Baraza

Category: Africa, Poisoning wildlife, big cats, poaching, wildlifedirect | Date: Nov 10 2009 | By: paula

Dear all,

After the death of a child in Kenya from ingesting Furadan, and with the US Environmental Protection Agency banning carbofuran in America, we feel that there is no justification for delaying banning it in Kenya.

Watch this video and share with your friends. Please support our campaign to save lions.

Thank you

Tags: FMC, furadan, Kenya, KWS, Lion, lion poisoning, Lions, Paula Kahumbu, richard leakey, Tanzania, wildlife poisoning, wildlifedirect, wildlifepoisoning

12 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 06 2009 | By: paula

We have just received this video tape of birds being collected from the rice scheme in Bunyala after being poisoned allegedly with Furadan. The Kenyan  government officials of the Pesticide Products Control Board  have confirmed that THEY WILL NOT INVESTIGATE ANY OF OUR REPORTS which they state they believe we have fabricated.

Please watch the video and let us know if you think we could fabricate this.

Carbofuran is the same pesticide that is believed to be the cause of the massive decline in Africa’s lions. It is also being used in fishing in Lake Victoria. Reports of these incidents can be found on our poisoning blog http://stopwildlifepoisoning.wildlifedirect.org 

Although pesticide fishing and catching of birds for human consumption represents a public health hazard, the PCPB will not investigate. We will continue to furnish the government and other with the evidence.

Hopefully it won’t take a human death for them to wake up.

Tags: carbofuran, FMC, furadan, Lions, pesticide poisoning, poisoning birds, wildlife poisoning

3 responses so far

Category: Kenya, Lions, WildlifeDirect news, furadan | Date: Jun 15 2009 | By: Maina

The fight to get Furadan out of reach of herders and farmers who have been using it in retaliatory killing of lions, hyenas and other predators; the incidental killing of vultures and other raptors; as well as killing of birds for food, got a boost today. In this weeks East African weekly newspaper, there was a whole spread - consisting of two articles - talking about this lethal pesticide.

The first article, written by travel writer and friend of WildlifeDirect, Rupi Mangat, discussed the hope that we have now that Furadan is being discussed in parliament. In the article, Rupi says:

“According to WildlifeDirect Executive Director, Dr Paula Kahumbu, through Hon. John Mututho, chairman of the Agricultural Committee, Kenya’s parliament has instructed that the US-based Farm Machinery and Chemicals (FMC) mop up the remaining Furadan in Kenya and that an environmental committee be set up to draft the legal notice for the final ban”

Rupi’s article can be found in the East African online

In the second story, an East African correspondent, Philip Ngunjiri, writes about the remnants of Furadan still being secretly peddled by unscrupulous agro-veterinary shops in rural Kenya even after FMC withdrew the chemical from Kenya and instituted a buy-back programme.

Philip Nunjiri’s article in the same website

Tags: East African, FMC, furadan, Kenya, Lions, Parliament, poisoning

4 responses so far

Category: Kenya, Lions, Mara Triangle, big cats, furadan | Date: Jun 09 2009 | By: paula

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”.

Tags: carbofuran, FMC, furadan, Kenya, KWS, Lion, Masai Mara, poison, wildlifedirect

12 responses so far

Category: furadan | Date: Jun 08 2009 | By: paula

We have just received the copy of the Hansard or official record of the discussion regarding a ban on carbofuran  in the Kenyan parliament last Tuesday which is available on the government website here (pgs 8 – 11).

We at WildlifeDirect are very happy to report that many Kenyan members of parliament were up in arms about the loss of wildlife to this pesticide. Some were so upset that they wanted the Minister for Wildlife to sue FMC for every lion killed at Ksh 10 million (about US $13,000) each.  The official record shows that at least 76 lions were poisoned with carbofuran between 2001 and 2009. We know that this is the tip of the iceberg as the data emanate from just one study in two of Kenya’s many districts.

I am repeating the table to show just how devastating Furadan has been to Kenyan wildlife in recent years because I’m still shocked by the numbers. And these probably represent a tiny proportion of the actual numbers of fatalities as most animals will have died un-detected and un-reported.

