing because Esau needs it.

Esau is extraordinary. Only 34 years old, his tusks are already past the 100-pound mark, putting him in the rare company of Super Tuskers, of which as few as 50 remain across Africa.

Esau is the nephew of Echo, one of Amboseli’s most famous matriarchs. We know his life story thanks to the amazing work done by Amboseli Trust for Elephants.

Their data shows that at least 20% of Amboseli’s elephants cross the border into Tanzania, including Esau. Until now, he has had little to fear thanks to cross-border anti-poaching operations, but a new threat lurks across the invisible border.

After more than two decades, trophy hunters have started hunting elephants in this area of northern Tanzania again. Three have been killed since last September, at least two of them reported to be Super Tuskers. Esau would be a prime target.

Hearing this, our friends at Mara Elephant Project provided a tracking collar through their partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service and Wildlife Research and Training Institute. During the planning phase, Esau received an injury to his trunk, likely during a fight with another bull, and the opportunity to treat it added further impetus to the exercise.

Timing was everything. Rangers followed his movements on both sides of the border, and when he crossed into Kenya, the teams were ready.

Save the Elephants sent specialists to assist with the collar fitting and the operation was an extraordinary display of cooperation and transboundary commitment to protecting these bulls. Nine entities were involved, including Big Life-supported rangers from the Enduimet Wildlife Management Area in Tanzania.

Esau's collar will provide invaluable data on the movements of a male approaching his breeding prime, but more importantly it could save his life, as research animals are 'off-limits' for hunters.

Special thanks to Kenya Wildlife Service, Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Olgulului Community Rangers, and IFAW in addition to those already mentioned. Photo & Video: Jeremy Goss