One of Amboseli's up-and-coming prime bulls was killed by poachers the day before yesterday. Winston had just turned 30 in January of this year and was regularly coming into musth. It should have been just the beginning of a successful breeding life but he was cut down for his ivory tusks.

I felt particularly close to Winston because he was one of 14 calves I chose for a special study in 1980. I carried out research on mother-calf bonds and calf development on these calves and so I spent hours with them in the first year of their lives.

Winston was one of the easiest adult bulls to keep track of because he had a big tear out of his left ear which made it easy to recognize him. We are all going to miss him.

Another big male was killed a few days before Winston but we haven't been able to identify him. Amboseli is one of the few places in Africa with older males with big tusks. We are very worried about being able to save them. ATE is a research project with only minimum funds to help in the anti-poaching effort, but we are doing everything we can to try to stop this frightening upsurge of elephant poaching.