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BREAKING NEWS
3rd ‘Super Tusker’ Elephant Killed By A Trophy Hunter In Tanzania Within The Last Six Months
March 14, 2024
By
WAN

It has been reported that another “super tusker” elephant bull, from the Amboseli elephant population, has been shot and killed in the Enduimet Wildlife Management Area in Tanzania. The killing took place during a hunting expedition operated by Kilombero North Safaris and allegedly involved a prominent American trophy hunter from Texas.
A statement revealed that ”as of March 10th, a further three licenses are said to have been granted raising alarm and putting the integrity of the Amboseli elephant population in jeopardy.”
This is reportedly the third “super tusker” gunned down near the Tanzanian-Kenyan border within the past six months. “Super tuskers,” also known as “hundred-pounder” elephants, are male elephants with at least one tusk weighing 100 pounds (45kg). It is believed that there are as few as 50 left in Africa. They are critically important for stability in elephant societies, as well as for their habitats and ecosystems.
“It is beyond comprehension that yet another of Africa’s iconic ‘super tuskers’ has fallen victim to the relentless pursuit of trophy hunters. The intrinsic value that these bulls bring to elephant society through their genetics, as repositories of social knowledge and as keystones of the environment, is irreplaceable. Mature bulls are crucial influencers within the population, holding significant importance for the future of younger males,” said Dr. Audrey Delsink, elephant behavior expert and wildlife director for Humane Society International/Africa.
“It is a myth that they are expendable as they approach 40+ years of age. This is not the end of their breeding lives but rather when they are at their highest reproductive success, and they should not be senselessly cut down in their prime. The killing of these iconic animals isn’t just a biological travesty but a moral tragedy and a stain on humanity’s conscience,” Delsink continued.
ElephantVoices, Big Life Foundation, and the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, released a statement appealing for “an end to elephant trophy hunting in the Enduimet Area of Tanzania.”
“The Amboseli population includes adult males with some of the largest tusks on the continent due to the particular genetic makeup of these elephants,” the statement reads. “Approximately 30 adult male elephants, over the age of 25 years, use the Enduimet area and beyond in Tanzania as part of their home range. For half a century Enduimet has been a favorite area for a particular set of adult males.”
Elephants are listed under Appendix II of the Convention on Migratory Species, to which both Kenya and Tanzania are parties. The listing encourages collaboration between countries to achieve conservation and management targets for listed species. Since 1995, a moratorium on trophy hunting of this cross-border elephant population between Kenya and Tanzania was agreed upon between the nations. After nearly 30 years, this moratorium was shattered when two “super tuskers” were killed south of the border in Tanzania, prior to this third killing.
“Fifty years of research on Amboseli’s known individuals has shown that males between 35 and 55 years of age are the primary breeders. Hunters who claim that older males are ‘dead wood’ are just plain ignorant of the science. Males who are given the chance to live to an old age produce a disproportionate number of offspring, passing their genes to the next generation. By killing large tusked males, hunters are damaging elephant society, negatively impacting Amboseli’s rare gene pool for large tusks, and taking a toll on its future tourism potential,” said Dr. Joyce Poole, co-founder and Scientific Director of ElephantVoices.
After a hunt, it is common for parts of the elephant to be taken and claimed as trophies. It is alleged that in this instance, the elephant’s carcass was intentionally destroyed through burning, to hide the travesty of making this bull yet another statistic in the ever-declining, already fragile “super tusker” elephant population.
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https://africageographic.com/s...ate-in-stealth-mode/


Amboseli super tuskers down to 10 as trophy hunters operate in stealth mode
Posted on March 12, 2024 by teamAG in the NEWS DESK post series.

A third elephant hunted last week in the Enduimet area of Tanzania, within 40km of the Kenya/Tanzania border, has amplified the debate around hunting free-roaming cross-border elephant populations and super tuskers and driven a wedge between segments of the hunting community. With another three hunting licenses granted for elephant hunts in this region in the coming months, the integrity of the Amboseli elephant population is in jeopardy.

Following these legal hunts, about 10 super tuskers are left in the Amboseli Ecosystem, according to Big Life Foundation. This ecosystem encompasses land on either side of the Tanzania/Kenya border, including Amboseli National Park and surrounding conservancies in Kenya, as well as the Enduimet Wildlife Management Area and beyond in Tanzania.

