Qumquat, one of the best-known matriarchs in the elephant population of the Amboseli ecosystem on the Kenya-Tanzania border, was photographed with her family on October 27 by Nick Brandt. Just 24 hours later, the old female and most of the others were gunned down by poachers.On October 27, Nick Brandt, the photographer and conservationist, photographed Qumquat, one of the best known matriarchs in the elephant population around Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, walking with two daughters, their young and other kin.
Nick BrandtQumquat, one of the best-known matriarchs in the elephant population of the Amboseli ecosystem on the Kenya-Tanzania border, was photographed with her family on October 27 by Nick Brandt. Just 24 hours later, the old female and most of the others were gunned down by poachers.
One day later, the old female and nearly all of the other elephants in this group were found slaughtered. Their faces had been hacked off by the poachers to be sure they gleaned every ounce of ivory from the tusks. (Click here for photographs of the result – not for the squeamish.)
Read on for a description of this incident and the resulting hunt for the killers by Richard Bonham, who co-founded Big Life Foundation with Brandt a few years ago to raise money for anti-poaching patrols around the park. There’s more on their work on Dot Earth (the same post is here in Chinese). Here’s Bonham’s report from the field:
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