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https://biglife.org/program-up...a-bulletproof-collar LINK HAS VIDEO OF THE DARTING AND COLLAR INSTALLATION. AMBOSELI TUSKER GETS A BULLETPROOF COLLAR March 12, 2024 There aren’t many ways to stop a bullet and Kevlar armor doesn’t come in ‘Super Tusker’ size. We’re hoping a tracking collar will be the next best thing because Esau needs it. Esau is extraordinary. Only 34 years old, his tusks are already past the 100-pound mark, putting him in the rare company of Super Tuskers, of which as few as 50 remain across Africa. Esau is the nephew of Echo, one of Amboseli’s most famous matriarchs. We know his life story thanks to the amazing work done by Amboseli Trust for Elephants. Their data shows that at least 20% of Amboseli’s elephants cross the border into Tanzania, including Esau. Until now, he has had little to fear thanks to cross-border anti-poaching operations, but a new threat lurks across the invisible border. After more than two decades, trophy hunters have started hunting elephants in this area of northern Tanzania again. Three have been killed since last September, at least two of them reported to be Super Tuskers. Esau would be a prime target. Hearing this, our friends at Mara Elephant Project provided a tracking collar through their partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service and Wildlife Research and Training Institute. During the planning phase, Esau received an injury to his trunk, likely during a fight with another bull, and the opportunity to treat it added further impetus to the exercise. Timing was everything. Rangers followed his movements on both sides of the border, and when he crossed into Kenya, the teams were ready. Save the Elephants sent specialists to assist with the collar fitting and the operation was an extraordinary display of cooperation and transboundary commitment to protecting these bulls. Nine entities were involved, including Big Life-supported rangers from the Enduimet Wildlife Management Area in Tanzania. Esau's collar will provide invaluable data on the movements of a male approaching his breeding prime, but more importantly it could save his life, as research animals are 'off-limits' for hunters. Special thanks to Kenya Wildlife Service, Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Olgulului Community Rangers, and IFAW in addition to those already mentioned. Kathi kathi@wildtravel.net 708-425-3552 "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." | ||
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Do you happen to have the frequency and code? Asking for a friend.  Just kidding. | |||
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Is there accuracy to their assertion that "research animals are 'off-limits' for hunters" in Tanzania? I understand that NOT to be the case elsewhere, specifically Zimbabwe. | |||
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I will NEVER shoot a collared animal! | |||
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Nor will I! Karl Evans | |||
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Theoretically a collared animal within a population of animals that may be hunted as part of scientific conservation methods should neither be targeted, nor avoided if encountered in an otherwise natural hunting scenario. It is only collared to obtain scientific information from which to devise future conservation methods. | |||
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Baxter, I agree with you, but also agree with Saeed and Karl, I personally would not shoot a collared animal. So that's Kenya's answer. Put a collar on all of the big bulls but then they wouldn't take a very nice picture. | |||
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Pity to think that all the super tuskers have to be collared to protect them from hunters since hunters apparently do not have the self control to avoid hunting them or to avoid hunting big tuskers wandering out of national parks. Not sure what that says about us as true conservationists but pretty sure it is not complimentary. Mike | |||
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Neither would I. Which goes to show you what the true effect of collaring is.
