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Kenya expressed concern on Wednesday over plans by an animal charity to transport a herd of elephants from a British zoo to Kenya for “rewilding”.
The Aspinall Foundation said it plans to take the elephants aboard a Boeing 747, nicknamed the Dumbo jet, from the south of England to their new home 7,000 kilometers (4,500 miles) away.
The charity said it will work with anti-poaching teams to help ensure the long-term survival of the 13 animals – including three babies – once they reach one of two considered sites in the south. from Kenya.
But Kenya’s Department of Tourism and Wildlife said it “noted with concern” reports in the UK media about what the charity described as the first such rewilding project.
“The ministry would like to state that neither they nor the Kenya Wildlife Service have been contacted or consulted on this matter,” the ministry said.
“Moving and rehabilitating an animal from a zoo is not easy and expensive.”
A ministry official told AFP that Kenyan authorities would be guided by specific regulations developed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the movement of animals.
IUCN warned in March that poaching and habitat destruction, especially due to land conversion for agriculture, was devastating elephant numbers across Africa.
The African savanna elephant population has declined by at least 60 percent over the past half century, resulting in their being reclassified as “endangered” in the latest update of the “Red List” of the ‘IUCN Endangered Species.
The Aspinall Foundation said the operation was scheduled for next year and that it would be the first time that a breeding herd of elephants has been rescued.
Aspinall’s communications officer Carrie Johnson, wife of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said the plan would support Kenya’s economy after the coronavirus pandemic.
“Life in Kent is pretty good for these elephants, all things considered. But it is Africa that they belong to,” she said in an article published in British media.
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