A gang of poachers has killed an elephant in Mweiga, Nyeri county, and yanked off the tusks. The gang struck yesterday in the evening and shot the jumbo 12 times.

Rangers were immediately deployed but since the night had already set in, they were unable to find any tracks left behind by the poachers. The Kenya Wildlife Service rangers followed tracks using bloodhounds the next morning, but did no make any arrests.

Investigations revealed that the elephant was killed for ivory. This is contrary to the findings on a previous case in early May where two elephants were killed and dismembered for witchcraft, according to local reports. The young female elephant ran from where it was first shot. It then stumbled and fell, the investigations revealed. "These are the first elephants poached on Mugie since 1997... 2012 has not been a good year for our elephants so far," said Claus Mortensen, the conservancy manager at Mugie.

"Our cooperation with the KWS is excellent and we are hoping to report success concerning the on-going investigations into poaching activities shortly," he said. A total of four elephants have been poached on Mugie Ranch since the beginning of this year. There has, however, been an increase in poaching activities across the country. The KWS has warned that anyone found to be involved in poaching will be severely dealt with as provided in the law.