The following is an extract from ATE terminal report to USFWS.
...the prolonged drought and the extremely poor condition of the elephants over the past year have delayed deployment. One collar, on Vicky of the VA family had already been deployed in late December 2007 (see http://elephanttrust.org/node/439) and it provided an excellent picture of movements to the north (see map to right) compiled from two-hourly fixes of the VAs over two years. The VAs have clearly defined two clear corridors to the north and northeast and two likely ones to the northwest. They have also demonstrated the effectiveness of the Selenkay Community Conservation Area as a dispersal refuge for Amboseli elephants.

The battery has now expired and the collar will be removed when her 14-month calf is at least three years old. After the rains began, a second collar was put onto Kate, an adult female from the KB-2 family, which has already begun to confirm corridor use to the southeast.

The project now has six collars ready for deployment, one satellite GPS, and five GPRS/GSM models. Two will be put on family groups to the south and west, and two on wide-ranging bulls.

Vicky and the VAs, 2008-09

Winnie Kiiru asked for a couple of paragraphs of background information for a Born Free event in November 2007 in which wildlife artist Angela Chidgey will donate the proceeds of sales to AERP, specifically for elephant tracking collars. (Thanks, Winnie!)

Herewith a draft, based on the rather terse extraction from the proposal:

Trunk calls: mobile telephones and elephant tracking

The growing network of mobile telephone cells is not only improving life in populated areas: it's helping elephant conservation in the bush.

New satellite-based technology to track large animals is now available in Africa. In Kenya, for example, using the growing commercial mobile telephony services, wildlife researchers can tag animals with small communication devices that tell them where the animals go, when, and what they are doing.

The devices make use of GPS and GSM technologies. GPS, for the Global Positioning System of 24 communications satellites orbiting more than 12 miles above the Earth that provide geographic fixes for devices on the ground. GSM, for the Global System for Mobile communications, the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world, used by more than two billion people in 212 countries and territories.

Getting the devices onto an animal involves immobilizing it with narcotics shot from the ground or from helicopter, and then fitting the animal with a collar. For an elephant, it's a major exercise, one that is highly invasive, nearly akin to a selective cull of one individual from a family group.

AERP policy has been for a number of years to avoid at all costs betraying the trust that has been built up between researchers and the elephants over more than three decades of peaceful proximity. The project still feels that such trust is priceless.

However, on occasion it is necessary to immobilize and treat an animal that has been wounded unnaturally by spearing, poison arrow or gunshot. In such a case, since the animal is down anyway, AERP proposes to take advantage of the opportunity to put a GPS/GSM-enabled collar on the patient (if the attending vet judges that the collar would not be inimical to the animal’s recovery).

The strategy would be to have up to ten collars on-hand and ready for deployment. Since AERP staff attends all KWS immobilizations of injured elephants to ensure accurate identification and to take measurements for growth-age studies, it would be a simple matter to attach a collar while the vet is treating the sleeping ele.

The data from the collared individuals will provide valuable additional data on where they and their families go, particularly into the surrounding Maasai group ranches and into Tanzania, in order to establish preferred dispersal areas and the main routes used to get to them. The information will help in negotiations for elephant corridors, as well provide early warning for possibly conflict as the elephants move towards populated areas.

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HC

We have entered into contract a local firm that is doing GPS-based fleet management, RiverCross Technologies Ltd that has worked for several years with Save the Elephants.

The RiverCross BlueTrax system can ingest and export ArcGIS shapefiles, so the client's work area can be customized with topomaps, waypoints, etc. We currently have one unit on the new project Toyota Landcruiser and on elephant from the VA family, Vicky. More information to come...

The Sanyo eneloop batteries (where did they get that name?) certainly appear to be among the best batteries around. A charger in the office at ERH would be only a partial (and necessary) solution. The Maasai Scouts are out in places with very few plugs in walls (actually, with very few walls at all). For them, we really need solar chargers. Need to search for a source of AA solar chargers.

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On 14-Aug-07, Steve Gold wrote:

"...your question of eneloops, I have no experience with this so I referred it to Bruce. He says:

" 'I did a quick web search and it appears that these are NiMH batteries (standard sizes AA, C,etc). The difference seems to be a lower self discharge rate. This would be useful to allow longer storage in a charged state. Solar charge regulators are by and large designed to work with Lead Acid Batteries (flooded and sealed). I am not aware of any commercially available solar charge regulators that are designed for other types of batteries. Bruce Roush, VP Technical Services, Solar Depot, 707-766-7727, xt 114.'

"There may be a way of charging these, but it might take some digging around. Perhaps Mark Eddy has some knowledge of this. You are charging the Nicads at higher voltages, so you might try one battery..."
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Did more searching and found at least 4 solar chargers taking off from treehugger (seems a good site, but the way), ranging from ca. $20 to $170(!). Guess we will invest in a number of the lower-priced one for the Scouts.
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HC