Baraza

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 15^th 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 25^th 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

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The ‘Stop Poisoning Wildlife’ meeting on Friday was very productive. I would like to thank all those who made donations towards the meeting and a special thank you to IFAW who also contributed. We had many more participants than we’d anticipated with almost 50 attendants - including representatives of many government agencies, conservationists, and members of the Agrochemical Association of Kenya, and three people from the company that imports Furadan, Juanco SPS.

Richard Leakey opened the meeting and reminded everyone that WildlifeDirect was only facilitating the meeting and that he wanted an open and honest forum for discussion where we all speak the truth without fear. He noted that he had been able to buy Furadan over the counter for purposes of killing wildlife and questioned whether it was adequately controlled in Kenya given it’s toxicity and danger. He wanted to discuss the impacts of Furadan on humans, livestock and wildlife, to determine if it is a problem, and if so how it could be banned.

The presentations that followed shocked us all. Laurence Frank from Living with Lions who told us that the poisoning of lions in retaliation for predation on livestock was decimating Kenya’s lion population which was estimated to be only 2,000 individuals. He reminded us that African s have always lived with lions and had ways of managing predation, but that simple economics rule; killing lions with Furadan was cheaper and more effective in the long term than building a strong holding ground and deploying dogs.

Dr. Frank advocated a complete ban on Furadan and severe penalties for crimes, as well as implementing an economically viable incentive based system for those pastoralists who do live with lions. The representative from Juanco, the importer of Furadan, was understandably defensive and questioned Dr. Franks evidence that Furadan was being used against lions in Laikipia.

Simon Thomsett who first raised our attention to the problem of wildlife poisoning, showed a very moving film about the poisoning of vultures in Athi River in 2005 some of which is on this blog.

Martin Odino from the National Museums of Kenya revealed results of a study that showed that the distributors of Furadan had little understanding of the legislation and regulatory body the Pest Control Products Board and showed that toxicology results proved that predators other ‘pests’ in Kenya were being targeted using Furadan. He suggested that it was difficult to get information from either importers or the PCPB. The PCPB representative and Juanco staff were again on the defensive insisting that nobody had come to them with information or had asked for meetings and blamed the scientists for failing to validate their results.

Dino Martins then talked about how Furadan is being used by fishermen in Western Kenya by pouring it into the lake and collecting fish as they came to the surface. These poisoned fish are filleted and marketed locally.

This system of fishing is not new, traditional herbal poisons have been used before, but the use of Furadan for this purpose is new. He showed data that suggests that it happens on a daily basis in some places, and that the local population is at risk of poisoning.

Although Juanco and the PCPB admitted knowledge of this, they denied that Furadan was the pesticide of choice and said other herbicides were much more frequently used for poisoning fish.

Then Peter Otieno of Maseno University revealed that he had conducted research and toxicology tests on vulture feet and beaks that had died after eating a carcass, and proved that carbofuran was the cause. Juanco and the PCPB questioned his methods.

The room was filled to capacity

Dr. Asuka presented results of tests conducted on the hippos and lions that recently died in the Masai Mara. She presented government chemist reports that state that they found Furadan in the stomach samples, as well as on natural vegetation and soil in the area. Once again Juanco and the PCPB challenged the results even though this was from a government chemist, and said that its’ impossible to detect a brand (Furadan), you can only detect the chemical carbofuran – it’s like naming a brand of milk in a sample, instead of saying you detected milk. I wondered why the government chemist would indicate Furadan unless there was no other source of carbofuran in Kenya. The Juanco SPS representative however claimed that carbofuran could have come from a number of sources. When asked which other sources and the proportion of carbofuran in Kenya from Furadan vs other products, they refrained from answering.

The defensive response from the agrochemical industry, Juanco SPS and the PCPB was not unexpected yet some of the members of the meeting were not happy about it. They wanted the industry and government to admit that there is a problem and to be a willing part of the solution. Many of us were surprised that such a toxic chemical can be available over the counter without proper controls or clear warnings about its toxicity. The Juanco people insisted it was an international system.

Two speakers helped us to think about a way forward. Munir Virani from the Peregrine Fund drew parallels with the situation in India where a painkiller drug was outlawed after it was shown to be the cause for massive vulture die offs.

It was important that we all remained impartial through out the meeting if we were to make any progress. Tim Snow from the Endangered Wildlife Trust who traveled from South Africa reminded us that the way forward was in a partnership with the industry and regulators. He told us that 16% of wildlife poisoning incidents in South Africa are due to carbofurans. They have a telephone hot line and have a chemical crime forum at the EWT which is funded by the chemical industry. He advised us to address the bigger issues of regulation of all Class 1A pesticides. In South Africa these are treated differently.

A number of productive conversations took place over lunch and the afternoon session of working groups resulted in a series of actions that will be implemented by a task force over coming weeks. Today Richard Leakey has spoken to the press and is calling for complete ban on the use of carbofurans in Kenya. This he says is in line with what is happening in USA and the EU.

I’m sure that this task force will have an interesting time in trying to find a solution that works for the industry and wildlife. We will keep you updated through a blog dedicated to this issue called Stop Wildlife Poisoning which will be launched this week.