It is worth considering that it was the EAPHA that proposed to make Serengeti a park (in 1937 no less), and that lions should go on license (versus killed at will as vermin), that a professional hunter (Finch Hatton) leveraged the power of the Prince of Wales to condemn slaughter of game from cars in Tanganyika and wholesale slaughter in Kenya, and that many, many former PHs became wardens well before hunting ended in Kenya. I would think that if you could pull some of the old timers forward to today they might ask, "Isn't it enough just to see one of them?" | |||
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It is the MINE IS BIGGER than yours idiots, glorified by SCI! | |||
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Bingo! We have a winner. | |||
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I completely agree with Mike on this. It’s unfortunate that some hunters, but perhaps even more so, some safari operators, won’t look at the bigger picture and just leave some of these bulls alone. Personally, I’d never shoot one wearing a collar. But I also can’t see myself hunting near a park such as Amboseli with the specific idea of shooting one of these giant park bulls. | |||
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+1 Nec Timor Nec Temeritas | |||
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I visited Amboseli twice. Saw a great number of elephants and some had great ivory. It would really be sad to see the big ones with a collar! But, we deserve it. We let SCI and their utterly stupid hunting competitions go on for too long! Hunting is NEVER a competition! Except for the low lives who devote themselves to competing with like minded idiots! | |||
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That's indeed not the case in Zimbabwe and Zambia, and shouldn't be the case if the research, among other things, intends to determine causes of death of the animals, which is often the case. If there truly only are 10 or so big tuskers in the ecosystem, then hunting any of those does the hunting community a big disservice. Yes, the shooting of a particular animal brings in much needed conservation dollars, and taking a post-breeding bull is pretty much the only way to raise conservation dollars from it if it's outside a heavily visited tourist area. But the damage done to the hunting industry also has a conservation impact. The pressure on the hunting industry by taking males like these only grows, which also has an impact. See the letter from Michel Mantheakis about diminishing hunting tourists after Cecil the lion from Zimbabwe, and subsequent abandonment of hunting blocks as they became economically unviable. In that light it isn't so bad that the big ones wear a collar. If it's collared, don't shoot it, if it isn't collared, it should be fair game. | |||
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I don’t there is any law against shooting collared animals, anywhere. And strictly speaking, hunting them and sending in a report is part of the research. But, if we shoot a collared animal, we cut down the research time. As I said earlier, if I see any research marking on an animal, regardless of his size, I will not shoot it. I loved seeing those big tuskers in Amboseli, in their natural state. I would hate to see them with collars. | |||
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Giving names to wild animals and calling them super tuskers is all dreamed up cleverly by the anti-hunting crowd. Collaring an animal to understand the movement of animals and migration is one thing, but collaring all the big tuskers is pure BS. Kenya has a failed wildlife policy! I say good that TZ is allowing animals that cross over to be hunted. These are vast wild areas, not like they escaped from a Zoo! One of the anti-hunting groups that recently got involved with this Super Tusker nonsense supposedly takes in 3 million dollars annually from Super Tusker lovers!! So let's not be fooled here. | |||
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So let's not call them super tuskers, let's be factual and call them 100 pounders. Regardless of what you call them, the remaining number of these elephant is quite limited and hunting ones that wander out of national parks, at a minimum, puts hunters at risk of losing collectively for the selfish acts of a few. At worse, it suggests that despite our lip service to being conservationists, perhaps we are more just interested in feeding our individual egos. Mike | |||
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It makes sense to not shoot these animals so that they may pass their genetics on, however, they too will get old and thus move out of the breeding population. I don't see the value of letting an old giant starve to death with worn out teeth over hunting it when it has reached this condition and status in life. ~Ann   | |||
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All these so-called "super-tuskers" whose ages range from anywhere between 30/35+ years have in reality exhausted their breeding stage and what genes had to be passed on are now to be found in the virile mature bulls that are passing on the same genes. An old bull elephant with ivory at 80lbs+ per side already has difficulties in standing, let alone trying to mount a cow unless she is well-versed with the Kama Sutra so the theory that these old guys are sexually active is a bit of a myth, in fact they have reached an age that seeks solitude more than anything else and occasionally will you find one of these old boys being guarded by one or several "askaris" which will protect him from danger. Most of the tripe being dished out is just anti-hunting and Save the Elephant propaganda which is eagerly swallowed and regurgitated to other gullible takers by the ignorant masses. It goes without saying that seeing an elephant with such a mass of ivory as those found in Amboseli and Tsavo is indeed a sight to behold and obviously a money-spinner for the Kenya Parks who quite rightfully are trying to lay claim to these elephants as being "theirs". | |||
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The researchers state that 30/35 years is just the start of their breeding... The people studying the elephants in Amboseli arguably have the best dataset about elephant breeding and lifespan, they've been studying them for many decades, and know lineages, when and to whom they were born etc. | |||
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we have collared wild bison even if they cant stop you to shoot them as we are eating them always good to avoid them as you do not know the drugs they used to put on the collar. | |||
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I second that. We don't do ourselves any favours by denying the evidence. Science, reason, common sense should trump speculation, opinion, evidence denial... or we may as well all become anti vaxxer vegans. Choice of verb intentional I actually think hunters would have less impact on lion and elephant population structure in particular if they shot young adult bulls/cats, and left the mature breeding bulls and pride males in place. The actual chances of a trophy hunter taking an 'end of lifespan' lion or elephant are exceedingly slim, even if the PH says otherwise! Remember he gets paid to say what the client wants to hear!
