Baraza

Today the KWS announced a 14% decline in elephants in the Samburu/Laikpia ecosystem over the last 4 years. Samburu and Laikipia’s image as the poster children for Kenya’s wildlife recovery is now dented. The impact on tourism cannot be ignored, heavily armed bandits threaten more than elephants, if we can’t protect elephants how can we protect international tourists? But it’s the long term consequence that are of greater concern. One of Kenya’s Vision 2030 flagship projects is to develop the tourism potential in the area to elevate tourism income, create jobs, and increase tax revenues. If we have no elephants in Samburu –will tourists bother to come? Putrid elephant carcasses do not make good tourist attractions. And that is not all, it is now known that the poaching of elephants and rhino’s in Kenya and other countries is linked to criminal cartels that are financing Al Shabaab and other terrorist organizations.  Kenya has remained silent the seriousness of this, but US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has not.

One of 8 elephants recently slaughtered in a group in Galana Ranch

In a way the result of the Samburu census is good news. For the first time in 8 years, KWS has admitted that elephant poaching has reached alarming levels and that it threatens our elephant populations, tourism and our economy.  Hopefully this will lead to concrete reaction from the state. Conservationists are not surprised with this figure. Most scientists knew we were in a crisis all along but openly questioning the official number can be dangerous as Onesmas Kahindi discovered when he was arrested and nearly charged with “undermining a public official” earlier this year. He was released, but the experience of his arrest resounded through the conservation community and sadly many Kenyan conservationists have backed away from raising their concerns to the authorities or the press.

The results of Samburu could have been predicted. In 2011 a count of the Tsavo Ecosystem found 500 dead elephants, a 3 fold increase since 2008 suggesting a rapid rise in poaching over that period. And, similar results are expected where poaching is escalating in Galana, Masai Mara, Laikipia, Amboseli and Kerio Valley. The problem is not just in parks nor is it one group of people we need to stop. In the previous elephant crisis it was primarily the Somali’s who were armed, today numerous tribes in north and Central Kenya are armed and the weapons are being turned against each other and wildlife. Nor is the elephant poaching problem restricted to Kenya, CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) estimates that over 25,000 African elephants across the continent were killed to supply illegal ivory markets in 2011. This was the highest rate of poaching recorded in the past last ten years.

One of 5 rhino’s killed in recent days in Kenya

And its not just elephants. Poachers are also gunning down rhino’s, robbing people and engaging in money laundering, gun running, drugs trade and the money is said to be financing terrorist activities.

To make matters worse, Kenya is not just a haven for poachers, it is also a gateway for ivory movements from other African countries. In July this year CITES noted that together Kenya and Tanzania account for a whopping 65% of the illegal ivory trade in Africa. The ivory is going to China which consumes 75% of the world ivory. But China only recently became the main threat to Africa’s elephants. Elephants have been killed for their ivory for millennia and the ivory trade thrived during the colonial period of Africa’s history – in those days ivory was sought after for billiard boards and piano keys. After the 2nd World War Japan became the world’s largest consumer of ivory taking 40% of all of all ivory for the production of Hanko’s or name seals/signature stamps. By the 1980′s the world began to recognize the crisis facing elephants and CITES put systems in place to regulate the ivory trade through a control system and registration of ivory stocks. This only worsened the situation as criminal cartels found ways of “legalizing” illegal ivory. As a result, ivory prices continued to rise and elephant killings reached a zenith. Legalizing the elephant trade was driving the species to extinction and African countries wildlife authorities were overwhelmed by the highly militarized killings.

It took two men and a crazy idea to turn it all around. In 1989 Richard Leakey persuaded Daniel Arap Moi, the Kenyan president, to publicly burn the entire Kenyan stockpile to send a message in what became the worlds most iconic conservation spectacle. That year Tanzania pushed through a proposal to put elephants on CITES Appendix 1 which bans international trade in elephants and their products. Though not all countries agreed with the listing, yet it is clear that the ivory trade ban led to the immediate a collapse of ivory demand and prices plummeted. Poaching came under control and African and Asian elephants began to recover across Africa and Asia.

Why is the crisis back?