The Amboseli elephant population includes well-known super tuskers (elephants with one or both tusks weighing over 100-pounds) such as Craig, Esau, Tee-Jay, Michael and One Ton – famous super tuskers that attract thousands of tourists yearly. Hunting is illegal in Kenya, but these elephants are vulnerable to trophy hunting when crossing into Tanzania, where hunting elephants with a license is legal.


In January, Africa Geographic broke the news that two super tuskers were hunted in the Enduimet area, close to the Kenyan border, in the latter half of 2023, sparking division within the hunting community and outrage outside of it. On 1 March this year, Africa Geographic received unconfirmed reports that a third elephant had been hunted in the Enduimet region. Shortly after this, news of the hunt started circulating on social media. On 11 March, Big Life Foundation released a statement confirming that a third elephant had been hunted. The statement noted that the elephant’s carcass was also burnt (as with the first two hunts), making identifying the specific elephant impossible. The tusk size of the third hunted elephant is unknown.

Elephant Voices, Big Life Foundation and Amboseli Trust for Elephants have released a Joint Statement on the Amboseli Elephants calling for the protection of this cross-border population and raising concerns about the granting of three further elephant-hunting licenses. These organisations are calling for the reinstatement of a moratorium on hunting in the border region, which has been in place since 1995:

“Our position is that the Amboseli cross-border population should be protected from trophy hunting because it is unique and highly valuable as a scientific base of knowledge of elephants. In addition, it represents one of the last gene pools for large tusks. A successful moratorium held for 30 years.… We appeal to the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments to work together to protect this cross-border population, to recognise its immense scientific value and to ensure that these treasured elephants are not the target of trophy hunters.”

All 2,000 elephants in the Amboseli elephant population are known, as they have been closely studied by the Amboseli Elephant Research Project (AERP) for 51 years.

“There are 63 elephant families in the Amboseli population, of which 17 families, consisting of 365 members, regularly spend time in Tanzania. In addition, approximately 30 adult male elephants, over the age of 25 years, use the Enduimet area and beyond in Tanzania as part of their home range,” says the Joint Statement. “For half a century, Enduimet has been a favourite area for a particular set of adult males who use it as part of their ‘bull area’, which is an area they use when they are bulking up for their next reproductively active period.”


A map illustrating AERP’s recent (2019 to present) tracking results of eight young males from known Amboseli families. It is reasonable to assume that any elephant found in this area of Tanzania is part of the cross-border population and has been captured by AERP’s long-term study. © Amboseli Trust for Elephants
Other stakeholders are also pushing for Tanzania to reinstate the cross-border agreement with Kenya to protect these elephants, with a petition on Change.org calling for signatures.

“Male elephants grow throughout their lifetime, as do their tusks.… By selecting older individuals, hunters not only have a damaging effect on elephant lives and society, but are negatively influencing the genetic future of the Amboseli population, not to mention the ecosystem’s tourism potential,” says the Joint Statement. Big Life added in their own statement, that “old bulls are not past their reproductive prime, as hunters contend. Research has shown that elephant bulls only reproduce consistently by age 40, by which time 75% of them will have died. So older bulls are in fact disproportionately important for breeding.”

Meanwhile, the African Professional Hunters Association has warned its members not to share photos on social media of hunted species that will “inflame public opinion”, and not to “deliberately market” any areas as “bordering non-hunting areas”. “The reality is that there are certain elephant bulls that we simply must avoid a confrontation with.… As to ignore such could come at grave cost to the entire act of elephant hunting,” reads the letter to members.

Since the killing of the third elephant, Africa Geographic has consulted with sources close to the hunt. While confirming that an elephant was shot in Enduimet, most sources refused to be named or provide documentation for fear of their safety. However, speculation on the identity of the hunting company and hunters involved is rife, with one prominent Texan hunter openly posting details of daily hunting activities in Enduimet on social media during the same period that the third elephant was shot. In the days following the killing of the elephant, he made his Instagram account private and has been inactive since. According to Instagram posts from the hunting party, the individuals were operating on a 21-day hunting license and killed at least 19 other animals during this period, including spotted hyenas, Patterson’s eland, Grant’s gazelle, gerenuk, Kirk’s dik-dik, lesser kudu, as well as wildebeest and zebra for “bait for a cat hunt”.

Various statements from within the trophy hunting industry, including the statement by Tanzanian spokesperson Michel Mantheakis addressed to Africa Geographic, indicate that there is a rising trend amongst a small faction of the industry for concealing these hunts targeting super tuskers rather than moving away from hunting them.

We will provide more information as it arises.