Mourning a Symbol of Kenya’s Conservation

One of Africa’s last remaining giant “tusker” elephants has died in Kenya aged 50, Big Tim died in Mada area of Amboseli National Park from natural causes. Big Tim’s carcass was found at the foot of the snowcapped peak of Kilimanjaro, the Amboseli Trust for Elephants said. An elephant is technically a “tusker” when its ivory tusks are so long that they scrape the ground. Usually, only old bull elephants grow their tusks long enough to reach this acclaimed status. But conservationists estimate only a few dozen such animals with tusks that size are now left on the continent due to poaching. Animals with the biggest ivory and elephants with the heaviest tusks are most at risk from poachers. “Tim was one of Africa’s very few Super Tuskers, and an incredible elephant whose presence awed and inspired many. He was one of Kenya’s National Treasures.” Big Tim’s body is being transported to the Kenyan capital Nairobi, where a taxidermist will preserve it for display at the national museum, KWS said.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA