conservation through action
Progress Report to
International Elephant Foundation
May 2014
Conservation of Elephants in Southern Murchison Falls
Conservation Area, Uganda
A Partnership between the Uganda Conservation Foundation and Uganda Wildlife Authority
Conservation through action
Brief summary
Poaching in MFCA has been extreme and includes heavily armed gangs
targeting elephants and large scale commercial gain, as well as the high
volume of indiscriminate bush meat poaching using snares and traps. The
poachers have taken advantage of the limited resources and capacity of
Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to enforce the law. Alongside UWA, UCF
developed a strategy to regain control in key areas of Murchison Falls
Conservation Area (MFCA) to counter poaching. The conservation of
elephants in southern MFCA project aims at:
• Establish control the Bulaya River Region in south eastern MFCA.
• Establish intelligence led law enforcement in southern MFCA
• Better understand and manage the southern MFCA elephant population
.
Conservation through action
Location of Bulaya RP in Murchison
Falls Conservation Area
Mupina
RP Bulaya
RP
Conservation through action
Bulaya ranger post
UCF completed the
construction and installation
of Bulaya and Mupina
Ranger Posts in southern
MFCA. Both ranger posts
have been made from two
converted shipping
containers placed 5meters
from each other and roofed
with iron sheets. The
containers were acquired
from Ortec Ltd from their
work base station in Hoima
and transported to MFCA.
The container base construction and container
installation was done by Keltron Ltd, a
reputable fabrication company in Uganda. The
two ranger posts are partitioned to
accommodate up to 8 rangers.
Conservation through action
Bulaya ranger post operational
Four rangers were deployed at
Bulaya RP permanently and
since then (January 2014)
patrols have been conducted
and poaching items recovered.
Conservation Area Manager,
MFCA Tom Okello says, ‘it is
the first time UWA is having
robust operations in the
southern of MFCA. So far 28
patrols were conducted (8
extended, 6 ambushes and 14
round) which led to a large
scale sweep of the existing
snares and metal traps
resulting in collection of 103
snares and 12 metal traps”.
Above is a warthog killed by metal trap
in Bulaya area, southern MFCA.
Conservation through action
Destroying poacher camps in
southern MFCA
20 poacher camps have been
destroyed in southern MF since
January 2014 when permanent
rangers were stationed at Bulaya
and Mupina ranger posts.
Conservation through action
Welcome to WILD LEO
Knowing that most protected areas suffer from a lack of manpower and
capacity to implement conservation programs, UCF supported WILD LEO
project in MFCA to improve the capacity building of UWA law enforcement
rangers.
A select team of rangers received Wildlife Intelligence and Leadership
Development (WILD) training that has been specially designed for Law
Enforcement Officers (LEOs).
The main goals of WILD LEO project are:
To provide ranger commanders with precise information about patrol
coverage and the location of illegal activity.
To provide prosecutors with better courtroom evidence to increase the
likelihood that poachers and other criminals will be convicted.
To collect photographic evidence that better describes the nature of
criminal activity inside Uganda’s protected areas.
Conservation through action
WILD LEO
WILD LEO training was conducted by Dr. Andrew Lemieux, an American
criminologist teaching at Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law
Enforcement. The WILD LEO uses advanced intelligence gathering and
analysis techniques to study and prevent criminal activity in Uganda’s
protected Areas using hybrid geo-location cameras with a GPS unit. This
gives UWA law enforcement commanders added information for making
informed deployment decisions. In essence, the project encourages
intelligence-led patrolling, whereby analysis of: monthly patrol coverage,
wildlife animals distribution data, and illegal activity observations are used to
direct patrols. Additionally, the project provides management with up-to-date
and visual information about the problems inside a protected area.
Conservation through action
Example of WILD LEO Data Output
from GPS Camera
Geo-Location cameras record
when and where photographs
were taken; this is used to map
the distribution of wildlife animals,
illegals activities and poachers
observed by ranger patrols. When
suspects are arrested, the geo-
tagged photos, and video
statements recorded on the
camera, provide prosecutors with
robust evidence and increase the
likelihood of conviction. On a
monthly and quarterly basis,
intelligence reports showing the
location of illegal activity, such as
the location of poacher camps, are
shared with UWA managers to
help guide deployments.
Conservation through action
WILD LEO Equipment and training
Crime analysts taking lessons
Patrick of UCF handing over Geo-location
cameras to warden LE, MFCA
MFCA WILD
LEO trained
rangers
WILD LEO lessons
Conservation through action
WILD LEO training
The photos of illegal
activity and GPS logs of
patrol movements are
used by ranger
commanders to make
deployment decisions and
prosecution teams as
evidence in court.
50 rangers have been
trained in the use of
hybrid geo-location
cameras. Among, were
two crime analysts and
two prosecutors. The
training were
conducted at Mubako,
Paraa and Karuma
ranger posts in MFCA.
17 geo-location cameras plus 5
normal cameras were provided to
MFCA by UCF plus one desk top
computer.
Conservation through action
Elephants in South MFCA
Over the past 2 years, MIKE aerial surveys have not seen elephants in the
south MFCA. However, different groups of people have sighted elephants in
the south MFCA.
In December 2013, a herd of elephants were sighted in Sambiya river area
and they remained near the top of the falls until mid-January, 2014.
Another group of six bull elephants came from Rabongo forest up to
Mubako UWA HQ in February 2014 and remained in the area up to the
end of March.
In charge of Rabongo forest ranger post confirmed to us that a group of
about 30 elephants have been roaming the area since February.
In the very south of MFCA, a bond group has been recorded well outside
the park. It is thought this group may be the group translocated from the
Bulemezi community area 80 km south of Murchison Falls National park in
1995, but now largely resident in MFCA and always traverse Rabongo
forest area and Budongo forest.
Conservation through action
Elephants in South MFCA
Rangers based at Karuma mentioned that they usually encounter two
herds’ of elephants in the range of 20 and 30 during December-March
season. February this year a group of 5 bulls from the herd crossed from
Karuma wildlife reserve moved 35 km deep inside the community area
raiding the crops.
Overall it is already clear that the once reclusive population is far more
widely distributed than thought suggesting that the assumed semi-
permanent aggregations that they were once in has broken up into distinct
groups. A question that remains is whether they will follow movement
patterns once well described in the 1970s.
Ranger training in elephant data collection was done at Mubako and data
collecting sheets on south MFCA elephant habitat and seasonal
distribution has been distributed to ranger posts of Mubako, Mupina,
Bulaya, Rabongo, Karuma and Wairingo. The data collection sheet
consists: date, area, site coordinates, evidence of elephants, number,
males, females (young, old) and other remarks.
