PATTERNS AND CAUSES OF ELEPHANT MORTALITY IN NAROK COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The increasing trend in elephant mortality pauses challenges to their conservation and management globally. Attempts to mitigate the causes of mortality have not recorded a lot of success in recent years. This study was carried out in Narok County (NC) and aimed at assessing the patterns and causes of elephant mortality. Specific objectives included: determining the spatial and temporal patterns of elephant mortality; determining the trend of elephant mortality over the last 12 years; establishing the causes of elephant mortality; and lastly, assessing the attitudes and perceptions of the local community towards elephant conservation. The study utilized the descriptive research design. The trend in elephant mortality was determined using data from Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and World Wide Fund for Nature - Human-elephant Conflict (WWF-HEC) project compiled for a period of 11 years. Field monitoring was carried out for one year and any dead elephant seen was examined and details recorded on causes of mortality and distribution. Attitudes and perceptions of the local community towards elephants were determined through questionnaire surveys, focus group discussions and interviews. Respondents were grouped into three clusters depending on their economic activities in relation to benefits from conservation. The clusters were farmers not benefiting from conservation activities (FNB), pastoralists not benefiting (PNB) and pastoralists benefiting (PB). Spatial and temporal patterns data were entered in an Excel spreadsheet and then converted into dBASE IV format and imported to ArcGIS to create a point shape file of elephant mortality and associated attributes data. Graphs and maps were generated linking mortality with other aspects such as distance to rivers, roads, human settlement and rain season. The Proportion of Illegally Killed Elephants (PIKE) was calculated for the 12 years. Data obtained using qualitative research method was analysed using the chi-square test and regression. Frequencies were calculated, and where appropriate, a chi-square test was used to determine existing relationships between data categories and drawing conclusions about the study. Results indicated that illegal killing has been a major cause of elephant mortality over the past 12 years, (χ2 = 65, df = 11, p = 0.05). The total number of elephants that died between 2000 and 2011 due to trophy poaching, human-elephant (HEC), unknown reasons, euthanasia, natural cause, problem animal control and accidents were significantly different (χ2 = 118, df = 6, p < 0.002). The attitudes and perceptions of the local community towards elephant conservation were significantly different among the different clusters of respondents (χ2 =74.157, df =8, p=0.000). Various mitigation measures to curb the high rate of mortality were identified among them equitable benefit sharing and education and extension. It is evident from the results that elephant conservation faces many challenges among them poaching and human-elephant conflict. There is need to address issues such as benefit sharing, HEC, and increase in law enforcement by KWS to control the increasing mortality.