Anne K. Taylor Fund antipoaching/desnaring team.

One morning in 1999, he came up to Anne's house with an arrow embedded deeply in his side. Anne was able to organize for some Kenya Wildlife Service veterinarians to come down and surgically remove the arrowhead. Sir Francis successfully recovered and guests to the Mara can still enjoy him peacefully grazing, albeit with a few scars. Because of what had happened to Sir Francis, Anne feared an increase in poaching activity, and began to informally patrol the region searching for other injured animals. Anne's fears were justified when she found three elephants and two giraffe that had become badly entangled in life threatening snares.  This elephant that we rescued had a wire snare that had embedded into the leg bone. Remarkably, after the wire was removed and the wound treated, the elephant fully recovered.

Poaching for ivory and rhino horn have historically devastated populations of elephant and rhino all over Africa. Kenya has often led the African nations in their battle against poaching. Currently a new form of poaching, the commercial bush meat trade, threatens the continued survival of the wildlife in Africa. Efforts are being taken in many parks in Kenya to increase patrols and remove wire snares set by poachers. One of the horrible consequences of snaring is that it is not species-specific and can indiscriminately kill and injure other non-target species. The Anne K. Taylor Fund works in the Masai Mara to help control the bushmeat poaching and conduct community education programs about the importance of wildlife. It is important to note that the commercial bushmeat trade is very different form subsistence hunting, which has occurred for centuries. The commercial bushmeat trade is conducted at unsustainable levels within protected areas and is often run by criminal organizations that profit from selling the meat in larger cities.

In 1999 and 2000 the Anne K. Taylor Fund participated in and supported rescues of several elephants and giraffe. The Anne K. Taylor Fund decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the poaching pressure and immediately address the issue with active snare sweeps and patrols. In addition, we have established an injured animal reporting system among the drivers and guides in the lodges. This will enable us to quickly find and treat injured animals in conjunction with the Kenya Wildlife Service. 

Our assessment of the level of poaching in the Masai Mara (conducted between September and November 2000) revealed a problem that will require continuous patrols and snare removal projects to protect the wildlife.

Antipoaching and Environmental Education Team Members

We hope that our continued antipoaching and desnaring projects will reduce the need for wildlife rescues. Until that time, we continue to sponsor and actively take part in wildlife rescues in the Masai Mara with the Kenya Wildlife Service and
the Mara Conservancy.

Objectives:

In 2000 we began our community based conservation program that is based on the following four objectives.

1. ANTIPOACHING PATROLS

• Provide assistance to the local County Council rangers, Mara Conservancy, Kenya Wildlife Service and the surrounding communities for antipoaching patrols.
• Remove snares from the forest and riverine habitats.
• Determine snaring hotspots and document poaching incidents.
• Recheck known poachers’ camps from past visits to determine their level of activity.
• Act as a deterrent to poaching activity by having a presence in remote areas.
• Document animals killed by poachers.
  

2. WILDLIFE RESCUES

• When possible rescue animals found with human induced injuries.
  

3. COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND SUPPORT PROGRAM

• Provide support to the schools in the Maasai community.
• Conduct children and teacher wildlife conservation educational programs.
• Employ local Maasai on our projects to further develop community awareness and support of wildlife conservation initiatives.
• Support local initiatives and training/education programs such as reforestation projects, first aid and medical training, anti-litter campaigns, and art programs.

4. DEVELOP SUPPORT TO ADDRESS THE BUSHMEAT TRADE

• Create interest and support in wildlife conservation from tour operators and tourist facilities.
• Work in cooperation with other NGO’s to further our goals of wildlife conservation.
• Educate tourists about the problem of the commercial bushmeat trade.

The Anne K. Taylor Fund is supported by A.K. Taylor International, which donates a percentage from every safari we sell to the Fund. We encourage and seek support from other tour operators in the areas of our projects. In addition, we hope our friends and clients who have enjoyed visiting remote areas with us all over the world will contribute to our current project in the Masai Mara. We thank the generosity of those first few friends, the Born Free Foundation and Amara for helping make our initial assessment possible. Without their assistance we could not have begun this important work of protecting Africa's wildlife. We are now also supported to a large extent by private donations from individuals.

Please see the Annual Reports for more details of our sponsors and current updates on our projects.

Anne K. Taylor Fund is now a tax exempt 501c3 organization. 

Donations may be made to: