Tuli Reserve to benefit from elephant sale - WWF-SA reports nine doing well at Marakele

The World Wide Fund For Nature South Africa (WWF-SA)* reports that the nine African elephants bought from African Game Services (AGS) last week and transferred to South African National Parks (SANP) are doing well in their enclosed boma in Marakele National Park, just north of Thabazimbi in the Northern Province.

All nine have quickly acclimatised to their new surroundings and will be released into the park next week.

The elephants were moved to Marakele last week by the SANP game capture team, without any problems or discomfort for the animals. The move was done at night to reduce the risk of the elephants becoming traumatised or suffering any unnecessary discomfort. They did not have to be sedated for the short trip.

According to Dr Douw Grobler, SANP's Manager of Game Capture who was in charge of the translocation operation, "The elephants have settled into the enclosure at Marakele and now have minimal contact with humans. They are now feeding on trees and wild grasses, although we are still supplementing this with tef and lucerne."

The translocation was carried out following consultation between all the veterinary and conservation organisations involved in the Tuli elephant issue, and under the directive of Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Valli Moosa.

WWF-SA's deal with AGS owner Riccardo Ghiazza was funded through The Green Trust, WWF-SA's associated trust founded in conjunction with Nedbank and funded by Nedbanks's Green Affinity clients.

Vodacom is funding the translocation, ongoing care and feeding of the elephants until they are released into the park. Vodacom has also undertaken to cover WWF-SA's expenses for its efforts to relocate the elephants to this suitable new home and facilitate their rehabilitation and recovery.

Dr Rob Little, Director of Conservation at WWF-SA, says the organisation is still getting numerous enquiries from the public as to the condition, final destination and the money paid for the elephants. "We are therefore happy to announce that the elephants are doing so well in Marakele."

"I can also confirm that the R500 000 offered for the elephants never actually changed hands. Mr Ghiazza immediately returned the money to WWF-SA so that it can be used for future elephant management projects in South Africa," says Little.

One of these initiatives is the extension of the Tuli elephant habitat system of Botswana into the Northern Province of South Africa. The money will be used to buy land to extend this protected area into both South Africa and Zimbabwe in order to create a new trans-frontier conservation area (TFCA).

This new TFCA will include the Northern Tuli Game Reserve in Botswana, where the elephants originally came from, thus providing the elephants and other species in this area with a much larger area in which to roam and forage. The initiative will also re-open traditional migration routes that have been closed for many years by international border fences.

The proposed Dongola/Limpopo Valley TFCA initiative is being spearheaded by WWF-SA's sister organisation, the Peace Parks
Foundation, in conjunction with SANP and WWF-SA. Both Vodacom and fellow WWF-SA corporate member De Beers have already pledged their support for this initiative.

De Beers announced on Wednesday at the launch function of the Namaqua National Park near Kamieskroon that it is donating back to WWF-SA R3.1 million of the funds used to purchase its farms in Namaqualand for this new national park. This sum will be used by WWF-SA to secure a farm for the new Vhembe-Dongola National Park, which will form the core of the new TFCA.

Article courtesy of WWFSA