An “extraordinary and resilient” elephant, who had survived poaching five times, died in northern Kenya, a region in the grip of a severe drought;

the NGO Save the Elephants announced on Thursday.

Monsoon, a female in her 60s, was euthanized on Monday after collapsing several times in the arid Samburu reserve which is facing one of the worst droughts in 40 year.

Save the Elephants said in a statement that the poor health of the elephant was due to his age, but had been "made worse by the drought".

Monsoon, who gave birth to seven baby elephants, last "surprisingly" in 2018, had been hit five times by poachers between 2009 and 2014. The life expectancy of elephants is estimated at sixty years.

In 2006, Monsoon took his family to safety by climbing to the top of one of Samburu's highest hills, when scientists believed elephants avoided steep terrain.



deadly drought

Kenya, the economic engine of East Africa, is suffering from a drought of unprecedented intensity for 40 years, and hunger affects at least 4 million people there out of a population of more than 50 million inhabitants.

Four consecutive poor rainy seasons have created the driest conditions there since the early 1980s.



Rivers and wells dried up, pastures turned to dust, killing more than one and a half million head of cattle in Kenya alone.

"We are working with our partners, local communities and the Government of Kenya to address the long-term challenges the drought will pose to wildlife and communities and we will do our best to prevent more elephants like Monsoon from dying." ;

says the statement from Save the Elephants.

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