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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

1. Furadan use in Kenya came about with the banning of DDT and it has been argued by some that we should not ban Furadan as it would only lead to the use of yet more dangerous poisons
2. Unlike other dangerous poisons, the control of Furadan is lax and it can be obtained in virtually any agricultural chemical outlet with no documentation or permits required.
3. Furadan was banned in USA in the 1980s due to its effects on birds which ate the granules mistaking them for seed. The product is still produced in the west and exported to countries like Kenya which does not produce.
4. Furadan is one of the most lethal pesticides available, and is so effective that it is the preferred poison for pest control including cats, dogs, squirrels, predators, reptiles and birds. It is also the cheapest.
5. Most users of Furadan for purposes of poisoning pests have no idea what it is and receive it from someone else. They do not even have the instructions on how to use it.
6. Concerns about use of Furdan were raised 15 years ago in Kenya and the industry promised to look into a different formulation – this was not effected due to cost implications
7. The company that distributes Furadan in Kenya has no representative that we can reach in Kenya!

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

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I discovered today, that the poisoning of wildlife in Africa is not unique and that the problem is much more serious globally than any of us had imagined when we started thinking about lions and vultures. I’ve been doing a little snooping around the internet and found these articles which reveal that the correct use of Furadan, a carbamate based agricultural pesticide in crops, can have unintended effects on wildlife that eat the crops in USA. We are so used to seeing Furadan being used to directly poison predators that this research completely surprised me.

The unintentional effects of agricultural poisons on wildlife are harder to prove and to stop as it involves the legal use of chemicals. What we are seeing in Kenya is the inappropriate use of chemicals like Furadan for the intentioned killing wildlife for the most ill informed and poorly thought out reasons. This is what we are most concerned about. It is a problem that is not restricted to Africa. Consider these stories…

In a case in the USA in 1994 an investigation led to the arrest of a farmer called Barnes who laced hamburger meat with Furadan and scattered it around his property to kill coyotes. He was trying deter coyotes from taking his free roaming poultry.

This is an excerpt from the US fish and Wildlife press release

“He did not know his actions would have a “domino effect” resulting in the deaths of many other animals feeding on the carcasses of those killed by the poison bait.

“This case is an unfortunate example of why toxic pesticides are very restricted in their use and method of application,” said Steve Middleton, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Resident Agent in Charge, Law Enforcement, Nashville, Tennessee. “Those who attempt to control predators must realize that the consequences of illegal poisoning may, and likely will, result in the deaths of unintended targets such as hawks, eagles, and family or neighbors’ pets. Furadan will kill anyone or anything that ingests it.”

Furadan is a restricted use pesticide which is only legally used by a certified applicator. To use Furadan as a poison is a violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

In lieu of appearance in federal court, Barnes paid $2,500 in federal violation notices issued for the illegal taking of the migratory birds.”

I wonder if that was an adequate punishment? What do you think? In Kenya the penalty for killing wildlife by any means is pretty small and ranges from Ksh 2,000 to 20,000 or $27 - $270. Frightening isn’t it?

In another case, A. Laverne Ehlers was also found guilty of poisoning eagles on a pheasant hunting ground. A search on his property found 68 dead raptors including 21 bald and golden eagles on his 6,000 acre property. He was trying to protect the pheasants from being killed by raptors so that he had more for hunting! He did this by lacing tuna cans with Furadan and was also shooting birds. Ehlers plead guilty and paid $80,000 in restitution to the forensic labs and on the 22^nd of March 2002 he was sentenced on the misdemeanor Eagle Act and spent 30 days in prison, 5 months in home detention and had one year of supervised release during which he was not allowed to possess a fire arm.

The poisoning of wildlife is also a major problem in UK where a special program addresses it through CAP the Campaign against illegal Poisoning of wildlife. If any of you are in UK please look them up and download their leaflets that are shown on their website. We are trying to contact them for advice – after all there’s no need to re-invent the wheel. We’d like to learn how others have tackled the problem of illegal poisoning of wildlife.

The BBC in this article today reported that in Scotland people are also poisoning raptors on grouse hunting grounds to protect the grouse for a multi million dollar industry in grouse hunting. I feel so sad that people who hunt think that hunting is conserving the Scottish wilderness … the cash involved seems to be perverting things. Earlier this year BBC also reported that a Scottish farmer lost his agricultural subsidy worth 8,000 pounds (about $16,000) for lacing dead pheasanst with poison. The RSPB Scotland Director Stuart Housden is quoted as having stated

“Landowners and farmers receive very significant public subsidies, in return for which they are supposed to be good stewards of the environment “

We should be worried. Read this below..

According to the above article, despite all the evidence, it’s an uphill battle to keep these poisons off the market in USA, imagine how hard it will be in Kenya and other African countries!

Yet, knowing that the poisoning of wildlife is a problem in UK and USA too makes me even more determined to make sure that our Stop Poisoning Wildlife meeting at WildlifeDirect next week leads to real actions on the ground through better awareness, education, enforcement and policy changes. Please let us know if you have any useful information to share on this topic. We would love to hear your comments and experiences, as well as to receive any support to enable the meeting to take place next week.

