Jumbo dies in Kenya's massive elephant relocation

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2005

NAIROBI (AFP) — An elephant has died while it was being relocated from an overcrowded reserve in Kenya's coastal region to a more spacious park, Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) said.

The elephant, one of 400 jumbos due to be transferred from Shimba Hills National Reserve to a new home in Tsavo East National Park, about 140 kilometers (85 miles) away, died last week as a result of spear wounds that were discovered during the relocation process, KWS spokeswoman Connie Maina told AFP.

"The elephant had spear wounds that must have been a result of poaching, but it did not die directly because of translocation," Maina told AFP by telephone.

The 3.2-million-dollar government-funded move has been billed by KWS as "the single largest translocation of animals ever...