Dear all,

I would like to convey this message from Johnny Rodrigues for those of you who may not have previously seen it:

"I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to all you wonderful people who made such a monumental effort to help us to try and save Tusker's life by signing the petition. I am so very sorry we failed - I feel that I've let the whole world down. I had no idea the authorities were going to shoot him ahead of schedule. If they had kept to their word, I am confident we would have been able to save him with the amount of support we had from all of you.

At around 11:30 on Sunday morning, I suddenly had a terrible feeling of impending doom and nausea welled up in my throat. My head started pounding and I had an awful feeling that Tusker was gone. I then downloaded emails and there was an email from a lady in Charara who said she had just heard 4 shots from a heavy calibre rifle and she was sure Tusker had been shot. I checked the time she had sent her email and it was 11:26. I tried to phone Kariba but all the lines were down so I emailed the lady and asked her to please try and find out what the shots were, but in my heart, I knew what they were. She responded quickly saying that she was too scared to go and ask so I waited. A couple of hours later, the email I was dreading, confirming Tusker's death came through. I was physically ill.

I am going to make sure Tusker didn't die in vain and with the support I've got from all of you, I am confident this can be achieved.

The first thing I will be working on is putting a stop to any more parties taking place in Charara, or any National Parks area for that matter. If I need to take legal action against those concerned, then I will do so.

Secondly, I would like to try and raise funds to have a soapstone sculpture made, a replica of Tusker which will be placed at the gate of Charara camp so that nobody will forget the terrible consequences of not having respect for wildlife.

Thirdly, last year, National Parks, in partnership with Lake Harvest Fisheries (Kariba) built a new crocodile farm near Charara as a commercial venture and it was authorized that 100 elephants per year will be shot in the Kariba area to feed the crocodiles. Lake Harvest Fisheries export fish to several countries in the world and Facebook supporters could assist by boycotting their produce.

The fourth, and most disturbing fact that has transpired recently is that National Parks are currently trying to obtain approval from the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources to kill elephants to produce biltong (jerky) to be sold countrywide in retail outlets as part of sustainable use of Zimbabwe's natural resources. This is unacceptable and we have to try and put a stop to it.

If we can achieve these goals, then Tusker's death will not have been in vain. His death will result in saving the lives of hundreds of elephants in Zimbabwe."

www.safaritalk.net is maintaining up to date information on Tusker which can be found here:

http://safaritalk.net/index.php?showtopic=1842 a topic to which you can add your own comments and thoughts, (although to do so requires registration - free painless and quick, alas because of the high level of spam)

and The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force has a regularly updated group page which can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15148470211 which one can join as an associate supporters although does require a facebook membership: www.facebook.com - click on "Sign Up" and follow the prompts.

In the next couple of days we will be publishing a preformatted letter which can be emailed or sent normally to H.E. Mr. Francis Dunstan Nhema, Minister, Zimbabwe Ministry of Mines, Environment and Tourism expressing our sentiments over this incident.

Therefore I leave you all with my best wishes, on behalf of myself, and Johnny Rodrigues of The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force.

Please feel free to pass this message along to those who you feel may be interested.

Matthew Wilkinson