On arriving to the scene at 4:30AM, the handlers and the rangers held a brief interview with the management of ******* camp where the incident occurred.

Having gathered significant information, the handlers started the dog on the track at 5:30AM about 20 meters away from the affected tent.

Morani had a high drive despite the fact that the trail was old.  The dog moved about 100 meters when we picked a camera pouch.  On further moving, about 300 meters, we picked a bag with cloths, passports but the money that was there was taken. 

The dog kept on track for about 5 km to the road when he refused to continue.  We therefore concluded that the subject could have boarded a vehicle.  The failure to arrest was attributed to long hours before tracking hence the culprit could have boarded a vehicle (incident happened at 10:00PM Dec 23 and the report came in at 2:00AM Dec. 24, the tracking began at 5:30AM)

Shadrack Sabaya –Canine Unit Leader

Both Memusi and Morani are well acclimatized with the new environment and they are now more of Ngiro-are than of Colorado.

In the month of September, Morani fell ill and was taken to Nairobi for veterinary check-up and treatment. Since then, he registered a remarkable improvement and works better and with a lot of drive than ever before. On the other hand, Memusi is more resistant and his health trend has been exceptionally good. The handlers monitor closely for the health progress of the dogs. This actually includes amount of food eaten by each dog at a time, body temperature of each dog and the excretion rate.
 
On the side of performance and exercises, the canine team does believe in practice for improvement and perfection. It then goes without mention that we involve the dogs and the handlers into rigorous tracking exercises. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are our scheduled days for the exercises. Any other day particularly when we arrest poachers serves as a perfect opportunity for us to train. We are proud to say this is making a difference!
 
In a nutshell, the dog unit is fairing on well and it’s our sincere hope that it will do even better. We acknowledge a fact that “it takes time to succeed because success is merely a natural reward of taking time to do something”.

Sabaya Shadrack.
October 31st, 2009

We were fortunate enough to have John and Linda back in the Mara Triangle for the last two weeks.  They came back to give a follow-up training for Morani and Memusi, especially night ambush deployment.  Morani was having problem with barking at the animals and poachers at night, thus giving out the location of the ambushing rangers.  Thanks to John and Linda, we now fixed this issue.

The handlers got a report of a theft incident at the above mentioned camp.  The team was immediately dispatched to the scene.  On reaching there and after a brief interrogation the team learnt that the incident took place the previous night at about 7:00PM.  The tent where the theft was carried out from was number ****.  Among the people interviewed by the team included the very room steward who identified himself as *******.  The camp manager and his assistant was also present. 

Having gathered crucial information on the matter, Morani was deployed and after a little while it picked up a track that crossed the fence towards the airstrip of ******* Lodge.

At about half a kilometer run, the dog made a circle and subsequently headed towards a nearby thicket.  Right at the circled area, was a foot print that was seen by the handlers who also played a role on visual trackers.

On the other sie of the thicket, the replica of the previous footprint was once again seen.  This further confirmed the direction followed by the suspect.  This was around a village “manyatta” and sudently the trail was cut short by an enourmous contamination by a large herd of cattle emanating from the same village.

Observation/Conclusion:

-From the above narration, it can be said that the wrong doer sneaked into the compound from outside or at least left the compound via the fence as detected by the canine.

-The scene was also less contaminated since the dog was able to pick up the scent that lasted for about 12 hours.

Recommendation:

-It can be suggested that the presumed entrance into the tent be guarded even the more.

-The canine team should also be notified of the incident immediately. (Note: the earlier the better)

Shadrack Sabaya –Canine Unit Leader

While at patrol in “Nyumba Nanne” forest, the canine team and the rangers from Ngiro-are obtained information from “charlie 1”(community scout) through the control of poachers seen engulfing a buffalo at Enkiu just at the foot of the escarpment.

Immediately the team arrived at the venue and on arriving ot the venue, a culpit dashed along the escarpment and disappeared from the vicinity.

Memusi was deployed on the fresh trail to persue the suspect.  The dog locked much easily and after about two kilomenters walk, the handlers and the rangers saw the very poacher at a reasonably close distance and hence advanced to make an arrest.  The suspect however climbed on the hill and the chase continued even to the other side of the escarpment.  The arrest was therefore made on the village of Partakila and the guys in the handcuf identified himself as **************.

