On December 26 I came back from the field to find about eighty elephants milling around close to camp, right next to the rangers’ post. As with any large group of elephants, not everyone is doing the same thing at once, though because it was in the middle of the day, quite a few groups were resting under trees. Many families were present: the Royals, Artists, Hardwoods, Virtues… There was even a Sporadics family called the Columns. As I was furiously jotting down identifications I noticed a large bull under one of the trees resting with the Artists. The big bulls are easy to pick out as their back lines tower over the females next to them. It is such an event when we see old, mature bulls here, in a population that is now 70% female because of selective killing of old bulls with large tusks. When I do see these guys I often think about what it must have been like in the days before the poaching became so intense, when it wasn’t uncommon to see several old bulls together and to watch their interactions. We won’t see that here for a long time, if it ever happens again. I watched and watched from behind the bush and sure enough, he was in musth with all the telltale signs- white and green penis sheath dribbling urine, swollen temporal glands, temporin streaming down his face. I thought I’d smelled musth! Well this was more exciting, as musth only occurs in mature bulls. I later identified him as Changilla, a bull new to me, though not new to Save the Elephants. He was pretty neat looking, just resting there with his massive trunk on the tree, chasing off younger bulls that tried to sneak into his area. I proudly went back to camp and announced that Changilla is around and he’s in musth.
Three days later Jerenimo, Jake, Christina and I decided to go west. The western part of the park is an area that we don’t monitor as often and that has historically been a bull area. Sure enough, we found Changilla again, still in full musth and this time hanging out with a much younger bull. He watched us calmly and allowed Jerenimo to circle around him, enabling me to get good pictures for identification. It is pretty atypical for sexually active bulls (especially those in musth) to hang out in bull groups. We noted this and moved on, happy to have seen him. Last night just after dark gunshots were heard across from Sentrim, which is a lodge in the western part of the reserve. The gunshots were across the river, however, so outside of the reserve. We knew that Theresai, a beautiful old collared bull, had been in that area for a few days from his tracking data and we feared the worst. The rangers and scouts set out immediately but after dark it becomes quite difficult. It was an uncomfortable night, knowing that his face might be being hacked off as I sat in my hut thinking about it unable to stop it. Today they found the carcass and confirmed that it was an old bull in musth. We compared the pictures to our bull ID file. This comparison is always a challenging task, with the ear hanging lifeless, completely different from the way it falls when the animal is alive and usually only one ear facing up from which to determine the identity. But the ear together with his characteristic bump on his left elbow gave it away. So Changilla is now dead. The poachers had covered the carcass completely with branches so that it would not be visible by air. They knew that there would be a plane. They know what they’re doing. What kills me is that when the rangers followed the poachers’ tracks they found that they had used the bridge that connects the two parks and crossed right through Samburu, right past the rangers’ station, right in that area where I first met Changilla.
I’m trying not to let it affect me too much, as it will be too hard otherwise, but the more time I spend here, the more memories I accrue of individual elephants and the more it hurts when we identify the carcasses. The harder it becomes. I knew this would happen, but I’ve grown really angry. I’m not sure how to approach it next time. Maybe I won’t get excited to get to know a new bull? Sorry I don’t have happier updates. It’s getting bad again and is disheartening. When these waves happen I generally try to go sit with live elephants. I’ll see about doing that tomorrow.