Elephant Lifeguards: Working with Park Management to Reduce Poaching in Kafue National Park, Zambia

Author

Rebecca M. Banks, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow

Abstract

African elephant populations are shrinking at devastating rates. The poverty-stricken citizens of Africa have succumbed to killing elephants for the profitability of their ivory tusks. Shipped to dealers in Asia and sold for thousands of dollars, the black market ivory trade has developed into an international storm of crime and destruction. National parks in Africa are reaping the consequences, with elephant populations dwindling by the hundreds every year. Legislative attempts to halt poaching have been largely unsuccessful due to the lack of resources and enforcement. Customized conservation programs are valuable in the race to save African elephants. These programs use law enforcement, wildlife monitoring, and community participation to target a specific area and implement a customized solution to tackle that area’s poaching problem. For my undergraduate thesis, I have designed a potential conservation initiative for Kafue National Park, located in Zambia. The park has been losing elephants to poachers within a ten-kilometer radius of a dam known as Lake Itezhi Tezhi. The implementation of a four-step, customized conservation plan would increase the park’s surveillance of elephant and human activity along the lake’s shoreline, and would ideally eliminate any opportunity to poach in that area.

Semester/Year of Award

Fall 12-7-2016

Mentor

Radhika Makecha

Mentor Professional Affiliation

Psychology

Access Options

Restricted Access Thesis

Document Type

Bachelor Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Scholars

Degree Level

Bachelor's

Department

Psychology

Recommended Citation

Banks, Rebecca M., "Elephant Lifeguards: Working with Park Management to Reduce Poaching in Kafue National Park, Zambia" (2016). Honors Theses. 391.
https://encompass.eku.edu/honors_theses/391