In 1997, four southern African nations sought down listing of their elephants to sell live elephants. This was granted and then in 2000 they sought sales of their ivory stockpiles. Despite concerns that legal ivory trade never worked in the past, and warnings that any legal trade would trigger renewed demand and illegal trade, the sale went through and in 2002 a one off sale of ivory was permitted to Japan. In 2007 another one off sale was permitted, this time, to the horror of conservationists, China, a country notorious for weak enforcement of laws affecting endangered species was permitted to receive the ivory. The legal ivory met a massive demand from the hundreds of millions of newly rich in China resulting in a phenomenal rise in the price of ivory. The state cleverly manipulated the situation by releasing small amounts of legal ivory onto the market each year at very high prices.  The Chinese use ivory for art (carvings) and making household implements like chopsticks. They value it for its texture, warm feeling, softness, glowing colour and ease of carving. Despite the availability of man-made alternatives, real ivory is what is in demand because it symbolizes wealth and status. One study found that the 75% of Chinese buyers would purchase illegal ivory if it was cheaper than legal ivory, it is no wonder then, that similar studies have found that 90% of all ivory on sale in China is illegal.

This high and rising price of ivory has been the main driving force behind the continuing and escalating massacre of elephants in Africa where criminal cartels control the killing of elephants and the movement of ivory. The influx of Chinese workers across rural Africa have, no doubt, been an important part of this.  The impact is worst in countries that are poorly governed, minimally equipped and burdened with weak legislation and minor penalties to fight against highly militarized poaching gangs. DR Congo is thought to have lost over 80,000 elephants as a result. Despite the huge investment in the military wing of KWS since 1989, Kenya is a country where rule of law means little, especially in rural areas where elephants are being slaughtered. Weak governance has made it easy for poachers and dealers to get off, the police and the judiciary are notoriously corrupt. Until now, the shooting of suspected poachers has been the most effective deterrent against poaching, but even this is not sustainable.  The social backlash is likely or has already started to threaten conservation efforts and relations with local communities.

So what can be done?

Most conservationists agree that the only solution is to ban ivory trade forever. Even CITES now admits that the partial lifting of the ban on ivory sales sent a confusing message out and stimulated a demand that has driven the price up and led to massive laundering of illegal ivory. Regulating legal trade is horrendously expensive and difficult especially in a country like China where it is estimated that 90% of ivory on sale in China is illegal. Detecting the impact of ivory trade on populations is expensive, slow and it is virtually impossible to prove. Kenya has always held a principled position against the ivory trade, and has been a leader on CITES elephant issues and has always sought to unite African elephant range states around elephant protection and a total ban on ivory trade. A simple single message is needed, that ivory is banned. Southern African countries argue that their elephants are well managed and that they deserve cash for their ivory stocks. We propose then, that they be compensated for the destruction of their ivory stockpiles to prevent it from ever entering the markets and again stimulating demand. The Chinese argue that Kenya has failed to protect elephants effectively. It is true. We urgently need to step up enforcement, crush the cartels, increase penalties, enact new laws, and create awareness and genuine benefits for communities who live with elephants, otherwise poaching will continue to tempt poor people. We propose that Kenya restores her image by allowing a public audit of her ivory stockpile to prove that it is not making it’s way into the illegal market, and then destroys all of her ivory in renewed commitment to protect elephants.

Unless Kenya cleans up her image she will find it hard to present her position and concerns at the next CITES convention in Bangkok in March 2013 with much conviction. The challenge is to prevent Kenya’s neighbor and former ally, Tanzania, from winning permission to sell her ivory stockpile. Even though the Tanzania proposal is as good as dead in the water (Tanzania has admitted high level government corruption in the illegal killing of elephants and the illegal ivory trade) it would be more effective it Tanzania and Kenya stood side by side on this crisis. Tanzania is losing elephants even more rapidly than Kenya – they say that they are losing 30 elephants per day to poachers. Tanzania and Kenya are accountable for 65% of all ivory trafficking out of Africa, a truth we conveniently keep quiet about. Unless Kenya takes the urgent steps to demonstrate integrity, transparency and seriousness her position will not be taken seriously especially against the loud and aggressive clamoring for the opening up legal ivory trade by southern African states. The idea that legal ivory trade can generate funds to protect elephants is equivalent to resuming slavery to finance efforts to end slavery. It flies in the face of all of our known experience in trying t manage legal ivory trade. If only the proponents of ivory trade had the memories of elephants, they would know that we already tried that and it failed. We cannot afford any more experiments with elephants. We must send out a crystal clear message to the world and ban ivory trade forever.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direktvultures

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube DirektWildlifeDirect ivory burn

According to Kenyan law, it is a serious offense to misuse or abuse pesticides in this country and the Pest Control Products Board is meant to regulate the safe use of pesticides for food production. Through my organization WildlifeDirect, I have been calling for a total ban on the deadly carbofuran pesticide locally known by its trade name Furadan in Kenya since 2009 because it is devastating wildlife in the country.  Carbofuran is intended to kill agricultural insect pests and is a neurotoxin that paralyses its victims. WildlifeDirect has documented the misuse and abuse of this chemical which may now be the most serious threat facing wildlife conservation in Kenya today.

To raise awareness, and get government help, we called a national workshop to address the issue of pesticide poisoning of wildlife in April 2008.  It wasn’t until late 2009 that a Task Force under the Ministry of Agriculture was created to address the issue of pesticide impacts on the environment. The Task Force chaired by the Pest Control Board however, has achieved nothing tangible, and the agency has refused to acknowledge a single poisoning incident report submitted by WildlifeDirect. The PCPB has not called a meeting since September 2010 or explained why they have not done so.

Wildlife Direct scientists have been consistently reporting that Furadan has been used to poison lions due to human wildlife conflict, and it is considered to be one of the main causes of the decline of population of lions in Kenya – now reduced to fewer than 2,000 individual animals. The pesticide is sprinked onto carcasss of livestock to kill lions which cannot detect its presence as it has no smell or taste. Any animal that scavenges on a laced carcass will die within minutes and that includes jackals, hyena’s and vultures. Go to the national parks and you will hardly see a vulture anymore. Vultures populations have declined nationwide  by between 50 and 80% due to pesticide poisoning targeting lions.

We have also been reporting the large scale bird poisoning came in Mwea (central-eastern Kenya) where tens of thousands of birds were killed by the lethal poison in the mid 1990s. Farmers were reported to be eliminating the birds to prevent damage to crops. Researcher Martin Odino of WildlifeDirect documents the use of Furadan to poison wading birds in Bunyala (western Kenya) where poachers poison tens of thousands of wild ducks, geese, storks, doves and other birds using Furadan-laced bait every year. The White faced Whistling duck has disappeared from the area completely. WildlifeDirect has documented in photographs and film, how birds are killed and sold for food to local people in markets. The PCPB has refused to acknowledge or investigate these reports despite the serious public health risk.

Though produced in USA by an American firm FMC, Furadan is not permitted for use in the country after the Environmental Protection Agency declared it unsafe for users, consumers and the environment in December 2009. After the airing a shocking documentary showing the poisoning of lions in Kenya in 2009 on CBS 60 minutes, FMC announced a complete withdrawal and buyback of the pesticide in all East Africa where they admitted it was being misused.

According to their website, “FMC Corporation has repurchased Furadan 5G from distributors and retailers in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.  The buy-back program remains open for any product that might still be in commercial channels.  Should any additional product be found in the marketplace, please let FMC know the location details so it can be repurchased.  FMC has no plans to reintroduce the product in these countries in the future”.

The poison was removed only from Kenyan stores, and it was simply moved to Tanzania and Uganda. From there it has been coming back across the border and continues to be found in some Agrovet outlets. Despite the global concerns concerns about the dangers of Furadan, the PCPB continues to permit its use of Furadan in flower farming. It is supplied locally by Juanco Ltd and is advertised on their website.

WildlifeDirect has consistently argued that the pesticide management system in Kenya needs to be revised. Deadly pesticides like Furadan should not be sold over the counter as users are not trained in safe use, and do not have or use any safety gear. Moreover, when poisoning incidents do occur,  rural clinics cannot handle them. In 2009, the Standard newspaper and WildlifeDirect reported that Nelson Kimutai, a three-year old boy from Kitale in Kenya, had died after consuming Furadan that his father had bought to rid his maize farm of rats and insects. He had stored the product in the kitchen and was using it with his bare hands. His son did not associate the chemical with danger and ate a little. Four hours later the local clinic was unable to save his life as they did not know how to reverse the effects of the pesticide.

In her best selling book “Silent Spring” Rachel Carson describes how the poisoning of the earth with DDT and other organophosphates in the USA threatened the lives of people and nature. She accused the agrochemical industry of being untruthful, and raised concern that public officials were failing to protect the public and environment by accepting industry claims uncritically.  The awareness that this book raised led to the banning of DDT in 1972. America has never looked back. Kenya is now experiencing her silent spring and it is time that the public questioned the governments decisions on which chemicals are used in food production. To date Kenya has no standards for pesticide limits in food, and conducts no testing of consumer products in shops. While the medical fraternity express concern about a cancer epidemic, nobody is examining the possible causes.

Given the obvious risks associated with the use and misuse of agrochemicals in Kenya it seems clear that our regulations and capacity to enforce the law are inadequate.   The PCPB its self is compromised by the fact that it is located in the Ministry of Agriculture therefore it cannot be an industry watchdog looking out for the interests of human and environmental health. Moreover, the PCPB is severely under resourced with only 9 inspectors and 2 vehicles nationwide. There are over 9,000 agrovets in the nation. This puts the tiny agency at the mercy of powerful agro chemical industry players who promise to “self regulate”. According to their annual reports, the PCPB’s meagre income is obtained almost entirely from the sale of agrochemicals. No wonder they are allergic to any suggestion of pesticide product bans.

We urge the government of Kenya to urgently address the human health and environmental risks by banning the use of carbofuran and removing the PCPB from the ministry of Agriculture where it is in a position of conflict of interest, and provide adequate resources to enable the PCPB to be effective.

Dr. Paula Kahumbu has a PhD from Princeton University and is the Executive Director of WildlifeDirect.c

Dear Friends

Elephants are once again in grave danger,  they are increasingly being poached for their teeth.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt

Ivory seizure Nairobi Airport

We documented the recent seizure of ivory at Nairobi International Airport.  With ivory prices rising in China, Thailand and Vietnam we anticipate much more of this. The combination of massive rewards as an incentive, the presence of large numbers of Chinese workers in Africa, and weak enforcement+high levels of corruption we have a deadly combination for elephants. We thank the Amboseli Elephant Project for use of photographs in this video.

Let us know what you think of this video and support our work by making a donation.

Thank you

Paula

Dear Friends,

The poaching of rhino for it’s horns has reached a new high and Africa is losing an average of one rhino per day to poachers. These critically endangered species could disappear forever if we don’t halt the poaching. In the last two weeks we have lost two white rhino near the Masai Mara Reserve where they were under 24 hour surveillance.

The Kenya Wildlife Services are taking no chances. To prevent any further losses, one of the remaining whites was brought to Nairobi Park earlier this week. I was there to witness the event. Enjoy

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt
Rhino Release in Nairobi Park

To support Wildlife Sentinels on WildlifeDirect, please make a donation. Thank you.

This blog post celebrates features that we’d like to draw your attention to this month. Did you know that WildlifeDirect is on the Radio? We’ve been using PRX an online Public Radio Exchange –a community radio based in USA to share our interviews and some of our stories on WildlifeDirects own PRX channel . If you haven’t heard about them here is a list of some of our favourite Radio pieces on PRX.com

Saving the Mathews Range – a 22 minute  debate recorded around a campfire in a wilderness campsite in a little known remote isolated tropical forest capped mountain in Kenyas northern deserts (8.5 mins).

Paula Kahumbu who is married to the BBC reporter on the story to the Mathews Range assisted in the video and online piece that is currently on the BBC website

Serengeti disaster on the horizon – The Serengeti Highway Richard Leakey discusses the looming end to the wildebeest migration as a result of the planned Serengeti Highway (8.5 minutes).

Can global targets for carbon emissions be met in fast growing developing nations? Paula Kahumbu talks to a low income earner in Kenya to illustrate the challenges that African countries will face in confronting targets for reducing green house gas emissions to meet climate change targets (4 mins).

Poisoning lions. An authoritative 5 minute piece about the continuing decline of lions due to killing of lions in Kenya poisoned using a deadly pesticide called carbofuran

Secrets of the sexy stalk eyed flies –a funny 1 minute interview with insect lover Dino Martins about a bizarre fly

Please listen to  our stories and share widely

Stop the Serengeti Highway

The big story that we are seeking action this month is the Serengeti Highway. It is beyond imagination that the great migration could disappear forever.  It seems unthinkable that anyone would do anything to cause the migration to cease. Yet, it’s actually happening! We told the story of a  controversial decision made by Tanzanian authorities to build a highway right across the migration path of millions of wildebeest and other animals in the Serengeti National Park. The global consequence of destroying the wildebeest migration is unthinkable, it is something that no individuals, politicians, presidents or anyone, should be allowed to take. I also interviewed Richard Leakey about the story and he reminded us that Tanzania needs to develop the region for the people of Tanzania, and he made some sober recommendations which we hope the Tanzanians will be considering. The Serengeti Highway story also aired on Mongabay.com one of the worlds largest  conservation blogs after the webmaster invited me to submit the story to them too

Nature radio in Seychelles

Meanwhile in Seychelles, Nirmal Shah of Nature Seychelles has been producing wonderful radio pieces about nature that are aired on local radio but can also be listened to online. It’s wonderful to hear him describing lying in mud to observe water skimmers, tiny insects that most of us ignore.

Nairobi National park zebra migration

One of the most important dry season grazing for wildlife in the Athi Kapiti plaisn is the Nairobi National Park. It often hosts thousands of animals on a seasonal basis. The park, which lies within the city boundaries, is in trouble precicely because of it’s location. Developments, encroachment, poaching and pollution are all exacting a toll on this wonderful wildlife refuge. Through his regular posts adorned with spectacular photographs, Will Knocker reminds about what makes Nairobi Park special. This week the Zebra migration is in full swing – a wonderful spectacle, especially for those who cannot make it to the Masai Mara to witness the great migration which has just started there.

Poisoning wildlife – the Ongoing debacle

More than two years after WildlifeDirect began reporting the escalation of pesticide poisoning of wildlife in Kenya, the authorities have finally taken it up and created a multi sector Task Force to address the problem. Representing conservation organizations in Kenya, Paula Kahumbu is has been attending the meetings. She reports on the frustrations and the modest progress on that front on the Baraza blog. Meanwhile Martin Odino continues to report the poisoning of birds in Kenya’s irrigation schemes  on http://stopwildlifepoisoning.org, and Munir Virani and others raise the alarm about vulture poisoning in Africa.

Other wonderful posts

Video footage from a mobile phone of a sunbear climbing is my favourite post this week.

Lion guardians find a new pair of magnificent males – in an area where lions have been severely persecuted. Predator Aware team also capture two hunting cheetah brothers in spectacular photographs.

We support all your donations  towards WildlifeDirect or any of our partner blogs.

Volunteer opportunities

Art for conservation are looking for volunteers to help in Rwanda.  Read more in their Art for Gorilla blog.

A few weeks ago Melissa Cook and Bob Demchuk visited Kenya and called in on WildlifeDirect. They had a simple proposal – to help WildlifeDirect raise funds they are selling greeting cards and WildlifeDirect will benefit from those sales.

buy this lion cub card

Have a look at the wonderful wildlife cards that you can purchase here and please consider buying cards for your any occasions for your family, friends, and loved ones knowing that through the cards you will be saving endangered species.

There is a good variety of different photographs and all the cards are original photographs taken by Bob Demchuk. We hope to  develop this idea and do more with Bob and Melissa who are committed to conservation. Watch this space for news!

Thank you Bob and Melissa!

Dear friends,

When we started raising our voices about the impact of pesticides on lions and other animals we didn’t realise that this was the tip of the iceberg. Researching the problem in Kenya has made us stumble across information that makes the head  spin…

“Of the 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides used annually in the US, less than .01% actually reach their intended targets–the bugs! Obviously they are completely contaminating our food, and the consequences are disastrous”,

There has been a flurry of excitement about pesticides after Karla K. Johnston reported in the Huffington Post that pesticides in food are linked to ADHD – attention deficit disorder that can seriously impair child development.

“A new analysis of U.S. health data links children’s attention-deficit disorder with exposure to common pesticides used on fruits and vegetables.

While the study couldn’t prove that pesticides used in agriculture contribute to childhood learning problems, experts said the research is persuasive.”

This was followed by another popular posting on the Huffington Post by Travis Walter Donovan who reports on pesticides in food in USA and advises consumers on what to eat and what not to eat. Travis only reveals how many pesticides were found on individual crops but does not tell us what exactly the pesticides were or how harmful they are to consumers.

To it’s credit the US authorities make available information regarding the residues of pesticides on foods through the Pesticide Data program the PDP.  This National databse manages the collection, analysis, data entry and reporting of pesticide residues on agricultural commodiites in the US. Food supply “with an emphasis on those commodities highly consumed by infants and children.”

Furadan - banned in USA but available in Africa

In Kenya it is virtually impossible to find out what pesticides are used on the foods that we eat, and we do not know what levels of residues remain in the harvested crops, in the soil, or in the water that we are drinking. In February Kenya’s largest fresh water lake, Lake Naivasha went belly up as the lake changed colour and millions of fish and invertebrates died . The government quickly leaped to the defense of flower farmers and reported that “the fish died from lack of oxygen”. Yes they did! and so did JFK die when his heart stopped beating! But that wasn’t the cause. To date Kenyans have not been told why the lake had no oxygen but scientists believe that excessive pesticides and fertilizers used around the lake are to blame. They wonder why the fish die offs always seem to occur on or around Christmas  and Valentines day? Both are major flower picking seasons.  Since we don’t eat flowers, nobody questions what pesticides are used, or how much pesticide is used in their production – but we can guess that it’s lots given the  volumes of unblemished blossoms that make it to the Amsterdam auctions. Of course if only .01% f those pesticides are doing their work, then it’s only logical that 99.99% are entering the lake. No wonder the lake is contaminated, and people around the lake suffer from  a high degree of disorders – especially children (Read Behind the Label by Pat Thomas).

We know that carbofuran which is not permitted for use on food crops n USA, is used widely in Africa where our authorities continue to lie to us that this product is safe. The cruelest aspect of this is that carbofuran is produce and packaged as Furadan in USA and then sold (or is it dumped) in Africa and other developing regions of the world where it is reputed to be some sort of wonder drug. Of course it is – it is so deadly that it kills everything it comes into contact with including humans!

We all buy fruit at a road side vegetable stalls - but what's in them?

Efforts to extract information from our own Pest Control Products Board on what routine tests are conducted to determine pesticide residues on food, in water and soil were met with accusations that we were putting them on the defensive. If the data does not exist then the PCPB should simply say so. But to insinuate that lack of data demonstrates that there is no impact -well that’s just silly science. Understanding how food quality  is controlled in Kenya is like navigating through spaghetti. But yet, Kenyans and all citizens of the world, deserve to know what they are eating and how it could affect them.  That would at the very least allow us to make decisions about what pesticides we use, what foods we eat, and what foods we feed to our children.

Why am I getting so vexed about this?

Well, just last week we submitted a report to the Ministry of Agriculture regarding the impact of the pesticide carbofuran on the environment in Kenya. The more we examine the evidence, the more convinced we are that this pesticide should be banned in Kenya where it is decimating lion and vulture populations, not to mention causing untold damage to  invertebrates and human health.

We don’t expect the meeting next week to be ‘fun’, in fact it will be anything but. The atmosphere in the meetings is hostile and the playing field is not level. We anticipate that it’s going to be a painful battle.

One of the key concerns that keeps being raised is about alternatives to the deadly pesticides carbofuran (Furadan).

Through this blog post we urge everyone to know what you are eating, and if you don’t know, then you should demand more information about what we are eating. It is not fair or right that we are ignorant of the risks we expose ourselves to by simply eating vegetables (vegetables are supposed to be good for us) or drinking water (aren’t we supposed to drink a liter a day?).

We need your help

Through this blog, we request all readers to submit your views about safer alternatives to using carbamate and organophospate based pesticides in agriculture.  Do you know any farmers? Please ask them and send us a comment with your findings. These suggestions will be submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture at the right time.

