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Mali’s Desert Elephants, on Edge of Annihilation, Get a Fighting Chance

By MARK RIVETT-CARNAC
OCT. 29, 2017


A herd of desert elephants searching for water in Mali. Credit Jake Wall/Reuters

DOUENTZA, Mali — Mali’s elephants, Africa’s northernmost herd and adapted to life in the country’s harsh desert, were in desperate need of protection.

The animals live in an unforgiving landscape southeast of Timbuktu, enduring sandstorms and blistering temperatures. To survive, they trek in search of food and water across what is thought to be the biggest migratory range of their species, more than 12,400 square miles.

But it wasn’t only climate change endangering the elephants. It was also poachers.

They were being slaughtered in staggering numbers as ivory traffickers took advantage of a security vacuum in the region, with 163 killed since 2012, said Susan Canney, director of the Mali Elephant Project, an initiative of the Wild Foundation and the International Conservation Fund of Canada.

The situation was so dire that in January 2016, Dr. Canney predicted all Mali’s elephants would be killed within three years if poaching continued unabated.

“They are probably among the most extremely endangered of Africa’s elephants,” said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, the founder of Save the Elephants, a wildlife advocacy group. “I am extremely worried.”


A member of Mali’s anti-poaching brigade on patrol last month. Credit Mark Rivett-Carnac for The New York Times

To defend the 300 or so elephants that remain, Mali has formed an anti-poaching brigade to patrol a Switzerland-sized area called the Gourma, with the force deterring poachers and assisting isolated communities along the elephants’ migratory route.

The brigade combines rangers and army forces, a necessary pairing for protecting wildlife in this hostile territory, regularly crisscrossed by offshoots of Al Qaeda and bandits.

Since the brigade deployed nine months ago, not a single elephant has been lost to poachers, said Col. Major Soumana Timbo, the deputy director of National Directorate of Water and Forests, which oversees the rangers.

Communities in the Gourma have long lived peacefully with the elephants and revere the animals, despite some competition for land and water, said Dr. Canney, who is also a research associate in the zoology department at Oxford University.

But Mali’s deteriorating security situation brought a wave of lawlessness that allowed poaching to thrive. “The poaching didn’t start until there was conflict,” Dr. Canney said.

In 2012, rebels and Islamist militants, some with links to Al Qaeda, took over Mali’s north. A French-led intervention ousted the groups in early 2013, and the United Nations established a peacekeeping mission.


To survive, the elephants trek in search of food and water throughout what is thought to be the biggest migratory range of their species, more than 12,400 square miles. Credit Jake Wall/Reuters

But insecurity persists. Armed groups regularly target Malian forces and the United Nations peacekeepers. To date, 149 peacekeepers have been killed in Mali, making it one of the most dangerous peacekeeping missions in the world. And terrorists continue to mount deadly attacks, including an assault in June on a resort outside the capital, Bamako, which killed at least five people.

At the same time, bandits plague northern Mali, targeting buses, herders, traders and aid agencies, according to a report from Human Rights Watch. African migrants who travel through the region on their long journey to Europe have also been preyed upon.

Making matters worse, northern Mali was already a corridor for other trafficking networks, including drugs and migrants, and ivory dealers took advantage of the situation. They sent a message throughout the Gourma promising hefty pay for elephant tusks, a tempting offer in a poor area where people have access to weapons from the conflict, said Nomba Ganame, the Mali Elephant Project’s field manager.

The outcome was catastrophic for the elephants, leading Mali to build a dedicated government force to try to put an end to the poaching.

As its head instructor, the army-ranger brigade brought in Rory Young, a co-founder of Chengeta Wildlife, an organization that trains and supports anti-poaching operations.

Mr. Young, a Zambian, and his team created a special training program that included traditional techniques for operating in the bush: for example, how to read disturbances in the terrain, like bent grass and scattered sand, to tell the size, speed and direction of a poaching group, and then how to pursue it without being followed themselves.


The brigade combines rangers and army forces, a necessary combination for protecting wildlife in a hostile territory, regularly crisscrossed by offshoots of Al Qaeda and bandits. Credit Mark Rivett-Carnac for The New York Times

For the law enforcement side of operations, the men studied crime scene investigation. The rangers went through combat drills, and the United Nations offered human rights courses. For extra support, the brigade hired Mitch and Bobby, two chocolate-colored spaniels who have been trained to sniff out ivory during search missions.

Once in the field, community engagement is critical to successful anti-poaching operations, Mr. Young said. Building supportive relationships with the local populations helps the brigade stay abreast of what is happening in the region, which in turn helps the force protect the elephants and the community.

“Without the community there is no solution,” Mr. Young said.

Despite the presence of army troops, the brigade does not take a militarized approach to its anti-poaching efforts. “It is a law enforcement operation,” Mr. Young said. “We are not mercenaries.”

But in the Gourma, risks to the brigade are constant, and missions have turned deadly. In August, the brigade’s radio operator was killed when part of the team responded to protect a United Nations camp in Douentza, Mali, from a raid by armed men that also claimed the life of a peacekeeper, according to officials.

In September, an ambush by unknown assailants who used a roadside bomb and gunfire to attack the brigade’s convoy injured three.

On a routine operation last month, a reporter joined the brigade as it drove to a remote village to follow up on a tip that two elephants had been killed.


Only about 300 elephants remain in Mali. They spend the dry season in the north, racing between waterholes, and then head south for the rainy season to bulk up on rich vegetation. Credit Jake Wall/Reuters

The convoy bounced over a road riddled with potholes, past remains of burned-out trucks, through a sandstorm and rain, and then into fields of sucking mud and soft dunes.

After arriving in the village, representatives from the brigade met with local leaders to share information about elephants, while the brigade’s men socialized with the villagers and bought chickens for later meals.

No one had heard anything about any elephant deaths, and the tip was dismissed.

While the brigade has successfully prevented poaching since February, officials worry ivory traffickers are merely waiting for an opportunity to resume operations. Putting a permanent dent in poaching will take arrests and convictions that break apart ivory trafficking networks for good, experts said.

“The whole law enforcement pathway, from intelligence in the beginning to conviction in the end, needs to be looked at,” said Chris Thouless, a strategic adviser at Save the Elephants.

It will not be easy. The ivory trafficking networks are vast and complex, extending far beyond Mali’s borders.

Since 1989, 81 ivory seizures in 15 countries were either linked to Mali as an exporting country or to Malian nationals who were arrested in connection to the crimes, said Tom Milliken, the elephant and rhinoceros program leader for Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring network.

As the brigade works to counter poaching and trafficking, it has taken on another role: community lifeline.

For many of the villages in the Gourma, the brigade is the first outside support to arrive in months, and people spill their needs: clean drinking water, basic medicine and reopened schools. The brigade offers whatever help it can and passes on requests to relevant agencies.

In the village where the brigade checked on the poaching tips, the medic got to work. One by one, villagers listed their aliments. He listened, measured their blood pressure and offered what help he could: painkillers, antibiotics and anti-malarial medicine.

He worked for two hours until the brigade had to leave. The men wanted to make their presence known at a nearby poaching hot spot. They had to keep pressure on the poachers.

Sgt. Djibril Sangare, a ranger with the brigade, said he has learned how to stay calm under the constant threat of attack, finding strength in the mission. Protecting elephants is vital for Mali’s and the world’s heritage, he said, adding that he had never seen an elephant before joining the brigade and now considers them the greatest animal.

“The work,” Sergeant Sangare said, “it is love.”

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