Dear Friends
I hope you won’t be offended when I show these photos which are so shocking and sad that they will make you cry, then demand an immediate response from FMC and the Kenya Government for hesitating over the ban on Furadan and carbofuran.
Dead lion cub estimated to be only 8 months old. He was in a pride of 6 that fed on the poisoned carcass. Nobody knows what happened to the others.
Stomach contents of dead lion cub contained parts of the cow (this is it’s tongue) that was laced with a pinkish poison suspected to be Furadan – a carbofuran based pesticide that was widely available in Kenya until the recent buy back by FMC. It is still available in some stores.
36 vultures of several species are known to have died in this poisoning incident. Others may have flown of and died elsewhere.
Two people were responsible for this act, and according to KWS one has been arrested, the other fled across the border into Tanzania.
“County council rangers revealed that prior to poisoning; lions had attacked and killed four (4) cattle from larger herd of cattle that were grazing in the reserve at night. The owners of the cattle were seen slaughtering and transporting the meat of the killed cattle on a bicycle. It was therefore suspected that they carried all the meat and finally poisoned one of the bovine carcasses intentionally to kill lions and other wildlife which had attacked their herd. It was their way of retaliating for the loss of their cattle”.
In conclusion KWS state that
“This is the second time when the lions have suffered from poisoning in Mara, in April, 2008, a pride of 6 male lion got poisoned from yet unidentified source near Mara Serena lodge along Mara river, two of the lions died at the scene while the rest disappeared with clinical signs of paralysis and incoordination gait and were presumed dead. This was likely to be an incidental poisoning after the lions fed on a hippo carcass that apparently died after grazing on a vegetable farm sprayed with a pesticide, due to indirect exposure and less concentration of the chemical on the hippo carcass, the severity of the symptoms in lions was mild and death only occurred after 2 – 3 days.
The poisoning this month was acute and very severe, presented with an instant death soon after feeding on the carcass. This was an intentional poisoning as opposed to the previous one, and involved deaths of several vultures already confirmed and examined. Previous poisoning was confirmed at the Government chemist as carbamates (Carbofuran) which is sold in Kenya as Furadan.
It is very likely that the same Carbofuran (Furadan) chemical has been used to poison animals again this time. The laboratory results will confirm this”.
Donations made here are
Jan 28th Sheryl B USD 23.00
12 Comments
KWS better acts instead of talk! all lips and no action is just plain same old same old. the company which makes this poison claims to stop importing to kenya and other african nations where predators like lions still roam freely. therefore it is the kenyan government ( officials ) time to do their jobs by taking all these banned products out of the markets, shops and private hands. and replace this with other non toxic pesticides.
Yes, Paula, I did cry. Cry for all the wildlife that has succumbed to this deadly poision. Will it take a death of someone’s child by accidently getting their hands dusted by the purple powder to get this off the shelves?
No wildlife – especially the lions – and watch the tourists numbers fall even further. I don’t consider Kenya to be the 9th Wonder of the World (or whatever number it is) ANYMORE!! The corruption continues, people are starving, animals dying. Kenya may not be in MY future anymore – after visiting since 1995, I may be going somewhere else.
I am a Kenyan,and since childhood I have watched my glorious country’s natural world gradually disintegrate before my eyes. It causes a physical pain inside me.
I agree that deliberation without immediate action is typical of Kenyan Government,and it is old, boring, and above all, ineffective. I know that some may think that people matter more than animals, yet when all our animals are gone (and that will be very soon at this rate) our people will be soon to follow.
The images above depict obvious cruelty. How can we destroy these beautiful creatures? Kenyans need to take a good look at themselves and weigh things up carefully.
Thanks Dana and Sauwa. Dana you raise a critical point, the situation in Bunyala could easily turn into a human tragedy. We are trying to get the government to wake up to it – we waited for so many lions to die before doing anything, we should know that we don’t have the same luxury with humans.
Bastards. Kenya needs much stiffer penalties for wildlife poisoning and poaching. These people need to go to prison for YEARS – a really miserable prison, too.
s.
not only the kenyan government must take all furadan products off all shelves. in all homes too! and not only kenya be the sole country to ban such poison, other countries in africa where wild predators and migration birds still roam freely! lion poisoning occurs frequently too in tanzania done by livestock owners also. if one can get his hand on furadan in other country, one can always bring it back to kenya too. this product is also deadly to people. why use it and poison one’s drinking water and soil?
the poisoning is cruel and devestating. the government should do somthing about it. the last person who is responsible need to come forward. who would do such a thing. those people are idiots. they should go to prison for years and YEARS. probably for ever. Poor animals.The poison product should be banned of shelfs,homes,and anywhere and replaced with environmentaly and ECSPECIALLY ANIMAL FRIENDLY. or maybe no poison at all.
All of the idiots who poisoned the animals are jackasses
After I seen these pictures. I was so shocked I felt sick in the stomach and i think the government shold do something about
it. I think that if this person keeps on doing this, He or she
could wipe out half the worlds animal population.This person i’m going to call Mr.X. Mr.X should come forward. Mr.X sould be put in jail for thwe rest of his life. This is a terrible
situation. Maybe there was no poison involved
Please keep us up-to-date on what transpires from this story. The KWS, police and the judiciary should be made amply aware of the international attention generated by these despicable, criminal acts.
what is wrong ,, i mean i cant sit down and see my inheritance fucked up ,,,where is the govt they should be held responsible , ibaki and raila should be jailed for letting this happen
After more than 35 years hearing bad news from pesticides this is unbeliveable to see this pictures, were we are going and what those corporations have to say about this!?
Ahmad