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<strong>Kenya&#39;s elephant population has gradually increased at an annual rate of approximately 2.8 per cent over the last three decades amid declining poaching, a wildlife research institute said.</strong></p>
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The state-owned Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI) said on Sunday that the country has experienced about a 96 per cent decline in poaching, with more than 386 elephants being lost to poaching in 2013 compared to the 11 tuskers poached last year, reports Xinhua news agency.</p>
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&quot;This success is attributed to enhanced government initiatives to combat poaching and trophy trafficking, and the continued collaboration with national and international partners to stop the trade in ivory,&quot; the WRTI said in a statement.</p>
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It added that whilst Kenya acknowledges that poaching was the major cause of the decline in the past, increasing human population and the subsequent change in land tenure and land-use systems have led to the constriction of elephant range, loss of dispersal areas and corridors, resulting to heightened interaction between elephants and people, mostly resulting to conflict.</p>
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&quot;Today, human-elephant conflict (HEC) and loss of elephant corridors and dispersal areas are the main challenges facing elephant conservation and management in Kenya,&quot; it said.</p>
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Kenya has also taken a much tougher approach to poaching in recent years.</p>
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Anyone caught poaching wildlife or smuggling wildlife trophies in Kenya will either receive a heavy fine or could be sent to jail.</p>
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<em>(IANS)</em></p>
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