The relocation had begun with great fanfare and international media coverage in late August when the first of the elephants was moved from the Shimba Hills National Reserve near Kenya's Indian Ocean coast to the Tsavo East National Park.
But it was suspended less than a month later after only 150 elephants had been moved amid concerns the short rains could pose logistical problems.
Now, the drought has caused a severe deterioration in the habitat at Tsavo, causing increasing human-wildlife conflict in the area, and Maina said the Kenya Wildlife Service would only resume the operation when the rains begin again.
"There is more vegetation in Shimba Hills than there is in Tsavo," she said. "We shall resume only after the rains resume and enough vegetation grows."
Last week, the Kenya Wildlife Service said conditions in several of the country's best-known parks and reserves were such that animals, mainly elephants, were increasingly coming into conflict with residents of nearby villages and farms as they stray from sanctuaries in search of food and water.
Tsavo has been a hotbed of such conflicts and at least two villagers have been killed by elephants this month, according to park officials.
The $3.3 million relocation was aimed at reducing the elephant population from the 192-square-kilometer (74-square-mile) Shimba Hills National Reserve to the much larger 13,747-square-kilometer (5,307-square-mile) Tsavo East, where their numbers were decimated by poachers in the 1970s and 1980s.
Name: African Elephant (
Loxodonta africana)
Primary Classification: Proboscidea (Elephants)
Location: Africa
Habitat: Wide range, including desert, scrub, savanna and high rainforest
Diet: Bark, fruit, grass and leaves
Size: Up to 16 ft in length, 13 ft in height, and 11 tons in weight
Description: Gray, sparsely haired skin; large ears, which aid in temperature regulation; long, forward-curving ivory tusks, used for fighting, digging and eating; long, muscular trunk with two finger-like projections at the tip.
Cool Facts: It is the largest land mammal on Earth. It takes care of weak and injured pack members and grieves over dead companions. It has a particular fascination with the tusks and bones of dead elephants.
Conservation Status: Endangered
Major Threat: Poaching
What Can I Do?: Visit
Save the Elephants, the
African Wildlife Foundation, and the
Living With Elephants Foundation for information on how you can help endangered elephants.
