Baraza

I just got this from Iain Douglas-Hamilton which I wanted to share

Dear Paula, I thought you might like to know that a major three part television series is starting next week in UK. It uses only Kenya presenters (I count myself as one!) to tell the story of STE elephant research. Dr Stephen Chege is our main point of contact with KWS in this film when he came to help us immobilize elephants for collar replacement and for tending to wounded animals.

Best wishes Iain

Our new BBC film series the “Secret Life of Elephants” that is showing on BBC 1 at 9.00 pm on Wednesday the 14th, 21st and 28th January 2009. To tell you a little about the content: Our series shows rare behaviour as elephants act out their emotions – love, lust, jealousy, fear, and anger. It also launches new Kenyan on-screen talent, David Daballen and Onesmas Kahindi from Northern Kenya who join Saba and Iain Douglas-Hamilton in the field to tell the story of The Secret Life of Elephants. The action is in the remote and beautiful Samburu national reserve in Northern Kenya, a peaceful elephant sanctuary where our UK Charity Save the Elephants conducts research in collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Service. KWS vet Dr Chege demonstrates the art of elephant immobilization for attaching radio-collars and for tending to wounded elephants. We see the death of a matriarch in a river and the remarkable fascination elephants have with their own dead, as well as the adventures of Mountain Bull – an elusive individual who runs the gauntlet through farms to reach a new safe haven where he finds the females he seeks. We see an injured calf whose life hangs in the balance and depends on the care of other elephants. We see group defence as an elephant family unites to defend a darted animal. Our research using state of the art tracking technology reveals the complexity of how elephants make their choices as they navigate down crucial corridors and ‘streak’ between safe areas, balancing needs of food and mates against safety and danger. Samburu is a rare place where elephant behaviour is still natural, often happy, and not dominated by one emotion, the fear of man. However, amidst this peaceful idyll, where the Ewaso Nyiro river runs through the reserve, where local people are tolerant of wild animals, there are ominous signs that ivory poaching may be beginning once again. We see the efforts in Kenya to monitor the illegal killing of elephants in order to secure their future. A conclusion of the film is that research with a local flavour strikes a chord with local people and can lead to community based conservation and co-existence between man and one of the most magnificient species in the world. For more information on elephant behaviour and Save the Elephants’ work see , Saba’s website , and our article on “Elephant Emotion” by Saba and Iain Douglas-Hamilton, in BBC Wildlife Magazine, October 2008. OR to come and see the elephants Please help us raise awareness by forwarding this information to anyone who you think might be interested.