Elephants are highly intelligent and lead intricate social and emotional lives. They experience pain and fear, recognise the remains of their dead and mourn their loss. The devastation left behind by ivory poachers therefore extends far beyond the decimation of populations to a trail of death, suffering and anguish. The indiscriminate slaughter of elephants for their tusks also leaves behind orphans who have no hope of survival without our help.

CWI has fought ivory poachers and helped care for orphaned elephants for nearly 25 years. In fact, CWI’s support for the rescue and rehabilitation of elephant orphans at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust through our Elephant Adoption Programme was one of the very reasons CWI was set up. Since then almost 100 elephant calves have been painstakingly hand-reared and more than 40 have successfully rejoined Kenya’s wild herds - a wonderful testimony of what your support can achieve. As part of this initiative, CWI supported the creation of two elephant rehabilitation facilities in Tsavo East National Park. These centres act as halfway houses for rescued calves in transition from the Nairobi nursery to life in the wild - a journey of up to ten years. A team of specialist elephant carers take over the role of the orphans’ lost mother and family until they are old enough to live free amongst other wild elephants. But part of living free means facing the same threats as wild elephants - including poachers.

Since the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) sanctioned the sale of stockpiled ivory from southern Africa, there has been a rise in poaching. The nursery too has had to take in more orphans than ever before. But elephants also suffer as a result of poaching for illegal bushmeat. Caught in wire snares set for animals such as antelopes, zebra and wildebeest, elephants usually manage to free themselves, but the wire pulls tight in the process and cuts into limbs or trunks. This causes agonising injuries and can even lead to starvation. These problems have been intensified by mounting inflation and rising unemployment. To stay safe after their return to the wild the orphans need extra protection in these difficult times. The same is true for the rest of Kenya’s elephants.

CWI supported desnaring teams in Tsavo National Park and the Maasai Mara that have saved the lives of more than 26,000 animals in 2008 and arrested 40 poachers. But the pressure is mounting. Unless we can step up our anti-poaching efforts, neither wild elephants nor rehabilitated orphans will be safe. At least 44 elephants were wounded or killed with spears, poison, arrows or bullets in the last 15 months. On 15th February this year, four elephants were slaughtered in a single day near Tsavo National Park. Although no other body parts were taken, their tusks had been removed. This situation is mirrored in Amboseli National Park and elsewhere. Multiple killings such as these have not been seen in Kenya for many years. We need your help to act now, so these killings will stop.

Perhaps the most worrying development of all is the fact that the frontline between supply and demand for ivory is now a great deal closer. CWI found that Chinese labourers and contract workers in nearby camps not only act as ivory buyers but move tusks back to the world’s largest hub for ivory trafficking. According to our sources, Chinese nationals in Kenya also buy up rhino horn, bushmeat and dogs. Kenya’s elephants, including those in Tsavo, are under attack. We are determined to keep them safe and with your help we can achieve this. Please give what you can to help Kenya’s elephants fight back.

Emily, one of the elephant orphans to be raised through CWI’s adoption programme, gave birth to a calf named Eve in December last year. There are other calves like Eve, whose lives in the wild are only just beginning. In one of the most extraordinary gestures of trust and friendship, these orphans turned mothers return to the stockades to introduce their infants to the orphan herd and human carers from their past - an acutely poignant reminder that elephants never forget and make friends for life. It is up to us to repay their trust and stand between them and the people who wish them harm.