Ya huzuni

I have a very sad story to tell. For the past two weeks or so we have been monitoring a female elephant on the property who looked pregnant and was limping quite severely on her left front leg. She has not been travelling with the rest of her herd and has therefore fed too sparingly to support her body size. On Wednesday morning I got a call that she had passed away. I wanted to go inspect her body to see if I recognized her from my ID files and to get her age. I went in the afternoon and to confirm if she was pregnant, her stomach was cut open to expose a fetus that was completely ready. It was a baby boy fully ready for birth. There was a wound behind the elephant's ear which raises the suspicion that she was wounded by a poacher, although this couldn't be confirmed because she was lying on the wounded side. After further investigation and talking to people at the ranch, most likely the wound was caused by an arrow with poison, as the Masai use in the area. Poachers aim for behind the ear hoping that the spear/bullet would go to the brain for a quick kill. However, this elephant's swelling was probably caused by the poison which unfortunately does not kill quickly. I have been stricken with the reality of why I am here. I think it is quite easy to fall into this routine of going and enjoying all the wildlife and experiences Tanzania is offering me, but this incident has really fed my desire to conserve the wildlife of Tanzania. Although devastating, I am now more determined to play a part in saving these elephants by providing methods other than killing that will keep peace or at least alleviate conflict between humans and elephants. The tusks were collected from the elephant and will be picked up by the wildlife division.