Latest Kenya Wildlife Service Stories

LOS ALTOS, Calif., July 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) today announced that its Kenya-based elephant conservation partner, Save the Elephants (STE), endorses the decision by the Kenya Wildlife Service to publicly set fire to five tons of confiscated tusks and processed ivory, which were seized in Singapore in 2002. The July 20 action in Tsavo West National Park is directed toward engaging the cooperation of the nations of the world in fighting illicit trade...

The elephant population in Kenya's expansive Kenya's Tsavo National Park, in the south of the country, rose to 12,572 from 11,696 three years ago according to the preliminary results of a census released Saturday. AFP reports that despite increased poaching and a recent severe drought, Kenya is pleased to announce the rise in elephant population in its flagship park, wildlife authorities announced.Tsavo National Park is Kenya's premier elephant sanctuary, hosting one third of its entire...

Researchers may have discovered a new species of the giant elephant shrew in a remote Kenyan forest. The scientists said on Tuesday that they captured images of the shrew on camera-traps in the Boni-Dodori forest along Kenya's northeastern coast while they were researching biodiversity.  "It is believed to be a new species of giant sengi, otherwise known as an elephant shrew (Macroscelidea)," the conservationists from the Zoological Society of London and the Kenya Wildlife...

The wild population of a species of antelope that only numbers 103 individuals in east Africa is on the verge of extinction, Kenyan wildlife officials warned Thursday. The mountain bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci) was impacted by habitat loss, genetic factors, predation and disease, said the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in a statement. This is the largest mountain antelope species, weighing up to 660 pounds. It has white stripes against a chestnut brown hide, and both sexes have twisted...

On Wednesday, Kenyan gamers started to round up thousands of zebras to move to a reserve where lions are attacking livestock due to a lack of prey. The nationwide operation is due to last until the end of the month in what will go down as one of Africa's biggest animal translocations so far.  The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) launched the operation in Soysambu conservancy. Rangers in helicopters started rounding up galloping zebras into a large V-shaped tarpaulin enclosure after daybreak....

According to an AFP report, Kenya's drought is having an impact on the country's wildlife, causing the Kenya Wildlife Service to feed hippos to keep them alive. In Tsavo West national park hippos are dying in large numbers, and other species are being forced to change their diet. About 15 hippos have been found dead in the park within the last few weeks due to the lack of grass to graze on around the pools they submerge themselves in. "For the past one month, the research team has...

The Kenya Wildlife Service announced Monday that Kenya's lion population has dropped an average of 100 lions a year since 2002, which could mean the big cats might become extinct in two decades. The organization's spokesman Paul Udoto told AFP that cattle herders who kill lions in retaliation for attacks on their stock have been blamed for a big chunk of the decline. Udoto said that habitat destruction, disease and the rising human population has also played a role in dropping the lion...

Long-term declines of elephants, giraffe, impala and other animals in Kenya are occurring at the same rates within the country's national parks as outside of these protected areas, according to a study released this week."This is the first time we've taken a good look at a national park system in one country, relative to all of the wildlife populations across the whole country," said David Western, an adjunct professor of biology at UC San Diego and the founding executive director of the...

Officials at Kenya's majestic Hell's Gate National Park announced on Friday that park rangers had recently sighted an albino buffalo calf, the first of its kind ever found in the country."This is the first time that an albino buffalo has been found in our parks and it's a great day for nature and animal lovers," said the park's senior warden, Nelly Palmeris.Based on its size, rangers estimate that the calf is about three months old.  Though traveling with one the park's largest buffalo...

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An armed poacher suspected to be behind a spate of elephant killings was shot and killed by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers during a gun battle yesterday in Tsavo East National Park. A semi-automatic rifle, 17 rounds of ammunition and poisoned arrows were recovered from the scene. Ivory was the primary motivation here, according to officials. Rangers had trailed the poacher and his accomplice for 17 hours on foot, according to area...