A large-tusked adult male elephant has recently been killed in Amboseli, Tanzania, marking the surprise ending of a 30-year moratorium between Kenya and Tanzania to protect the region’s migratory elephants.
Amboseli’s elephants are an iconic cross-border population that share an ecosystem covering parts of Tanzania, where trophy hunting is legal, and Kenya, where trophy hunting is banned. The as-yet-unidentified bull is the third large-tusked adult male elephant, often referred to as ‘tuskers’, known to have been killed by trophy hunters since September 2023.
The killings mark the surprise ending of a 30-year moratorium between Kenya and Tanzania to protect Amboseli’s migratory elephants.
There are currently around 2,000 elephants living in the ecosystem, which includes Amboseli National Park and surrounding conservancies and lands in Kenya and the Enduimet Wildlife Management Area (EWMA) and other areas in Tanzania.
Despite facing many challenges, including poaching, drought, habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict, the Amboseli elephants that roam the cross-border area have thrived in the three decades that the hunting ban has been honoured for, becoming international symbols of conservation success. There are 63 elephant families in the Amboseli population, of which 17 families, consisting of 365 members, regularly spend time in Tanzania.
The Amboseli population includes adult males with some of the largest tusks in Africa, due to the animals’ genetic make-up and decades of protection from trophy hunting and poaching. The largest tusks ever collected and displayed in the British Museum come from this population.
Approximately 30 adult male elephants over the age of 25 years use the Enduimet area and beyond in Tanzania as part of their home range. Enduimet is a favourite area for a set of adult males who use the area while ‘bulking up’ for their next reproductive period before returning to central Amboseli in search of mates.
Adult males with large tusks are a valuable target for trophy hunters. According to the Tanzania Wildlife Conservation Regulations 2015 (2019 amendment), fees to hunt an elephant range between $10,000 and $20,000, depending on the size of the tusks. Fees are split between government and community (in cases where hunts took place on community land). But hunting outfitters charge large premiums for clients to hunt ‘tuskers’, with various sources, including Amboseli Trust for Elephants and Big Life Foundation, indicating that hunters are prepared to pay $250,000-$350,000 (on top of other fees) to hunt a 100lb ‘super-tusker’.
Due to centuries of legal and illegal hunting for the ivory trade, there are thought to be as few as 50 so-called ‘100-pounders’ (elephants with at least one tusk that weighs 100 pounds) left in Africa, the majority in the Amboseli-Chyulu-Tsavo population that lives in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania’s borderland region, many of which move between the two countries.
Rather than being “dead wood”, as is sometimes claimed, older bull elephants are the primary breeders in elephant society (according to Amboseli Trust for Elephants). Older, larger males are dominant to younger males. They also have longer musth (sexually active) periods and are preferred by females. By targeting older elephants, it’s thought that hunters are negatively influencing the genetic future of the Amboseli population.
Studies from wildlife organisations, such as Born Free, have also shown elephants are more valuable alive. “The removal of these older males with large tusks is a loss to the economy in a country such as Kenya,” says Cynthia Moss, Director of Amboseli Trust for Elephants. “Tourists, photographers and filmmakers travel to Amboseli specifically to see the older males. They are important breeders and repositories of knowledge and experience, setting examples for the younger males. They’re essential to a healthy elephant population.”
In 1995, a moratorium on trophy hunting of the cross-border elephant population was agreed between Kenya and Tanzania. This followed an international outcry in 1994, when four elephants were shot by trophy hunters on the Tanzanian side of the border. But in September 2023, a large-tusked bull was hunted in Enduimet Wildlife Management Area (EWMA), a community-owned conservation area in northern Tanzania. The elephant was killed approximately 23.5km from the Kenya-Tanzania border. Each of the animal’s tusks is believed to have weighed approximately 100 pounds (50kg), making this elephant a ‘super-tusker’.
Identifying elephants in such cases can be difficult, as their carcasses are often burnt by trophy hunting organisations. But after obtaining a photo of the carcass (before it was burned) of the male that was killed in September, Cynthia Moss and Norah Njiraini (Assistant Director of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants) used ear and skin patterns, which serve as a giant ‘fingerprint’ for elephants, to identify the male as Gilgil, a well-known individual from the study population. At his death, he was 35 years old and would have been just entering his reproductive years.
A second large-tusked elephant bull was killed by hunters in November 2023, this time on land owned by the Tanzania National Ranching Company Limited (NARCO), neighbouring the EWMA, approximately 36km from the Kenya-Tanzania border. The elephant’s tusks are believed to be approximately 100 pounds each. The elephant has not been identified, and its carcass burnt and partially buried.
Reports started circulating in early March 2024 of a third hunted bull. While no carcass has yet been found, the EWMA has confirmed that a third elephant was hunted in the area in late February. There is no information available yet on the size of the elephant or its tusks, or exactly where it was killed.
The hunts for all three elephants were not illegal, though unconfirmed reports of one bull being ‘pushed’ into a hunting area would be a breach of the law.
The issue of trophy hunting is hotly debated and complex, with many pro trophy hunting groups, communities and conservationists arguing that without the revenue it brings in, wildlife areas would be overtaken for agriculture or suffer from poaching.
For 51 years, the region’s elephants have been studied by the Amboseli Elephant Research Project (AERP) – the longest, continuously running study of elephants in the world. Each elephant is individually known and has been photographically documented. As well as threatening Amboseli’s elephant populations and the benefits they bring, the recent trophy hunting incidents risk jeopardising an important body of scientific knowledge.
Tanzania’s government was approached to comment on whether it plans to restore the 30-year moratorium and stop more of Amboseli’s cross-border adult male elephants from being hunted. “Many Tanzanians, especially those involved in tourism and wildlife conservation, are understandably appalled by the killing of these magnificent giant tuskers,” says Mbelwa Kairuki, Tanzania’s High Commissioner to the UK. “The government has been investigating each of the incidents and initial findings indicated no actual laws were broken.
“Regardless, it has brought the subject of trophy hunting into sharp focus. It is not as straightforward an issue as it might first appear, with lobbyists on both sides presenting seemingly compelling arguments, based upon conservation and community impact, as well as income generation. As Tanzanians, we recognise how honoured we are to be the custodians of some of the world’s most iconic wildlife and we feel compelled to protect them. How we do so is part of a huge debate, involving people from all walks of life. This is a highly emotive subject, which we must endeavour to make a rational decision upon.”
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