This page is dedicated to the memory of Erin of the Amboseli EB herd and to all who have spent lifetimes and maybe only a few minutes helping to protect, study and love her and her family.

I am heart broken and devastated to learn that one of the beautiful elephants from the EB family in Amboseli National Park, a protected area of 150 square miles in southern Kenya, was fatally injured by Maasai moran (warriors) sometime in the last week of April 2003. She was the mother of three immature calves, one only 20 months old, plus two adult daughters and three grandchildren.

She looked like she may have a chance of recovery but although on two occasions she looked a little better and the vets had cleaned the wounds and treated her she could not recover.

On May 20^th 2003 she started to go down hill rapidly.

On May 21^st she was given M99, a powerful morphine derivative and before she was completely out she went into a state of bliss with no pain.  Once she was completely tranquillized a ranger shot her. Erin died at 8:30 on the night of 21st May 2003.

This was a senseless and unjustified act by the Maasai. The Amboseli Elephant Research Project have given them about 600,000 shillings in the last few years to pay for their animals that have been killed or injured by Elephants and in return the elephants have lived in relative safety.

However, Erin’s group were extremely gentle and it is unlikely that Erin would have done anything like this. She was just picked out because she was away from her family, which was rare for her, and the Maasai took their opportunity.

On June 2, after a time away and after taking Erin’s youngest Calf, Email, with them, the EB family returned to Erin’s bones. The first to make a beeline to Erin’s remains was her eight-year-old daughter Echeri. The family went to these bones and touched and smelled them. This is a common thing for elephants to do, but it must be a very emotional time when it is such a close member of the family.

E mail, Erin's youngest calf.  June 2003

E mail is very young to have lost his mother who he still suckled from, but also too old to start suckling from another female.  Luckily there have been recent rains and there is a lot of lush vegetation to choose from and he seems to be doing very well.

The one offspring of Erin's who seems "depressed" is five-year-old Erica. The tilt of her ears and the way she carries her head indicate that she is disturbed.

A death like this in a group can be devastating. Female elephants are a very close knit family unit with all the animals, young or old taking an active part in any young ones lives. Erin’s death will take a huge toll on the EB family but I hope that this gentle group of beautiful elephants will do what elephants do best and stick together and love one another and thrive as it has done for these many, many years.

Cynthia Moss, who has been studying the elephant families of Amboseli for 30 years said in her diary dated 13^th June 2003 -

 ‘On a personal level, the loss of Erin hurts more than I can articulate. I had known her since she was four years old. I miss her. I feel like I failed her. On a broader level, her death is a failure of our conservation efforts. I won't give up but it seems to get harder all the time to resolve the problems elephants face today. ‘