The Water Hole

Category: Community, Parks, Wildlife | Date: Jan 31 2008 | By: admin

In the midst of all the humanitarian crisis facing Kenya today - as a result of the disputed December 27 elections - wildlife areas and the natural environment is beginning to suffer. One of the most affected areas is the Mara Triangle which is managed by the Mara Conservancy. The Triangle is currently staring a financial catastrophe owing to the lack of tourists to the area. The Triangle is particularly vulnerable because it depends entirely (100%) on tourism revenue. Dr Leakey has explained the situation in his blog (http://wildlifedirect.org/richardleakey) and called on all to help save the Triangle. Please visit his blog and read what he has to say.

The mushrooming of internally displaced persons’ camps is also taking its toll on forests especially in the Rift Valley Province. The more than 12,000 displaced persons in various camps around Eldoret town are said to be cutting down trees in their search for firewood for cooking and warming themselves.

With the death of two opposition politicians so far - the second having been killed today in what police think is a ‘love triangle’ - even as the mediation talks being led by Kofi Anan started (officially) today, the chances of peace coming back have been dealt a huge blow. We are worried that if these killings continue, the humanitarian crisis will escalate and - even as this is bad enough - the wildlife of this country will suffer too. We know this only too well from the goings on in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the wildlife is caught in the crossfire of warring militia.

We hope that a speedy recovery can be orchestrated for the tourism industry after the fallout that this violence has brought about. The tourism industry is very important to conservation in Kenya.

Technorati : conservation, kenya, politics, violence, wildlife

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Category: Community, Legislation, Swara, Wildlife | Date: Jan 29 2008 | By: admin

Since I last reported on the Furadan issue, not much has been happening really. Two days ago however, I received an email from Darcy Ogada of the National Museums of Kenya’s Bird Committee . She and others have been collecting data about the demise of birds caused by this lethal chemical. They are now preparing a report that will be presented to the Bird Committee. The report will also be discussed during their meeting on 7 February 2008. Darcy has kindly offered to get me a copy of the report. Once I have it I will share the pertinent issues discussed in the report - and - the suggested way forward in dealing with the poisoning threat.

In the meantime, I wish to thank all those who posted comments in my earlier post on this subject. It is particularly interesting to note that the question of sport hunting came up. This has been a hot topic in Kenya. Last year, while the new wildlife law was being discussed, there were clear divisions between those who are pro- and those who are anti-hunting. The comparison of the dollars that could be fetched by trophy-hunting a lion vis-a-vis a lion carcase rotting away after being poisoned would definitely generate some healthy debate.

As for the question of what transpired at the Ministry of Agriculture, I can just say that the matter was ‘mentioned’. There was no adequate discussion of the issue and no action was promised. Our Director, who is currently taking some days off, has however promised to pick up the issue as soon as he comes back to the office. We can not expect much at the moment though as the country is gripped by political and ethnic controversy, tensions, rampant riots and death. It is unlikely that the government is interested in anything else at the moment: especially not some ‘low priority’ affairs such as dead lions.

For those of you who want to help our campaign, you can send donations through this blog. We have a general fund that caters for all our campaigns. We do not spare any resources whenever it becomes all out war against natures enemies and sometimes these resources can become too low as to limit our effectiveness. Go ahead and make your donations. Joining the EAWLS will also help us a lot since your subscriptions not only cater for the publication of SWARA but also support our operations. To join just log on to www.eawildlife.org and go to the membership page. We have a secure page where you can join using your credit card.

All in all, I thank all those who offered additional information and urge all readers to keep alert and inform us how solutions are being sought elsewhere. We at EAWLS will not stop pressuring the government for a solution.

Technorati : Furadan, Kenya, lions, wildlife

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Category: Community, Swara, Wildlife | Date: Jan 11 2008 | By: admin

For those of you who have been visiting the Lion Guardians blog, you are aware that two lions were killed by poisoning in southern Masailand. The lions died after consuming a carcase of a cow that had been laced with poison by the owner. Although this may seem like an isolated incident, it is not. The use of poisons to kill predators is spreading like bush fire in East Africa and if it remains unchecked, it could reach catastrophic levels. Moreover, we could easily wipe out our predator and scavenger population in a very short time.

In the December 2007 issue of Swara Magazine (Vol. 30 No. 4), I wrote a commentary about the widespread use of the chemical carbofuran, commonly known by one of its trade names, Furadan, and the dangers it poses particularly to large predators and vultures. I believe that the chemical used in the incident described in the Lion Guardians blog was Furadan.

Furadan is a highly toxic insecticide/nematicide that is used to kill insects on plantations of food crops (rice, beans etc). In recent times, pastoralists in Kenya and other eastern Africa countries have been using the chemical to poison predators that prey on their livestock with a devastating knock-on effect on Vultures and other scavengers. The problem is prevalent in northern Kenya and is increasingly becoming a case for concern in masailand. It is particularly worrying since Furadan is not being used to get rid of livestock pests such as ticks but for the deliberate elimination of lions, hyenas, cheetahs, leopards, jackals and other predators. Once these have died, vultures will consume them and eventually die of secondary poisoning. Vultures consume up to 70% of all animal biomass.

Furadan is cheap and easily available. You can, for instance, purchase enough of this poison to wipe out the entire lion population in Masailand at slightly more than one US Dollar at any village agro-vet pharmacy. Seamus MacLennan of Lion Guardians bought this amount at KShs 100 (1 dollar and 31 cents) in Emali - a town 200 km from Nairobi in the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway - last year.

The poison works more like nerve-gas by paralysing the nervous system resulting in twitching, trembling, paralysed breathing, convulsions and, if the dose is enough, death. It gets into the body through swallowing, inhaling or touching. Furadan is responsible for the consequential death of millions of birds in the US. Birds which consumed dead grasshoppers and other insects (eliminated using Furadan on croplands) and those which ingested the chemical directly died en masse. in 1989 for instance, 1,985 ducks, 97% of northern pintails and 3% of green-winged teal were found dead in Colusa, California in an area where Furadan had been used.

In Kenya, there was huge outcry after farmers in Mwea (Eastern Province, Kenya) poisoned thousands of ducks and other waterfowl using the chemical. This outcry led to the ban of granular Furadan in the mid 1990s. The flowable or liquid form of Furadan is not registered in Kenya and was thus not affected. It is worrying to see that the chemical has found its way back to pharmacy shelves again. This time with more charismatic targets.

The East African Wild Life Society (EAWLS) has taken steps to lobby the government to stop the importation and distribution of this highly dangerous poison. The Director, Ali Kaka, will be taking the case to the Agriculture/Livestock Ministry this week to personally persuade him to withdraw Furadan usage in Kenya. Wildlife Direct, Lion Guardians, the EAWLS and others have joined together to prepare a fact file and petition to be presented to Ministry officials, the Kenya Wildlife Service and other relevant authorities.

We hope we can stop this decimation of wildlife before extinction.

Technorati : Kenya, human-wildlife conflict, masailand

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