Observation:

The arrested person was armed with a sword and a very sharp spear plus “rungu” (club).  This was a dangerous for all.

On seeing the suspect, the handlers held back the dog for he had completed his part.  Well done handlers and Memusi.

The terrain was horrible, with thorns and stones (Memusi got injured during this deployment)

The community scout (Charlie 1) did pretty well job, Bravo!

Shadrack Sabaya –Canine Unit Leader

The Canine Team received a report of a poacher that was sen by the Narok rangers at Serena Island.

At about 10:30AM, the team was dispatched from their base at Ngiro-are to the alledged scene.  On reaching to the scene, the team was met with both the Mara Conservancy and some Narok County Council rangers ready to work in unison with the Dog unit.

After a brief interview with the Narok rangers, who witnessed the departure of the poachers, the handers noted a foot print that was right at the bank of the Mara river.  It was however unfortunate that the track was extremely contaminated by the rangers who tried to persue the suspect.

All the same, the handlers decided to start their canine on the mark of the foot print and the canine made several struggles and had to cross he river a number of times.  At some points, the handlers helped the dogs to cross the river.

After a hectic and rigorous search that took oabout 2 hours, the dog picked up a track and advanced towards a poachers’ camp or hideout and it was then that the rangers moved forward and arrested one pocher on the spot.  On interrogating the suspect, the team learnt that four other poachers had already sneaked and hid themselves into the thicket.

The dog was further started to persue the suspects and it took the canine a short time to figure out the track which actually went across the river.  The dog at this point had a ver strong drive that led him across the river and he went straight to find three poachers who burried themselves in very thick grass just at the bank of the river.

Both the handlers and other stakeholders involved were glad for it was unimagined success

Shadrack Sabaya –Canine Unit Leader

When Mara Conservancy took over the adminstration of Mara Triangle, CEO promised the rangers that the management will throw a party for staff for every 100 poachers caught within the Triangle by slaughtering a bull.  No one thought it will be possible to catch 100 poahcers, but the rangers did catch them and had a great staff party.  This became the tradition and today we celebrated 1,200^th poachers caught in the Mara Triangle!

In June 2009, a unit of two bloodhound dogs and eight handlers were introduced to Ngiro-are Outpost, near the Tanzanian border. Training took place for one month, and for which we are extrememly grateful to Linda Porter and John Lutenberg from Canine Training Acadamy, Colorado, who volunteered their time and expertise to train our tracker dog unit.

The tracker dog unit will be pivotal in its work alongside the anti-poaching unit to reduce poaching and improve security. Due to its close proximity to the international border, areas around the Reserve remain vulnerable to illegal activities.  This remains a constant problem in Trans-Mara, where the stealing of cattle by rustlers from across the border is the most serious re-occurring issue.

  Poaching for bushmeat is also common in the Mara Triangle, with wildebeest, zebra and Thomson Gazelles all regularly targeted.  Snares, however, are indiscriminate in what they catch and in 2008 the Reserve has lost both lions and elephants.  Spears, bows and arrows are also used by hunters and in this way, hippos and in November 2008 a leopard was lost.

Only by arresting all of the individuals within a group would it be possible to have an impact on poaching numbers and cattle rustling. Currently, even if discovered, the chances of the poacher or rustler being able to make an escape are high by using the cover of darkness or the terrain to their advantage. A higher success rate in the number of men arrested by the Conservancy would make poaching and rustling a less viable source of income for the local communities and bring improved security to the region.

In July, our newly trained tracker dog unit was brought to the scene where poachers fled into the bush after their camp was discovered by the rangers.  The rangers arrested two poachers in a pursuit and dogs were able to sniff out additional two poachers from the long grass.  With the arrival of the migration, over 200,000 wildebeests are now seen in our area.

One of the biggest problems the tracker dog unit is facing is lack of vehicle designated to the unit.  Our anti-poaching patrol covers 510 sq Km savannah within the Mara Triangle and mobility of each of unit is key to the successful coverage of the entire area.  The tracker dogs requires K9 vehicle on its own to independently carry out their deployment in the bush.  We are urgently looking for funding to purchase one vehicle for the tracker dog unit to combat the poachers!!

Our tracker dog unit with their uniform, on their way to crime scene protocol demonstration at Kichwa Tembo lodge.  

The demonstration at Mara Safari Club, with lodge security staffs and rangers from Olchoro, Koiyaki and Lemek.