80% Decline in Elephant Population in Shimba Hills National Reserve

It is a race against time to save the Coastal Kenya Elephant population in the Shimba Hills National Reserve, after a shocking revelation following a recent aerial census conducted in July 2017 by the Kenya Wildlife Service in collaboration with WWF-Kenya.

According to figures from previous aerial censuses, the number of elephants had consistently been declining with the highest decline recorded in 2017 standing at only 35 elephants. This is an over 80% decline in population compared to 2007 (305 elephants) & 2012 (274 elephants).

The census method in 2007, 2012 and 2017 were similar with regard to the sampling effort, timing, transects flown, duration of the flight and the use of helicopter, thus making the census results comparable.

The reason for the decline could be attributed to poaching, retaliatory killing due to human-elephant conflict and severe drought that were experienced in this area in the recent past. Although 24 old elephant carcasses were sighted during the 2017 census, it’s not immediately possible to conclude what may have caused the sharp decline and hence the need for thorough patrols and monitoring of elephant population in Shimba to establish the cause of the decline.

Effective monitoring using SMART technology, collaring of elephant to establish their movement patterns and establishing intensive wildlife security patrols is a priority in this area which will be the focus of WWF and other agencies in the coming years.

The shimba Hills National Reserve whose park Size is 320 sq. Km is mostly known as a habitat for the endangered sable antelope – estimated at 55 and a high density of elephant population.