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On the other hand, the small offtake on elephants ( 0.3-0.5%) ensures we the hunters won’t make negative impact on population as whole Indiscrimate killing by locals is the detriment but that seems to be lost on anti hunter folks And of course some of us on here do the classic “ dog eat dog “ which is amazing considering the plethora of the obvious intellect on here | |||
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A rather controversial suggestion seeing the focus is on the elimination of the spent and haggard males of all the game species. The young males of any of the above-mentioned (and others ) will challenge the elder males for breeding rights and those very haggard and spent bulls have already done their gene-spreading and very likely that the same youngster is challenging his old man. What say you? | |||
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If science was not subjugated to politics and individual goals, great. Unfortunately, the commentary about older bulls doing most of the breeding just does not make sense from what I and most folks in the field actually see. Watching a really heavy ivory bull, I can certainly see where that weight is handicapping them from normal activities. That the big bulls get found gored to death by younger rivals also seems to fly in the face of this “older bulls do most of the mating” statement. I’m against saying no shooting of the biggest bulls in principle as I see that a 100# bull that is slowly starving to death is much better off getting shot and having someone cherish the tusks; but I do see the bad PR of shooting them in a park area. Essentially, Kenya is making a lot of money off the ambroseli elephants, and an area of Tanzania that is not is now shooting them and getting really good money, for the short term. Most of the big 100# bull kills in other areas- Zim, Botswana and such are bulls that are not known. If they can track and target a known animal, that causes issues. I used to be very anti shooting collared animals, but now with the behavior of the antis to use it as a way to disrupt hunting, I’m coming to the opposite point of view as long as it’s legal. In MN, I’d probably rather shoot one of these collared black bears due to the bad behavior of these so called researchers. I get there is some PR issues here. If it’s a known bull on the border of a park, I’d let it go for PR reasons… but face it, the rationale for hunting areas bordering the parks is to stop the animals from migrating through and predating on the agricultural areas that are even further out. It’s essentially the ARA’s using it as a way to get their way here. No way I would want to shoot a decent ivory young bull over a older bull that is post breeding just because it has 10-20# more ivory… but I would rather shoot the heavier tusked post breeding bull than the lighter tusked post breeding bull… part of hunting is being selective about what you are targeting. | |||
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Very well written Dr Butler | |||
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Many of you are missing the point. These Amboseli super-tusker bulls are YOUNG. One has to understand it from an evolutionary perspective. Elephants have a long lifespan. Their life history and behaviour is arranged that only the oldest bulls breed, even though bulls may reach sexual maturity after two decades. There's a reason why for the first few decades of its life, elephant bulls have relatively small tusks that's function is mainly for feeding. It's only from around 35 (middle-age) that their skulls start growing massive, tusk circumference increases, and tusk growth starts to exceed the rate of wear. They now become more than just feeding tools, but sexual adornments used to intimidate other bulls and impress cows. It's a myth that they can't mate when they have big tusks. The only 'post breeding' bull is one that is dying of old age from age 55+. It's extremely unlikely that a trophy hunter would ever encounter one during the really short phase of its demise. The Amboseli studies are remarkable in their fine-details and tracking of over 3 generations of elephants. But this stuff is also known from other populations that have been well-studied. Not to take away from the immense amount of experience that many PHs and hunters have, but one cannot simply dismiss what we've learned from an enormous, multi-decade research programme like the Amboseli one in favour of opinion or speculation. | |||
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If they are young, certainly they get a pass from me. If there is something that we as hunters can learn to age elephants better, I’m all for that. I try and learn, and absolutely take the decision with gravity. If I feel that that bull should not be shot, I don’t. If the PH feels that bull should not be shot, I don’t. I have turned down bulls that most folks would shoot. That decision felt right. I went home without one. My point being that these scientists are claiming that most of the breeding is going on late in life. That doesn’t make sense from what I know. Because of that, I’d like to see their proof. It makes sense that a bull with really superior genetics will have a lot of tusk mass at an earlier age. A 30 year old bull with 70 pound tusks is probably the one you want breeding. A 45 year old 120# bull with no molars left, or a 30 year old 70# bull… which is the better one to shoot? I don’t disagree that tusk mass alone should not be the deciding factor. | |||
