The conservation body has so far placed 16 infrared cameras at watering points in the Tsavo ecosystem to help in the fight against poaching.
KWS personnel said the concealed cameras would take pictures of wildlife using various watering points in the ecosystem.
Tsavo Conservation Area Assistant Director Francis Kimani said the new strategy is aimed at enhancing the war against poaching.
“Poachers have been waiting for endangered wildlife species like elephants and rhinos at watering points to kill them for highly prized trophies. But now the cameras will identify them for action,” he said.
“If anything bad happens to wildlife the cameras we will be able to note. The hidden cameras will also identify how many animals have used the watering points per day,” Kimani added.
Speaking to The Standard from his Voi office yesterday, the director said the war against poaching in the region had intensified.
“The war against poaching is still going on and KWS has intensified surveillance in protected and private sanctuaries. We are calling on the local community to support us in wildlife conservation efforts,” he said.
The installation of the cameras comes at a time when a gang of bandits has been crossing into the park, regarded as the largest in the country, to kill wildlife for ivory.
In the recent past, KWS gunned down a suspected poacher and recovered three AK 47 rifles including 574 rounds of ammunitions at Rukinga Ranch in Voi District.
The country is on the spot for not stopping poaching following a global increase in illegal ivory and rhino trade.
Fake herders
The conservation body has attributed the rise in poaching in the vast park to “fake” livestock herders from the Coast, Eastern and North Eastern provinces.
KWS intelligence and reconnaissance services now believe there is a link between herders from North Eastern Province in the encroachment of Tsavo and rise in poaching.
Kimani said they have stepped up operations to flush out armed poachers in the park. He said poachers had been sneaking into protected game parks and private sanctuaries to slaughter wildlife.
In one of the bloodiest poaching incidents in recent times, poachers killed 12 elephants in a day.
By Renson Mnyamwezi, The Standard
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