Apr 30 2008
The press have been very interested in the concerns raised about carbofurans in Kenya. This article appeared in the Kenyan newspapers today and based on interviews, we expect more in coming days. 
Apr 28 2008
Dear all, we have just put out this press release as an outcome of the meeting on Friday. Please circulate widely.
LEAKEY CALLS FOR BAN ON CARBOFURAN AS WILDLIFE POISONING REACHES ALARMING LEVELS IN KENYA
The Mara Conservancy has alerted authorities after finding five hippos dead and observing paralysis in four lions which fed on one of the hippo carcasses. Toxicology reports on one of the hippo carcasses and a lion both tested positive for carbofuran, an extremely toxic agricultural pesticide. Further investigations have revealed that traces of carbofuran were found in areas where the hippos were known to graze.
The sick lions were first reported on the Mara Conservancy Blog on April 15th and followed carefully by the rangers. Brian Heath, CEO of the Mara Conservancy later stated: “The first report came in three days post-ingestion where a lion was found to be weak, staggering and sitting under a thicket. Another young male from the same pride began showing similar but more severe paralysis and quickly became recumbent by the afternoon. This was followed by a lesser degree of paralysis of two more males during the next five days. Tissue samples together with stomach content from the euthanized lion were submitted to the Government Toxicology Lab. The results showed that the stomach contents of the hippo and lion tested positive for Carbofuran.”
Incidences of poisoning represent a critical threat against Kenya’s wildlife particularly through the use of Carbofuran. The chemical is extremely toxic, cheap and easily available. Dr. Richard Leakey, Chairman of WildlifeDirect.org is urging the government to ban the use of Carbofuran: “We are appealing to the Kenya government, the importer, Juanco SPs, the agrochemical association of Kenya, and the Pest Control Products Board to go the way of Europe and USA and ban the importation, sale, distribution and use of this deadly chemical in Kenya. We believe that there are significant human health concerns and environmental risks associated with using this chemical which is widely abused because it is easily available over the counter from any Agrovet.”
Concern in Kenya was first raised in the 1990s when the chemical was reported to have caused the death of huge numbers of ducks and other waterfowl near Ahero (Western Kenya) and Mwea (Central Kenya) rice schemes. Poisoned waterfowl were then sold for human consumption. Discussions ensued between ornithologists from National Museums of Kenya (NMK), KWS representatives, the manufacturer of Furadan (FMC Corp), local manufacturers (AgroEvo E.A. Limited), regulatory authority (Pest Control Products Board), and the National Irrigation Board (NIB) who managed the rice schemes.
Responding to the recent alarming reports of poisoned wildlife, Dr. Richard Leakey convened a meeting with over 40 stakeholders on 25th April 2008, where eight presentations by conservation organizations and scientists showed the alarming cases of poisoned wildlife. One study confirmed that the chemical is also being used to catch fish in Lake Victoria.
Several cases of intentional use of carbofuran to kill predators have also been reported to the Kenya Wildlife Authorities. Earlier this year, conservation group, the Lion Guardians reported a case of two lions intentionally poisoned in Kajiado, Kenya. Poisoning is not only decimating Kenya’s lion population which is estimated to be mere 2,000 individuals but also scavengers birds such as vultures and other birds of prey. In 2004, 187 vultures died as a result of just one poisoning incident. Raptor specialist, Simon Thomsett believes, “that if the current level of usage continues, it is possible that two different species of vultures in Kenya could go extinct within the next ten years.”
Carbofuran is an agricultural pesticide sold in Kenya by Juanco SPS as Furadan, but is being widely abused especially by pastoralists. Exposure to the chemical, over stimulates the nervous system causing nausea, dizziness, confusion, and at very high exposures (e.g. accidents or major spills), respiratory paralysis and death. Despite the fact that carbofuran is banned in Europe and as of January 2008, the US Environmental Protection Agency has determined that all products containing carbofuran generally cause unreasonable adverse effects on humans and the environment, and are ineligible for re-registration, the Kenyan Pest Control and Products Board deny that the chemical has adverse effects on humans and wildlife.
WildlifeDirect and other conservation groups believe that banning the use of the chemical would only be one step to addressing the problem. “In addition, the KWS needs to find mechanisms that create incentives for communities to live in harmony with wildlife.” states Head of Conservation for WildlifeDirect, Dr. Paula Kahumbu.
