Drought threatens wildlife

2006-01-11 12:56

Nairobi - A searing drought that has put millions of people across East Africa at risk of famine is threatening Kenya's famed wildlife herds as they stray from protected areas to forage for scarce food and water, say officials on Wednesday.

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) 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, posing risks to both the human and fauna populations.

Connie Maina of the KWS said: "We have put out an alert for increased human-wildlife conflicts in the country. Wildlife, notably elephants, have left parks in search of water after the dry spell in the country.

"We have deployed officers from the Problem Animal Management Unit to go to the affected areas and they are carrying out ground and aerial patrols with the view of controlling the problems."

Neighbouring farms invaded

Maina said the most-affected sanctuaries were Tsavo National Park, made up of Tsavo East and West, in southeastern Kenya and the highly popular Maasai Mara National Reserve in the southwest, where hundreds of elephants were reported to have invaded neighbouring farms in search of food and water.

Officials said elephants had killed at least two people in the past two weeks around Tsavo, which was home to the largest number of the animals, and interrupted the funeral for one of the victims, prompting angry demonstrations from villagers.

The reports said: "The priest had to cut short his speech after the elephants emerged and started charging at the mourners.

"The besieged villagers resorted to shouting and blowing whistles forcing the beasts to retreat to the bush."

The reports also said that the crowd had turned nasty in demanding the government action against the elephants, barricading a road and stoning cars for more than three hours.

- AFP