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Dear friends, I am posting this appeal to Stop the Poisoning of Wildlife again because it’s critically urgent and we desperately need your help. We are the first organization to raise this issue in Kenya as a national wildlife crisis. It is believed that the sudden decline and total disappearance of lions and vultures in some parts of Africa can be directly attributed to the ease of access and liberal use of deadly poisons like Furadan. This shocking video about the effects of Furadan on a hyena and hundreds of vultures that ate it explains it all.

Apologies to those who saw this before. I just had to post it again because of the problems we have had with the site. When we were asked to hold a meeting of concerned people about devastating and cruel poisoning of wildlife, we expected a few people to come and start a discussion. What we have discovered is an enormous amount of concern in East and Southern Africa and the meeting has swelled to over 25 people with a super range of people from scientists, land owners, and government officials!

We now need to raise $3,000 to cover the costs of getting some of the participants to the meeting, as well as to pay for refreshments, to rent a room big enough for the group, and for all the writing up and follow up.

We are aiming to develop an action plan that will address the following

1. Education - especially of communities who are using illegal poisons, or legal poisons inappropriately

2. Awareness - to get the general public aware of the risks, dangers and impacts of poisoning of wildlife through media coverage

3. Legislation and enforcement - to get officials involved and to look at the possiblity of enforcing existing rules more effectively, or addressing need for new legislation. We demand that the government takes their responsibiliteis seriously - and we will help them to achieve this through our online network.

4. Investigations and monitoring -ensuring that everyone from land owners, scientists and concerned people have the information and tools to establish if poisons are the cause of wildlife mortalities, and to create a reporting mechanism to monitor the trends and respond when needed

5. To create a network of concerned people and a central place for information, ideas, experiences and success can be shared. We will soon have a special blog dedicated to this crisis.

We invite you to be part of this really important initiative by making a small donation to support a delegate to attend the meeting. It will cost 100$ per delegate so all I need is 30 people to donate $100 or 60 people to donate $50. These funds will bring together the people who can make a difference in ending the use of poison in the killing Africa’s big cats, hyenas, vultures and other animals. You can also help us tremendously but circulating this information to everyone in your networks, through email, face book or other means. Or, do you have other ideas to help us? Please drop us a comment. Thank you all and we look forward to hearing from you. Paula

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During the last few months we have been astounded by the number of cases of wildlife poisoing that is going on in East and southern Africa. It looks like there is an increasing use of the Carbamate-based pesticide Furadan which is sold for agricultural purposes. This class of pesticides is deadly for mammals and is used to directly poison predators, and this has been decimating our lion, hyena, vulture and other wetland bird populations. The manner in which these animals die is horrific.

The toxin is easily available and is fairly cheap to purchase requiring no special permits despite it’s toxicity. A few weeks ago the first documented case of murder was recorded in Kenya where a young man poisoned his own father. He has escaped arrest by fleeing! These toxins are not only threatening wildlife but people too. Controlling or stopping it’s use is compounded by a lack of public awareness about risks associated with use of this pesticide, impacts on useful to wildlife or alternatives to predator conflicts.

We are faciliatating several of our bloggers in looking for a solution - these include lion guardians, Simon Thomsett, the Endagered Wildlife Trust of South Africa, Asuka and The Northern Rangelands Trust .This video was made by Simon Thomsett You need to watch it, but I should warn you, it has some disturbing images.

This film shows a typical scene when an animal is baited with poison and then eaten by hyenas and vultures. Hundreds of vultures died in this incident, it’s the sad brutal reality of what his happening in Africa.

Friends, I hope you agree with me, we just can’t sit back any longer and watch our wildlife being poisoned. We insist that all a signatory to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), like the Government of Kenya have a responsibility to put an end to this wanton poisoning of wildlife. WildlifeDirect is calling together a number of organizations, institutions and individuals in Kenya that are involved in conservation, control, investigations and/or research to discuss how we can stop the poisoning of wildlife.

Actions We are Taking at WildlifeDirect

We have organized a meeting on 25th April of stakeholders from Kenya and south Africa to discuss the problem and develop a strategic action plan to tackle the Furadan poisoning problem.

The meeting will take place at 9.30 am at our offices in Nairobi - Timau Plaza, 7th Floor, on Argwings Kodhek Road (opp. Yaya Centre). If you can’t come but would like to participate please send us your concerns, views and any information on the following

1. Evidence of poisoning

2. Types of poisons used, species affected, locations

3. Information on other ongoing efforts to stop poisoning (public education, legislation, enforcement, conservation)

4. Advice on how we can finance this.

Any donations made on this blog will be used to enable this meeting to take place to enable participation of attendees from remote corners of Africa. We are trying to raise $2,000 to pay for one South African expert, and for transport for those coming from out of town Kenya, refreshments, and for distribution of information.

My dream is that we can address the education and cultural issues, the legislation and enforcement, monitoring and investigatins, as well as the rehabilitation and conservation of poisoned animals. We need practical approaches to stem this. For example in England one can call a free number to report poisoning

0800 321 600

Woudn’t it be nice to have one in every African country with a mechanism to respond to all the reports?

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