Photo by @amivitale. An elephant named “Monk” has its tusks trimmed at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (@lewa_conservancy) in Northern #Kenya, in an effort to reduce human-#elephant conflict. Trimming of the tusks is a painless procedure carried out when the #elephant is tranquillized. The elephant had developed a penchant for using his tusks to break fences and raid farms, destroying crops and putting himself and the people involved in danger. While trimming the elephants’ tusks is an activity that conservationists do not enjoy doing and always use it as a last resort, it is a conflict mitigation effort used to try and save the elephants’ lives. Please see the next photos that show what tragically happens when elephants come in conflict with humans.
It should be noted that the tusks are kept in a national strong room for safe keeping where nobody has access to them.
