Back to Index

Update on relocation of Tusker, the 'problem' elephant
Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF)
April 26, 2007

A very big thanks to those of you who have responded to our appeal for assistance to relocate Tusker. We will soon be ready to do the relocation but it is an expensive and complicated operation and there are still some hurdles to overcome.

In the interests of public safety, National Parks felt it would be better to shoot Tusker but they have now agreed to allow us to relocate him and have issued a permit, a copy of which is attached. They have stipulated however that the elephant should go to Gonarezhou and not Matusadona as originally planned. In view of the fact that there are a number of holiday and fishing camps in Matusadona, they feel that movingTusker there will not solve the problem because he will still come into contact with humans as he does in Charara.

Vickers Coetzee in Triangle has very kindly loaned us an elephant container which Unifreight collected from Triangle and transported to Harare free of charge. We would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to Unifreight who are always willing to help where wildlife and conservation is concerned.

Upon inspection, we found that the container has a door missing and is not tall enough to accommodate Tusker so we are now working on rectifying that. The container is still in Unifreight's yard and we have to heighten it by about half a metre and put a door in. We have the metal required for the job but we need somebody to do it.

The other problem is that we can't transport Tusker on a triaxle trailer because if he starts rocking from side to side in the container, he could tip the whole truck over so we are now desperately looking for a low bed trailer. If anyone can help with this, we would be very grateful. We need a double-axle step down low bed capable of carrying a 20 foot container weighing around 10 tons.

Members of the Kariba community are busy building a recovery boma for Tusker in Charara. Once he has been darted, he will be moved by crane into the recovery boma which will lead directly into the container on the truck. He will most likely be lying on his side and once he has been given the reversal drug, there will be enough room in the recovery boma for him to rock himself back and forth in order to gain enough momentum to stand up. He will then hopefully be able to walk into the container. He will be awake for the duration of the journey to Gonarezhou but will be kept sedated.

We are extremely grateful to everyone who has already contributed towards this mammoth operation and if anyone else would like to assist, please contact us. We are going to need more fuel than we originally thought we would need and we desperately need a low bed trailer.

Johnny Rodrigues
Chairman for Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force

Visit the ZCTF fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP