Farmers fuming over elephants

2004-07-28 22:53

Nairobi - Hundreds of farmers near Mount Kenya blocked a major highway for three hours this week, protesting against an invasion of their farms by elephants, said a news report on Wednesday.

The farmers said authorities had done nothing to help them get rid of the four elephants which have terrorised their fields for weeks.

In protest, they blocked the major highway between Nyeri and Nanyuki with stones and bushes, reported the Daily Nation newspaper.

Officers from the Kenyan Wildlife Service later arrived and drove the elephants into a nearby forest, but said they did not have the personnel to control all the elephants which regularly wreaked havoc on farms in the central Mount Kenya area.

Villagers said the elephants usually came at night.

In a recent aid agency report on the severe hunger situation in many parts of Kenya, marauding wild animals were listed as one of the causes.

With the drought, wild animals left the game parks in search of water and pasture and, in the process, damaged crops. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA