John Nyamu has walked 932 miles this year, crisscrossing most of Kenya to help save elephants from extinction.

In February, he trekked 310 miles from the coastal city of Mombasa to Nairobi.
He completed the final leg of his walk on June 29.

Dubbed “Ivory Belongs to Elephants,” the walk brought together several organizations sharing a similar purpose – to raise awareness on the plight of wildlife, especially elephants and rhinos.

Wild animals are the main attraction for the thousands of tourists who visit East Africa every year. In Kenya, tourism is the second largest income earner after tea. The industry provides employment for thousands of people. In 2013, the government is anticipating a possible $1.2 billion in revenue from tourism.

Poaching in Kenya has escalated to alarming levels, forcing the government to amend existing laws for stricter penalties against poaching and smuggling of wildlife parts.

New markets for wildlife body parts in India and the Far East are partly to blame for an increase in poaching, officials say.

Increased demand for ivory in China’s booming economy is considered the main cause. Most of the containers intercepted recently with contraband ivory at the port of Mombasa were en route to China – 638 pieces of elephant ivory were intercepted Jan. 16.

The rise in poaching has attracted the attention of Britain’s Princes William and Charles, who called on governments to enforce more stringent rules.

Poachers are not just targeting Kenya but all of East Africa. Increased cases of poaching have been reported in Uganda and Tanzania. Investigations on a consignment of ivory intercepted at the Mombasa port en route to Malaysia in June indicated the container had entered Kenya from Uganda.

The rise in poaching is associated with easy access to small and light weapons in the region.

In February, Tanzanian Vice President Mohammed Gharib Bilal oversaw the torching of 3,193 illegal firearms at the Ukonga Prison Grounds in Dar es Salaam. “Once the wildlife is decimated, criminal gangs will turn to other sectors of the economy,” he said. “Fighting this menace will be easier if we do it as the East African Community rather than as individual states.”

Black rhinos are the animals most affected by poaching. Considered endangered, they could soon suffer the fate of dodos and dinosaurs if effective measures are not taken to protect them. Other endangered animals include elephants, lions, cheetahs and leopards.

In 2012, Kenya lost 384 elephants and 30 rhinos to poachers. By May 22, 19 rhinos and 117 elephants had reportedly been killed.

In May, seven rhinos were killed by poachers. One was killed May 23 at Lake Nakuru National Park. On May 26, poachers targeted Solio Ranch near Nyeri in central Kenya and Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary in Tsavo West National Park, killing one rhino at each. The next day, May 27, poachers attacked Meru National Park and killed one rhino. Two days later on May 29, three rhinos were killed at the Oserian Wildlife Sanctuary, a private ranch. In all five cases, no arrests were made and only the rhino horns from the Oserian attack were recovered.

A similar pattern continued in June. In the third week of June, poachers killed a rhino and its calf at Chyulu Hills and took off with the horns. There have been no arrests.

Conservationists attribute the trends in May and June to the full moon, saying the light makes it is easy to see and shoot a rhino or elephant.

The killings caused global concern. A new bill proposes raising the jail term for people implicated in the decimation of wildlife from two years to 15 years. The fine will also be raised from $500 to $11,765. Wildlife officials found to be collaborating with poachers will automatically lose their jobs. The bill is yet to be enacted into law.

Lack of harmonized anti-poaching legislation laws across the world is a problem, wildlife officials say.

“While some countries have severe laws, in others the law is lenient on poaching, and game hunting is allowed,” said Bernard Mwangi, a lecturer in sustainable ecology at Kenyatta University.

Through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered species, Kenya has asked other countries to expand anti-ivory measures and create new legislation to help stop elephant poaching.

Demand for wildlife parts such as rhino horns and elephant tusks has historical and cultural roots in some countries. Wearing ivory ornaments in the Middle East and Far East is considered a symbol of high status and wealth.

“The high price for ivory raises its demand and hence increases poaching,” said Mwangi. Because of these high prices in the black market and the ready market, more criminals are joining the illegal trade.

“Yet, the economic importance of wildlife and its ecological and socio-cultural significance far outweigh the few millions that a criminal gains from wildlife poaching.”

Stakeholders warn of dire consequences if no action is taken quickly.

Constructing electric fences around national parks and game reserves and increasing the number of game wardens are some recommended measures. Some of the vast, remote national parks and game reserves are not properly guarded, giving poachers a lot of room to attack.

Poachers are using increasingly sophisticated weapons. As a result, the government needs to arm its wardens with the latest weapons and surveillance equipment, conservationists say.

Steve Itela, director of Youth for Conservation – a non-governmental organization lobbying for conservation of wildlife – said the government needs to involve local communities to fight poaching. Itela says the Chinese government, too, needs to be involved in the effort.

A presidential decree declaring protection of all wildlife species threatened with extinction would go a long way in fighting the menace, Itela said. Such a move would make the Kenya Wildlife Service – the government body that manages and protects wildlife – more effective.

“It was done in the past by President Jomo Kenyatta and it helped reduce poaching,” he said.