Kenya Airways has entered into a new partnership with international charity Born Free Foundation to join the fight against wildlife poaching. The new partnership will not only see the two organisations contributing to anti-poaching campaigns and wildlife conservation but is also meant to raise funds for such initiatives.

Kenya Airways Group CEO, Dr Titus Naikuni, says that the airline entered the partnership to make a contribution towards conservation of African wildlife. “With the threat facing wildlife, which is our heritage in Africa, it is important for the private sector to get more involved in stopping the vice.”

The partnership comes in the wake of a surge in wildlife poaching across Africa, with elephants and rhinos among the worst hit. Concern is growing among conservationists that the endangered African elephant is currently grappling with what could be the worst crisis to ever hit them since 1989 when international commercial trade in ivory was prohibited.

A report released by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) indicated that elephant poaching levels were the worst in a decade and recorded high levels of ivory seizures since 1989. In Kenya, which experts consider a key gateway for ivory smuggling rings leaving Africa, there have been several incidents of ivory seizures and recovery of wildlife carcasses in recent days. Rhinos have also been hard hit by poaching and only five species remain, out of the original dozens. In South Africa, rhino poaching has been at an all-time high. In 2012, 668 rhinos were killed and a further 57 in January 2013 alone.

The founder of Born Free Foundation, Virginia McKenna, says joint effort from different players is required to mount a successful war against wildlife poaching and other such vices. “The private sector in Africa should take a more critical role in preventing animal suffering and protecting the endangered species,” McKenna states.

Pictured: Virgina Mckenna and Titus Naikuni