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October 2001 In This Issue Elephant Poaching Endulen Primary Health Care Unit Communities News ACF Evaluation Leopard Population Survey Elephant Poaching In the last month we have found three poached elephants. In Niensi, John Magembe's introduction as a Field Officer was to cross over the Ugalla river. This area has not been patrolled for a long period due to the amount of water. John arrested two poachers with an elephant carcass, the trunk and tusks already removed and taken. He returned from the courthouse a few days later to find another carcass, once again with the trunk and tusks removed, shot within kilometres of the last. In Mlele, near the airstrip, a young elephant was thought to be a victim of poaching, although we did manage to recover the tusks and hand them over to the authorities. Mr Nkusa, the Zonal Antipoaching Commander in Tabora has been supportive of us in every way. He sent his team to Mlele to investigate elephant poaching in the Rukwa - Lukwati Game Reserve, the same team was then sent with the CHCWP team to Niensi for one month. We thank him and his team for their cooperation and assistance. We have been assisting the Environmental Investigation Agency with information on poached elephants for their database, alongside other hunting companies and conservation organisations in Tanzania. John Ngalasoni is continuing with anti-poaching patrols in both the Rungwa and Mlele areas. We still desperately need another anti-poaching team, but in the meantime he will continue to divide his time and resources between the two. Mamuya having moved to Maswa Makao is also patrolling two seperate areas. He is working for three weeks of the month in Makao and the other week he spends in the Burko area. Endulen Primary Health Care Unit Finally cleared, fitted with an HF radio, car fridge, two spare tyre carriers, medicines, camping equipment and a cheque for fuel and the driver's salary, the Primary Health Care Unit was handed over to Endulen Hospital on the 10th September. The Landcruiser was decorated with flowers and a small ceremony was held to thank the Mannix Family in Canada for their generosity and concern for the people of Tanzania. We would also like to extend our thanks to Endulen Hospital staff and the Archdiocese of Arusha for their efficiency and motivation. The villages in Maswa-Makao now await the vehicle and its team of medical professionals. Communities News Since June the Project Director has been travelling around Tanzania working with the villagers. The communities in Monduli, Makao, Rungwa and Mlele have all chosen projects to utilise the funds raised from the 2000 season., materials have been purchased and work is underway. Projects range from school toilets and rain water catchment tanks to teachers houses and hospital renovations. Many changes have been made this year. New vilages have been added and we have stopped working with others. We realised that in the Mlele area we had not included the villages close to the Reserve concentrating instead on the larger towns in the District. The villagers approached John Ngalasoni saying that as they were the ones who lived close to the wildlife and could help protect the area they should receive the benefits from it. Consequently, we have agreed with Inyonga and Mpanda to close their accounts and divide the funds from Mlele (Rukwa-Lukwati Game Reserve) between five small villages (Masiko, Wachawaseme, Mtakuja, Nsenkwa and Kanogi).,starting next year. We will be working closely with Tanzania National Parks Community Programme in these villages. In Rungwa similarly we have stopped working with Mitundu village which is far from the wildlife area and instead have asked the village of Mafyeko to join the project. This village is known to harbour poachers who are ousted from the villages that presently work with us in the area. A village meeting was called and an official letter has been written to join with CHCWP and to agree to assist in the protection of the wildlife and environment. We are delighted at their response and think that this will help enormously to reduce poaching in the Rungwa Piti area. In the Niensi area, we have stopped working with the village of Nguruka until we receive support from them to stop the poaching and widespread slash and burn farming in this fragile wetland. ACF Thank you to Terry Harnwell and John Parkin of The African Conservation Foundation. Terry runs the ACF Portal and designed and constructed our website free of charge. They are looking for support and backing for their educational project to bring internet skills and knowledge to conservation NGOs and groups in Africa and to offer GIS and Remote Sensing advice and support. Please look them up on www.africanconservation.org. Evaluation Dr John Clarke carried out his evaluation of the project in June, travelling to Monduli, Makao and Niensi, using planes, trains and automobiles and asking a lot of questions. His report is now completed and if anybody would like a copy please contact us and we will be happy to send it out. We have found it a useful tool and have already started implementing some of his suggestions. Thank you Dr Clarke. Leopard Population Survey Arturo Caso has been based in Rungwa Piti since July. In this time he has successfully captured nine leopards, and has put collars on two males and three females. The collars automatically record Global Positional System (GPS) readings at timed intervals. The collars also transmit VHF signals enabling the leopards to be radio-tracked. The information collected will enable Arturo to establish an idea of the home range of male and female leopards in this area. This information will help to calculate the population of leopards in a miombo woodland area such as this. As well as collecting data on leopard populations, Arturo is also taking body measurements while the leopard is sedated and blood and tissue samples in order to carry out genetic analysis. If anyone would like more information on this project please contact us, or look up Arturo's website (www.angelfire.com/tx/margay/index/html). CHCWP Chairman: Joseph F Cullman 3rd. Vice Chairman: Robin Hurt. 2nd Vice Chairman: Terry Matthews. 3rd Vice Chairman: Kay Delaney-Bring. Honorary Director: Mr. Charles Mdoe, Department of Wildlife Trustees: Adam Hill, Robert Wood Johnson IV, Hargy E. Kimei, Costa Mlay, John Jackson III Project Director: Sally Capper Field Officers: John Ngalasoni, Elly Mamuya, and John Magembe Contributions If you would like to support this project, all contributions can be sent to: Conservation Force, One Lakeway Centre, 3900 N. Causeway Blvd, Suite 1045, Metairie, LA 70002-1746, USA 501 ( c ) 3 tax exemption ID no. is 72-11364493 Hibernia National Bank, 3050 Severn Avenue, Metairie, LA 70002, USA ID No: 065000-090; Acct. Name: Conservation Force/Cullman-Hurt Project; Acct No: 8006397434 CHCWP, P.O. Box 8325, Arusha, Tanzania, Email: enquiries@cullmanandhurt.org

Introduction Strategic Aims Village Benefits Anti-Poaching Support and Donations
Video Education, Village Projects and Data Collection Newsletters Contact Details Home