Meet MEP’s Newest Collared Elephant

The Pardamat community in Kenya has been alerting Mara Elephant Project on a regular basis to an elephant that’s been giving them quite a bit of trouble. They nicknamed this elephant “Olchoda” meaning “The Disturber.” Olchoda has been moving around Endoinyio Erinka breaking fences.

Olchoda

This bull elephant was at a high risk of death due to human-elephant conflict, which made him the perfect candidate for a MEP collar. On November 10, along with the help of Kenya Wildlife Service Vet Dr. Limo, MEP successfully collared Olchoda and has been monitoring his movements to ensure his and the community’s safety.

He has mostly been in the Oldonyo Erinka area and sticking to waterways because of the lack of rain in the Mara, but he has been wandering close to settlements. Since he’s been collared MEP has had to respond to several calls to push him out of settlements. We continue to track him regularly and hope to work with the local community on a more permanent solution to keeping him out of their farms. The collar is a good first step in ensuring there is a positive outcome to this human-elephant conflict.