I hate to hear this sort of thing. It’s really a shame. People must learn to live peacefully with the wildlife in that region. That is the bottom line answer. Education is the key to stopping this. I hope something can be done before it’s too late. Lisa

Juliet, Thank you for this report. I´m terrible angry with this kind of barbaric actions! The use of chemicals in death animals has lead to serious problems in the world. In the U.S.A thousands of predators are killed each year by poisoning compaings by the government, and this actions kill not only coyotes, but every single animal that feeds on the carcass is killed too. This indiscriminate slaughters has deployed from predators the ecosystems and has disrupted enterelly the natural balance in the areas choossen for such disgusting practices. The damage to the natural balance has been so large that even now the real consequences of this events could be far more devastating that expected by the federal government. Another example is the death of thousands of at least three asiatic vulture species, their populations dropped by 97% in just a decade due to the use of an anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac. This drug has been administered to domestic cattle and when it dies and is consumed by vultures all of this dies too, due to a toxic reaction to the drug. This problem is so serious that actually the survival of this three species of vultures depends on captive breeding programmes. The lack of such raptors have lead to a massive explode of all kind of epidemics in some sectors of India and Nepal, because of the rotting corpses that laid in the open with no vultures to clean it up. But this is just the top of the iceberg in this kind of problems and much more worst news are still to come. And there is another bad new: the drug diclofenac has been located for sale in some parts of Africa!! There is a solution for the use of this drug and is as simple as using meloxicam insted. I hope that this information can be useful to you. Please keep up with the information of this problem! Thank you in advance…

Hi Juliet, thanks for this a particularly important story and we at WildlifeDirect are planning a “poison” campaign to raise awareness, change the laws and educate the public - this is not only devastating to wildlife, these poisons also kill people and livestock. Check out the Gorilla doctors blog - they saw poisoning in Queen Elizabeth park in Uganda, Atamato sees it in Congo, Simon Thomset sees it in Athi river and we hav video footage and photos of vultures, Asuka has documented over 300 carnivore deaths in the Mara. We need a continent wide concerted effort… can we work together on this?

Thank you so much for your comments - I know this issue has received widespread attention elsewhere and we in northern Kenya are only now feeling the effects. We are keen to work with you on a campaign to raise awareness and will keep you in the loop on the outcome of our investigations - we hope to be doing more detailed survey next year and gathering documented information on this elsewhere in the world. Many thanks for your feedback

Lisa, I agree education is the key to ending all of this. It is too bad people don’t realize how fortunate they are to be surrounded by the beauty of the animals. People in my neighborhood don’t like the racoons, and possum, but I think they are beautiful. Every living thing has an equally important role on this planet. It is too bad humans (not all) tend to think we are superior.
~Mary

WHY WHY WHY? Why are humans so certain they’re the most important species on this planet? WHY ARE WE STILL EATING ANIMALS? Thoreau thought we’d be over this habit by now: “I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals.”

s.

just awful…..so sad to hear this….

Thanks. It is very sad but inevitable that predators will be targeted in community areas when people are constantly losing livestock which are their ‘bank accounts’. More awareness, government control of poisons and measures to reduce predator conflict is what we need to address fast in these areas…..

In Mara area, people use cattle dip (Amitraz) or insecticide (Diazenon), and who knows what else. People here tell me that affected animal from poisoning will range somewhere like 300 (since 2000, including lion, leopard, hyena, jackal and vultures as well), but no one has acurate figure as it is outside the park. The insecticide is injected underneath the skin of depredated livestock using needle and syringe. The needle is changed from the one which insecticide is withdrawn so animal do not detect the smell. The only way to stop this poisoning is mass scale education and way to reduce livestock attack case by predator.

Paula, Since the use of insecticides are not going away, can your ‘poison campaign’ find a way to make insecticides with powerful smells so the animals are aware it is poisonous?

I understand the livestock are the livelihood for many of these communities, but if the wildlife habitat wasn’t being destroyed the wildlife such as lions would not have to look to other sources such as livestock for food. If we can somehow develop a conservation/tourism program that would provide an additional income for the communities there would be a new appreciation for the wildlife. I have read of some areas doing this so hopefully this is something that can be done with this area as well.

Asuka - thanks for your comments on what has happened in the Mara, very useful. Mary - I agree whole heartedly with what you say, NRT is looking at ways to increase benefits to communities from conservation and tourism is the main revenue generating activity, we are also working with women’s groups developing small enterprises….. it is a slow process to get meaningful revenue from conservation but other spin-off benefits such as improved security are also important and need to be highlighted to these communities.

I have found a similar conflict with Wild dogs in Donyo Wasin (north of Mathews range) and South South Horr. The wild dogs are also trapped in goats sheds and killed, a practice that goes against the Samburu traditions.

Mwenja

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