Some of the most eminent international zoologists and conservationists called in a letter published in the journal 'Science' to fight against the hunting of elephants on the border between Kenya and Tanzania and to stop the chain of killings, in order to appropriate the tusks, along the Amboseli ecosystem.
There are 24 biologists, zoologists and conservationists who have warned against the unpunished killing of elephants: according to scientists, between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, the deaths involved five adult male elephants with tusks weighing over 45 kg. Conservationists who joined the cry of alarm said that these were among the finest specimens of the cross-border population studied for 51 years by the Amboseli Elephant Research Project (AERP) in Kenya. Although hunting has been banned in Kenya for 50 years, 'trophy' hunting of certain wild animals is still permitted in some areas of neighbouring Tanzania. However, to protect the transboundary species, hunters cannot shoot elephants in the vicinity of Amboseli National Park.

Cynthia Moss, founder and director of the AERP, noted that elephants in this ecosystem straddling Kenya and Tanzania have thrived in the decades that the hunting ban has been respected.
"These elephants are not only a source of great research and scientific study, as well as an attraction for the ecotourism economy, but also represent a unique and irreplaceable natural heritage for the populations of both countries and the world," she said.
Genetically predisposed to have some of the largest tusks on the African continent, Amboseli's elephants have historically been protected from both legal and illegal hunting, said Joyce Poole, director of ElephantVoices, an international elephant protection lobby, and first signatory of the letter. The Amboseli National Park, home to more than 2,000 elephant populations, and its distribution areas cover about 30,000 square kilometres between Kenya and Tanzania, the scientists noted. In addition, there are 65 elephant families in this population, while 17 families with a total of 365 members frequently cross into Tanzania.