Kind Regards

Paula

On the 25^th of April investigators discovered three dead  lions near Lemek in the Masai Mara ecosystem which occurred on the 22^nd of April 2010. The lions lay dead in a traditional homestead where they had been poisoned by eating a cow laced with pesticides by a Masai family. A lioness had died about 5-10 meters away from the cow carcass. The carcasses of a juvenile male and second lioness lay some 30m away. There were piles of dead flies around the cow carcass and the lions had not yet been scavenged. KWS arrested a local man who admitted that he had poisoned the lions with his neighbors. He produced a container that contained pink powder, which he had used to poison the lion. The same pink coloring was visible on the laced meat of the cow carcass used for the poisoning.  KWS have sent samples of the lion carcasses and the pink substance have been sent for toxicological tests to confirm what pesticide was used.

The suspect confirmed that the cow carcass that was laced belonged to him and other family members, and that it had been killed by lions when his herd’s boy was grazing livestock. The suspect was taken to the police by KWS but despite the admission of guilt and evidence provided, he was released shortly thereafter. According to sources who wish to remain anonymous, a local politician intervened on his behalf.

This incident brings to 8 the number of confirmed poisoning cases of lions in recent weeks in southern Kenya, the other five occurring near the Amboseli National Park. In their National Conservation and Management strategy for Lions and Hyenas, the Kenya Wildlife Service state that “poisoning is perhaps the greatest threat to predators and scavenging birds” and reveal that Kenya’s lion population has declined to fewer than 2,000 individuals and estimates that only 1,970 individuals remain.  KWS confirm that 2010 has started off badly for lions – in addition to 8 confirmed poisonings, more than 10 other lions have been killed in other circumstances; A lion was shot in or near Buffalo Springs Reserve, Samburu District, by local police, while others have been speared near Amboseli  National Park.

In response to this incident, Richard Leakey the Chairman of WildlifeDirect has again called for the government to take action “The future of tourism in Kenya is at risk if dangerous pesticides used to kill lions like Carbofuran (sold locally as Furadan) remain on the market and cases of abuse are not followed up and culprits are set free time and time again. The Kenyan government must show it’s seriousness and take swift action on availability of deadly pesticides like Furadan and the enforcement of the law in obvious incidents of pesticide abuse such as this. Failing this Kenya’s lions go extinct in a matter of years which will cause a catastrophic loss in potential tourism revenues ” .

Conservationists in Kenya warn that carbofuran is the most widely used pestsicide to kill wildlife pests such as lions and leopards in the country. It is also used in pesticide fishing and hunting of birds for human consumption. Carbofuran is a neurotoxin that is deadly to fish, birds in irrigation schemes, cats and even humans.  Due to it’s toxicity and negative impacts, carbofuran is not permitted for use in agriculture in the European Union and use in USA where it is manufactured, was recently revoked after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found it unsafe for users, consumers and wildlife. After incidents of lion poisoning in Kenya became public in 2008, the manufacturers of Furadan, FMC withdrew the product from Kenyan shelves. However, carbofuran is not banned and Furadan can still be found in some places, and the active ingredient carbofuran occurs in other over-the-counter pesticides.

WildlifeDirect is a conservation charity registered in USA and Kenya, and based in Nairobi. We enable conservationists at the front lines to tell their stories and raise awareness about their work through over 80 blogs from the field on the website platform http://wildlifedirect.org.  The Chairman of WildlifeDirect is Dr. Richard Leakey and the Executive Director is Dr. Paula Kahumbu. Visit http://wildlifedirect.org for more information

Furadan: WildlifeDirect is campaigning for the de-registration or total ban on the active ingredient of Furadan, carbofuran in Kenya due to the threats it poses to users, consumers and wildlife. This pesticide threatens the survival of lions, vultures, fish species and many other mammals and birds In Kenya. Furadan is produced in USA by FMC and is sold locally by Juanco SPS as an agricultural insecticide.  For more information on our campaign against wildlife poisoning visit http://stopwildlifepoisoning.wildlifedirect.org

KWS is the government body responsible for wildlife conservation in Kenya.  For more information visit http://www.kws.org

For other photographs or more information please contact Paula Kahumbu paula@wildlifedirect.org, or call 0722685106, or 020 2602463