Reinier van Esch joined ACK as a stu­dent intern to assist in con­ser­va­tion efforts. He attends Helicon University in Ecology and Wildlife Management. In his first two weeks he has assisted with Konza Animal Rescue efforts work­ing with local vol­un­teers to hang reflec­tive bot­tles, he has entered data and is draft­ing updates to the web site and he is learn­ing about wildlife mon­i­tor­ing efforts to assist in set­ting game count tran­sects. Thank you Reinier – you are a plea­sure to have on our team!

Since 2007 we have col­lected details on preda­tor con­flict in the Salama area. After run­ning analy­sis on the data we have now for­mu­lated a new ques­tion­naire. Our staff role play and prac­tice inter­view­ing to main­tain con­sis­tency in the way we ask and record questions.

I would like to say a big thanks to Utah’s Hogle Zoo for their con­tin­u­ous sup­port for the past 10 years. Grants and in-kind dona­tions have come reg­u­larly from the Zoological Society and from the Utah Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers. The Utah AAZK also hosts an annual Bowling for Rhinos event rais­ing funds for rhino con­ser­va­tion in Kenya, Sumatra and Java. A por­tion of the funds raised through that event are also given to ACK.
Recently a group of keep­ers and friends trav­eled to Kenya on safari and car­ried cam­era traps and vehi­cle stick­ers donated from the zoo.
THANK YOU!

It has been more than six weeks since the fence con­struc­tion at Konza stopped. The two open­ings remain on the south­ern and east­ern cor­ners. For sev­eral weeks while KWS, ACK, the Athi-Kapiti Cheetah project and neigh­bor­ing ranches eval­u­ated the sit­u­a­tion, water was pro­vided through dona­tions to the Friends of the Nairobi National Park (FoNNaP). Michael Mbithi headed the water­ing efforts until the gov­ern­ment paper­work could be filed to allo­cate the nec­es­sary funding.

Two new field staff have been added to the ACK efforts in chee­tah con­ser­va­tion in the Meibae Conservancy. Soulh and Kinosi will be work­ing part time through May while they work with the Conservancy rangers on data col­lec­tion. Chris Lentaam remains the pri­mary field offi­cer in the area. Chris leads the train­ing and will be the point per­son in our work in the Conservancy. Chris has also been given train­ing on data entry and will attend a Human-Wildlife con­flict sem­i­nar in Laikipia in March.

Two weeks ago I was alerted about an issue at the Konza ICT Technical Park. The 5000 acre Park fence has been under­way since early this year. I have watched with dis­may as the posts were placed and as chain link has sur­rounded the entire Park… leav­ing only about 1KM open­ing and cre­at­ing a trap for res­i­dent wildlife.