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A Letter from Founder & President Mike Korchinsky on Our No-Gun Policy
We’d like to extend a huge thank you to our supporters and the viewers of ‘Ivory Wars’ for their outpouring of support and encouragement following the initial airings of the series set at our Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project in Kenya. Elephant poaching remains a serious issue, and we’re glad this opportunity has allowed us to more broadly bring to light its devastating affects. Since the initial airing, we’ve received some questions about the no-gun policy for our rangers. In an effort to ensure transparency and clear communication about our diligent efforts to keep our rangers safe, we’d like to share some detail about this policy, which has developed as a…
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African Wild Dogs in Rukinga
To effectively protect the wildlife in our project area, the Wildlife Works biodiversity monitoring team and rangers employ several strategies to ensure all species present are safely maintained and to record data for referencing purposes. Some ways used to monitor the wildlife include ranger patrols, road transects and camera traps, which are set by the biodiversity team. Wildlife Works rangers, on the other hand, document data of the wildlife they encounter on the ranches whilst on security patrols. Combined, these methods of supervising the wellbeing of our wildlife, has proven effective at uncovering important information on some of the most rare wildlife in the world. Recently, one of the cameras…
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Wildlife Works rangers fight against illegal ivory trade
With the increase in violence linked to the rising value of ivory, Wildlife Works’ team of rangers, led by Head Ranger and Security Manager Eric Sagwe, have been working harder than ever to curb poaching and protect wildlife. The team encountered three notable events over the past few months, from poachers killing small game for meat to a large-scale slaughter for ivory, and will continue their tireless efforts to discourage poaching and protect wildlife. Recently, two poachers were caught killing small animals to sell as bush meat. The pair had slaughtered two dik diks and two hares using pangas (large, broad-bladed African knives used as tools or weapons) and confessed…
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Tragedy strikes Rukinga Sanctuary
WARNING: The following blog post contains graphic photos of elephants killed by ivory poachers. View at your own discretion. As the new year kicks off, we take a look back at the challenges and accomplishments of 2012. We were proud to start the year by building a nursery for Wildlife Works’ employees’ families, and thrilled to be partners with PUMA for their Creative Factory project. We welcomed our first female Wildlife rangers and happily received validation and verification for the first REDD+ project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The greatest challenge we face going into 2013 is the growing threat to wildlife from the increasingly violent ivory trade, and we…
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Rescued Lesser Kudu
The lesser kudu is an ancient species of forest antelope found in East Africa, the most primitive of all spiral-horned antelope. They live in dry thorn bush and forest, and are one of the many protected inhabitants of our Rukinga Sanctuary, Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project. Kudus, which range between 90 to 110 kg, are quite nimble; they can jump distances of more than 30 feet! Despite their agile nature, these beautiful creatures are on the decline due to illegal poaching, and have been marked as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). While patrolling the sanctuary on Sept 24th, a team of Wildlife…
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Update on Ijema, Our Injured Ranger
Thank you to all who donated to the families of Ijema, our injured ranger, and Abdi, our ranger who suffered a fatal gunshot wound. We received an outpouring of heartfelt messages from all over the world as well as generous donations that totaled $6781, which has been passed on to both families on your behalf. Abdi’s family will also benefit from Wildlife Works hiring one of their family members, Ali Adoww, who is currently being trained as a ranger. Wildlife Works has put Ijema up in a comfortable home in town and is supporting him through his recovery, including the surgeries to repair his shoulder. The titanium shoulder was donated…
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Update on Ijema Funan, Injured Ranger
Ijema was discharged from the hospital last week and for the first time since the surgery is showing no signs of fever. This is fantastic news, as it means that the antibiotics are fighting off any infection. In fact, Ijema actually felt strong enough to go and do a bit of shopping on his own in the local town of Voi to pick up some bits and bobs. He’s been surprised and somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of visitors he has received, which have kept him pretty busy while trying to rest and recover. He is looking a lot better, and doctors seem pleased with the progress so far, but…
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Elephant Poachers Kill Wildlife Works Conservation Ranger and Critically Injure Another
As vigilant as we are when it comes to protecting our community and the wildlife surrounding us, tragedy still finds us at times. On Friday, January 13th, elephant poachers opened fired on our unarmed conservation rangers who were patrolling the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project area in Kenya. One of our rangers, Abdullahi Mohammed, was fatally shot and another ranger, Ijema Funan, was injured by the gunfire. At the time, our rangers, along with members of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), were tracking the poachers after discovering a wounded elephant in the protected project area. “This is the first time in 15 years that any of our rangers have been killed…
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Injured Elephant Treated on Rukinga
BY ROB DODSON – VP – RUKINGA – 15th February 2011 Our Wildlife Works rangers at our Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project came across a large male elephant that was having trouble walking and so we called in the Sheldrick Trust vet to dart him and have a look at the heavily swollen leg. Our rangers led the vet through the thick bush to where the elephant was leaning against a tree, showing obvious severe discomfort. A dart was successfully shot into his flank and he went down after a few minutes and we were able to have a good look at him. We found that he had a small but…
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Rangers Recruitment Day 2, Marapou Borehole, Sagalla – 6th November 2010
By Lara Cowan – Office Manager – 6th November 2010. Wildlife Works Rangers Recruitment Day 2 at Marapu Borehole, 6 November 2010 The recruitment day at Marapu was to allow the communities of Sagalla Hill lower such as Zomngwani, Raghasi, Marapau Talio B, Teri B to participate in the recruitment process. These are new community areas from Phase II, and are not yet being employed by Wildlife Works Carbon. It was very important to involve them. Our Rangers and management at the Marapu Borehole completing registration. All applicants had to come with their IDS, Application letters, be between the age of 18 to 40 years old and for men be…
