Kenyan Rangers Turn Detectives to Protect Elephants

Stopping elephant poachers and smugglers before they kill by using detective work is the aim of tenBoma, a project established by the International Fund of Animal Welfare, in Kenya. TenBoma means ten houses, a name derived from the African philosophy that if ten houses look out for each other, the wider community is safer, Deutsche Welle reported. To save highly endangered elephants, the project is training local rangers to become data analysts. Their job is to comb through information on poachers collected by the Kenyan Wildlife Services to help predict a poacher's next strike. They are also working closely with local communities. Partners of the project include the Kenya Wildlife Service, rangers, local communities in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, non-profit agencies, NGOs, national and international law enforcement agencies. If they are successful, they will help boost Africa's dwindling elephant population and the rangers will encounter fewer dangerous situations when they are patrolling. Project founder, Faye Cuevas, sees the work as a calling. If we do nothing, elephants will die out, says the lawyer.