Surge of illegal hunting

2006-01-05 20:18

Nairobi - Kenyan wildlife authorities have sent reinforcements to control a surge in illegal hunting in the country's western Mount Elgon National Park after rangers killed two Ugandan poachers last month, recovering game meat and ammunition, says officials on Thursday.

Gichuki Kabukuru of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said: "We have sent reinforcements to curb killing of wildlife there."

Kabukuru said that on December 22, KWS rangers killed two Ugandan poachers, recovered two AK-47 assault rifles, 110 rounds of ammunition and a quantity of eland meat.

In recent years, elephants in the park on the foot of the extinct Mount Elgon volcano, which straddled the Kenyan-Ugandan border, about 400km northwest of Nairobi, had been hit by poachers as well as clashes between tribes in both countries.

- AFP