Tumaren

Category: Issues | Date: Sep 26 2007 | By: tumaren

This is a distressing BBC article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7011593.stm

The British Army continues to deny any wrongdoing when it comes to their excercises in northern Kenya and the impact on wildlife. A qoute from a spokeperson for the British High Commission:

“Helicopters follow routine flight paths which avoid game reserves and national parks. They have not flown beneath minimum height restrictions and have not been illegally viewing game.”

What this response does not touch on is the fact that British Army Helicopters continue to harass Elephants while practicing on private game reserves, namely Mpala Ranch. In order to practice their exercises on Mpala and despite promises to curtail Helicopter harassment, helicopters continue to push Elephant herds away from their practice areas (these are the same Elephants that live in Samburu National Reserve - they move between). Only one week ago our rangers saw the helicopters dispersing the Elephants in huge clouds of sand. The Elephant herds ran toward Tumaren but most did not cross because the river was high and they were with small young. This only aggravated their stress.
Jamie

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