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It's not a claim, its backed up by meticulous study. The various Amboseli studies are there to read, its a remarkable long-term dataset. Elephants have evolved a long lifespan and good memory for a reason...the unstable conditions in the African savannahs. The older an animal is, the more experience it has to have reached that age, the more important it is that its genes are passed on (and not only genes, but 'memory/experience'). This is even more important for cows than for bulls. But that's also why I reckon a middle-aged bull that isn't yet that experienced and is in its 'feeding tusk' phase of life is not as crucial a loss to the population, and those are the ones that should be hunted. Those of you who are into fishing have probably heard about slot limits for slow-growing and long-lived fish species. The idea is to only harvest middle age classes, and leave the old and experienced survivors. Fish breed until old age. Elephants are not deer or pigs or humans that have a long senescent phase, but breed until very late in their lives. I'm not disputing that there are some here who have taken old elephants with worn out teeth...what I'm disputing is all the bulls in their breeding prime being taken as 'dead on his feet' bulls by naive clients. It would be very interesting to see if someone independent could verify all the 'past breeding age' game animals claimed by hunters. I know I have never shot an old animal, despite my best efforts, the teeth are always in better nick than the horns indicate. For those who might argue that these semantics don't help our cause, I say that the sooner we stop beating about the bush telling ourselves and others that we hunt only because it removes old animals, or because it pays for conservation, or feeds starving locals etc., the sooner we can come up with arguments for hunting that can actually stand up to scrutiny. I don't claim to have the right arguments, but would be interested in contributing to developing those. We act on strong innate instincts that are central to our biology, and intense communication with nature is healthy for us. For some, that can culminate in hunting an elephant, and good for them. | |||
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Very good posts. Great mention of the slot limit - sturgeon come to mind. Wise conservation, in my book, is to study and follow the results of the study that give the desired result - personal ambition be damned. | |||
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Too many of the anti-hunting "studies" put foregone conclusions before data and ignore anything that refutes such conclusions. The biggest culprit is the notion, sponsored by know-nothing anti-hunters, that banning hunting will preserve the game. Data have shown again and again, especially verified and well-studied data from Kenya, that this conclusion is a load of rubbish. Mike Wilderness is my cathedral, and hunting is my prayer. | |||
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The research study in Amboseli actually started before (1972) that trophy hunting was banned in Kenya (1975). Its true that many anti-hunting organisation support the research, but the science itself is impartial and solid, and much of what we know about elephants and their behaviour comes from this remarkable long-term study. | |||
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If legal, I would shoot the one that appealed to me, if it had a collar or not. Let's face it, you can't shoot anything without the animal rights crowd raising hell. So, if you want a 100 pounder and it is legal to shoot with a necklace, feel free. At least you might get a couple of them to stroke out with the hissy fit they throw. But, you bowing to the wishes they have is not a good idea. The next idea from them will be stop all hunting. | |||
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There is no Next idea to stop hunting…it is on the menu until they succeed And there is No middle ground with anti crowd either, we all know that | |||
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Implying therefore that all those in the hunting industry who have had boots on the ground 24/7/365 and some of whom got into the business at an early age know bugger all about elephant and other game populations? | |||
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Can you post a link to where one reads this data? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ J. Lane Easter, DVM A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.– Billy Clayton, Speaker of the Texas House No state commands such fierce pride and loyalty. Lesser mortals are pitied for their misfortune in not being born in Texas.— Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Texas in May, 1991. | |||
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Interesting! In the family trees, if you look in the G-family, you can see that GilGil, one of the big tuskers shot, was born in December 1987. Also interesting, the family in the early 70's, was formed around 2 tuskless females. | |||
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