Editor’s Notes:
· Carbofuran is widely available and cheap throughout Kenya. It is regulated through the Pest Control and Products Board (PCPB) which lists it as an agricultural chemical without any warning of its lethal toxicity (only the very concentrated form of Carbofuran is restricted like other poisons).
· Wildlifedirect.org a charity based in Kenya was founded by Richard Leakey who envisioned the need for alternative sources of wildlife conservation funding to save Africa’s rich wildlife heritage when tourism fails. Online micro-donations are received in response to conservation blogs to support field conservationists. The website hosts over 50 blogs in nine African countries, giving field conservationists a voice, and allowing donors to directly support and participate in conservation. 100% of donations go to the cause that is supported by the donors.
· The Mara Conservancy Trust is a non-profit company, was established in January 2001 to manage and protect the wildlife of the Maasai Mara Conservancy. The day to day management of the conservancy is documented in a blog: http://maratriangle.wildlifedirect.org.
Some Known Cases of Poisoning in Kenya
· November 2007: near Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Isiolo District a camel that had been killed by lions was subsequently laced with Furadan by local pastoralists with the aim of killing predators that came to feast on the carcass. The result was the death of at least two lions and fifteen vultures collected in the immediate vicinity of the carcass. Also recently near Lewa, a group of nine lions from the nearby Samburu reserve were poisoned, five of which died along with significant numbers of birds of prey and other scavengers.
· In April 2005 the poisoning of at least 30 vultures occurred near Athi River.
· In March 2005 a breeding Mackinder’s eagle owl was a victim of secondary poisoning after eating dying mousebirds that were poisoned with Furadan by farmers near Mweiga, Nyeri District.
· In April 2004 the largest known incident of vulture deaths in Kenya occurred near Athi River when 187 vultures died as a result of Furadan poisoning. The hardest hit species were white-backed vultures, but Ruppell’s griffon and lappet-faced vultures also perished. A large portion of the resident hyena population was also wiped out.
· Further, an MSc student working on his analytical project on effects of Furadan, analyzed samples collected from the feet of a dead vulture in Laikipia and found Furadan compound; a likely case of secondary poisoning.
For additional information please contact:
Brian Heath, Director, CEO, Mara Conservancy Trust – bheath@triad.co.ke or +254 734 225378
Dipesh Pabari, Communications Manager, WildlifeDirect –
dipesh@wildlifedirect.org or +254 733 989082
More information on the use of Carbofuran against wildlife is available on WildlifeDirect’s Baraza Blog.
For high resolution photographs and footage, please contact Dipesh Pabari
Apr 23 2008
We are in the final stages of planning for our big meeting on Friday. I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to this effort so far. We are especially grateful to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, IFAW, who have helped significantly in funding this meeting. The meeting to discuss the illegal use of Furadan to poison wildlife takes place at 9.30 am at the Silversprings Hotel on Friday, and will be opened by our chairman Richard Leakey. We have been working feverishly to coordinate the numbers which keep swelling! I can’t tell you how excited yet nervous we all are that there is so much interest and concern about the use of poisons against wildlife that we have had to move the venue from our office to accommodate the 50 or so confirmed participants.
We’re especially pleased that Martin Odino from Nairobi University who has recently completed a survey on the use of Furadan in Kenya with Darcy Ogada from the National Museums of Kenya will be here to present results from a recent survey. A report that they sent us earlier reveals some alarming facts
Intrigued with their claims that it is easily accessible I went shopping this morning for Furadan! I visited an agricultural chemical outlet near my home, my friend did the talking. He mentioned that jackals were killing my chickens and he needed to kill them. He was sold this packed of Furadan for Ksh 200 (about $3). He was told it was effective against anything – from rats, cats, dogs etc to lions and leopards.
We visited 3 different shops and all said the same – though one had sold out! One shop warned that if the Kenya Wildlife Service found out we could be arrested. But that didn’t stop them from selling it. None of them told us that the chemical was supposed to be used only for agricultural purposes only!
I called the distributors of Furadan in Kenya Juanco SPS Inc, who insisted that the formulation could not kill wild animals. I told them we had evidence, photos, film and dead animals. They seemed surprised that shop sellers were advising customers to use it as poison, because its against the law and because the concentration of the chemical was halved after the last complaints were heard many years ago. I sent them a report with and asked them to come to the meeting.
I then called the Pesticide Control Board and told them what had happened. They expressed shock and surprise. They had received our invitation and hadn’t responded. The call seemed to add urgency and later called their Managing Director who said she was ready to support initiatives to ensure the proper use of these chemicals. This is where there is a huge grey area - could the proper use of this chemical be dangerous to wildlife? If so then we could challenge it’s very use in Kenya. If not we need a different strategy to ensure it is not used inappropriately.
I have to admit that I’m feeling quite anxious yet hopeful about this meeting. I’m aware that it could go horribly wrong, we could all end up arguing and fighting and alienating one another.
Or, we could trigger the change that is needed, galvanize action and bring together the diverse players – communities, government regulatory agencies, scientists, land owners, and the agricultural chemical industry. If anyone can do this it is Richard Leakey. We discussed strategy and agreed that at this stage we need as many supporters on our side as we continue to gather information, and work with all the stakeholders. We will post the presentations and films here in coming days and invite you to participate through the blog forum, send us emails with documents you may have to info@wildlifedirect.org
Apr 02 2008
One of the many things I respect Dr. Richard Leakey for is that his entire career has been a struggle for truth, justice and equality for all living creatures including the ones that deserve it the least - us humans. Most people outside of Kenya will know Dr. Leakey and his family for their commitment to palaeontology. Three generations of patient digging has contributed to our understanding of human evolution.
And of course, within the wildlife context, Dr. Leakey is internationally acclaimed for putting an end to the elephant slaughter in Kenya more than 20 years ago. It saddens me terribly to think that the recent spearings in the Amboseli region might be a sign that these senseless killings are creeping back in.
In Kenya, however, Dr. Leakey is a household name for his relentless struggle for good governance, and justice. During the bad old days of the Moi regime (sadly it seems the bad old days are still with us even though Moi is not), Dr. Leakey was made Head of Civil Service to try and help clean up what was considered as one of the most corrupt civil services in the world. In 1995, he formed the Safina Party in opposition to the corrupt government and received several beatings (literally) and death threats for all his efforts.
And the fight goes on. As Chairman of Kenya’s Transparency International, he and many others yesterday stood up to tell the government that we just won’t tolerate the possibility of creating over 20 more Ministries in Kenya! In a press conference yesterday, Dr. Leakey told Reuters, “It is of grave concern for a country that sustained extensive economic losses…to consider a bloated cabinet that would cost Kenyans an estimated $64 million annually.”
Meanwhile two other true great leaders and a number of civil activists were downtown at Uhuru (freedom) gathering to march to parliament with a letter demanding that there should be No More Than 24 Ministers. Nobel Prize winner 
Professor Wangari Maathai whom you will all know for efforts to promote conservation and women’s rights and Maina Kiai, one of our greatest human rights activists started the demonstration with a symbol of peace and sensibility by planting a tree on Freedom Corner. I feel ashamed as a Kenyan not to have been there but fortunately my sister, Mine Pabari and good friend and photographer Georgina Goodwin (thanks for getting the pictures amidst being tear gassed Georgie!) as well as fellow activist and co-founder of Awaaz, Zahid Rajan were amongst the sadly tiny section of middle class representatives who are sick to their stomachs of being ripped off by our politicians.
And suprise, suprise, our competent police force responded to a peaceful tree planting session by tear gassing everyone! Well, as my sister wrote on our blog, they have actually furthered the cause by getting the story strewn across every media outlet in the world and front page in all of Kenya’s papers!
I guess the point is that our fight here in Kenya is not for one thing or another. It cannot be just for the animals or just for human rights or just for the environment. And having great examples like Professor Wangari Maathai and Dr. Richard Leakey, as well as others such as Maina Kiai and Muthoni Wanyeki (who both head Human Rights Organisations) makes me wonder why there are not more of us Kenyans who are out there on the streets or in there in cyberspace fighting for equality for all.
As Samuel Beckett says, “I can’t go on…I will go on…“
Mar 06 2008
We’ve been preoccupied with the situation in the Masai Mara for a while but don’t for a second imagine we’ve forgotten the crisis facing gorillas. Today the situation in the Virunga National Park is worse than it has ever been, the rangers have not seen the gorillas for over six months. Last year I visited the Kabirizi family with Emmanuel, Diddy and Innocent.
Once you’ve looked a wild gorilla in the you are transformed forever.
It is almost unimaginable that the rangers have been unable to monitor this family for half a year due to the rebel activity and dangers. I was fortunate to spend three days in the area and visited the gorillas twice. Diddy and Innocent as well as Augustin gave me the most interesting guided tour of the park imaginable - I learned about what gorillas eat and where they sleep, how they move and communicate. But the most awe inspiring moment was when I realised that it was in fact me that was the subject of study.
Diddy was happy and relaxed at that time. We had long conversations about his life as a ranger in the Bukima camp. The camp was later dismantled to protect the equipment from encroaching rebels.
At the end of a seven hour trek up and then down mount Mikeno we had much to smile about despite the exhaustion.
Sadly, less than a month later all hell broke loose and things have not been the same since.
Emmanuel was there when the Rugendo family was attacked, he was amongst the first people to find the site of the massacre of seven individuals.
Today Emmanuel is in the USA raising funds and talking about the situation which is quite dire. We are hoping to raise funds for the re-establishment of the Bukima camp immediately it is safe enough to do so. This will ensure that the rangers have a forward operating base to patrol and do the gorilla monitoring from.
For those of you in Denver Colorado, Emmanuel de Merode will be speaking about the situation facing mountain gorillas from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Canyon Theater in the Boulder Public Library, an event sponsored by the Highlands City Club. On Thursday, he will speak at the Colorado History Museum from 7 to 9 p.m. If you can’t make it to the talk but want to make a donation, you can do so on the gorilla protection blog
You will find more information on this fund raising event in the Denver post
Jan 23 2008
Hello everyone, it’s Paula here again
I have great news - after ten days of harassment, the Japanese are finally so frustrated that they have apparently given up the hunt! I’m struggling to believe that Green peace, Sea Shepherd and others who have been so bold as to board one ship ‘to deliver a letter’, throw stink bombs on to the deck to prevent work for days, gone to court and tried to prevent ships from refueling and just trailing and interfering with the hunting. Richard Leakey spoke about the ethics of whale hunting in his blog earlier.
“Greenpeace said its vessel Esperanza had driven the Japanese processing ship Nisshin Maru out of the hunting grounds after a high-speed chase over hundreds of miles.
Without the factory boat, Japanese harpoon boats have ceased activities, as they have no way of processing their catch”.
Sea Shepherd claim that no whales have died to date. There are some amazing photographs and more stories about this great news here and here
I’m so excited I’m going to break my new years diet and have a burger for lunch!
Dec 14 2007
Hello everyone!
I thought I would do my colleague a favour and expose what a great writer he is to all our WildlifeDirect readers. Not just because he asked me to. He is the communications Manager here and has written a couple of the posts on this blog already. He writes a lot of articles for various local Kenyan Magazines like Wajibu and Awaaz.
So to celebrate Dipesh pabari’s creative genius with words, quite unlike my own, I thought I would give you all a little expose on his latest Pambazuka (Pan African online Journal) article featuring WildlifeDirect. I believe it is called the ‘Bush Bloggers’. A fitting title for all those hardy conservationists out there who are, as we call it here in Kenya ‘Bundu Bashing’. Another way of saying roughing it out in the wilderness.
Onto the article now…our dear ‘Atamato‘ blog, the smiling face of a Congolese ranger which graces our homepage from time to time, with his video posts, featuring panoramic views of the beautiful Ishango Park has been used as an example of how the life of one ranger was drastically changed and a National Park was able to function through the generous donations of our readers (give yourselves a pat on the back).
“Take the case of Atama-to Madrandele, a park warden who, in 2005, started working at the Ishango, sub-station of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He carried out his work in almost complete physical and financial isolation. In February 2007, Atamato began to blog on WildlifeDirect about his work. Through this blog he was able to raise some funds to help pay for patrol rations and equipment, as well as salary supplements for his five underpaid rangers (the official pay for a Congolese ranger is about three US dollars per month). From August this year, Ishango has become a fully functional park station, thanks to the donations received through his blog. His men are now fed and have enough fuel to be able to carry out regular patrols.”
Dipesh even managed to include a few quotes from Richard Leakey and feature them in the article. Here is a sneak preview…
“After spending many years struggling to improve wildlife conservation in Kenya, I decided to start WildlifeDirect to solve a very real problem in Africa, the lack of adequate funds to protect our wildlife heritage. Persuading individual donors to give support was not easy because most people are unaware of what is going on in conservation until there is a crisis. I needed to find another way to raise awareness and funds on a continuous basis.”
What more can I say except it is a really good and informative read about blogging and the effect it has on conservation and wordly issues in general.
So you going to read it now??? Off course you are…
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/44859
