Mountain Bull

Mountain Bull, a magnificent six-ton tusker, whose legendary name triggered the production of a new batch of Elephant Gin and whose tragic story we want to share to raise awareness about the plight of Africa’s elephants. Over 100,000 of which were poached in just 3 years; spiraling towards a continent that may be completely wiped out of elephants in the next 10 years… Mountain Bull was an intelligent and troublesome elephant with a great personality and charisma that made him highly reputable. He walked long distances around Mt Kenya, knocking down fences or snacking on neighbouring crops on his way to the undiscovered country in the far north. Animal-human conflict created many problems for Mountain Bull and the local communities, and motivated conservationists to develop strategies to help both wildlife and locals. Using satellite data, conservationists built an elephant underpass between Mount Kenya, Lewa and the Ngare Ndare Forest so elephants like Mountain Bull could travel without disrupting the communities. Mountain Bull, like any other elephant with big beautiful tusks, was extremely attractive to poachers, so much so that conservationists removed 22kg of his tusks. However, despite the many efforts Mountain Bull was discovered dead just 2 years after the “tusk operation” in 2014 – tragically slayed by poachers for the ivory left on his head. Photo copyright: Courtesy Wildlife Conservation Network

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