The number of animals that have died as a result of poisoning by carbofuran from normal use and abuse is astronomical as can be seen in this table – I can’t imagine how many individuals are represented by pick up truck loads of birds of various species. Probably hundreds if not thousands.

It is an enormous relief that the government has admitted the problem and the Minisiter for Wildlife has stated that Carbofuran will be banned. This ban will give our lions much needed breathing space.

The ban will set an important precedent, that wildlife in Kenya is valuable and should be cherished. That pesticides must not threaten our people nor our wildlife. With a ban in place the Kenyan government agencies and conservationists can launch an education and awareness campaign to respond to wildlife conflict concerns, and to agree on more environmentally friendly pest control systems in agriculture like Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and organic farming.

It also heightens ours state of alert towards the deaths of our wildlife. Kenyans will understand that deaths of wildlife that occur as a result of pesticides are not acceptable. Abuse of pesticides carries heavy penalties and is morally unacceptable.

But a Kenyan ban is not going to be enough.  So long as it is still legal to use carbofuran in Africa, Asia or South America, this pesticide will continue to kill wildlife, even in Kenya and USA – because wildlife, especially birds migrate.

We’ve come very long way on a shoestring budget thanks to the committed work of a number of volunteers. Our campaign is not over, we need help. We now aim to educate regional governments to these risk as we seek to eliminate carbofuran, a WWII pesticide. We seek support of the International organizations that supported the EPA’s decision to revoke carborfuran tolerances in USA. So long as carbofuran availability remains in the migratory corridors of American wildlife and birds, these species will not be safe.

Americans should know that FMC have publically stated that the carbofuran ban in USA will not affect production of Furadan in their Philadelphia plant - that means they plan to export the product (and the environmental problems that come with the use of carbofuran) to other countries. FMC have also announced their intention to object to the EPA decision in order to restore the use of carbofuran in USA. We must do everything we can to prevent this from happening.

Please help us to bring about the eradication of carbofuran in Kenya, Africa and the world by making a donation to support the campaign now, circulate this information widely on facebook, myspace, twitter digg, stumble, and all your other networks.

Thank you

Tags: carbofuran, FMC, furadan, KWS, Lion, Lions, Masai Mara, wildlife poisoning

2 responses so far

Category: Lions, Mara Triangle, Poisoning wildlife, furadan, national parks | Date: Jun 04 2009 | By: paula

Will Kenya ban Furadan? That’s the big question that many are asking.

In the wake of the latest lion poisoning incident in the Masai Mara, the Kenyan Parliament on Thursday responded angrily to the response of the Kenyan Minister for Wildlife on the issue of whether to ban Furadan. He informed the house that the manufacturers had withdrawn the pesticide, thus suggesting there was no need. He also shifted the responsibility for bannng the product to the Minister for Agriculture. Parliamentarians were furious, stamped their feet and yelled in protest.We have been talking to friends all over the country and nobody can find Furadan in a shop anywhere, though a number of people have said that Agrovets have admitted to having a stash behind the counter that they will sell only to trusted ‘friends’.

Even though the Furadan buy back seems successful, everyone knows that the withdrawal of Furadan from Kenya is just not going to be good enough

Here are three reasons why

• First FMC reserves the right to reintroduce Furadan at any time
• Secondly, a ban provides that much needed platform for awareness about the dangers of this pesticide. Furadan is said to be the pesticide of choice for pest control and is used to control moles, baboons, lions, elephants and even termites by uniformed farmers and pastoralists. Even when used according to the label, the EPA says that carbofuran is not safe enough for highly regulated American farmers, consumers and wildlife.  If it’s not safe enough for people in USA, then it’s certainly not safe enough for poorly regulated and largely uneducated Kenyan farmers.
• Thirdly FMC does not have the monopoly on carbofuran pesticides. It is now manufactured by a number of firms in China, India and Pakistan. These companies can easily fill the market in Kenya.

We give John Mututho, MP for Naivasha and Chair of the Parliamentary Committee Two thumbs up for his courageous efforts to have Carbofuran banned. We congratulate him for getting this issue into public debate, and we wish him full success in winning this battle.

We also congralate KWS for their swift action  following the recent lion, hyena and vulture poisoning inciden in the Masai Mara on May 25th. Like KWS, we highly suspect  Furadan to be the pesticide. One Mara resident stated ‘it’s certainly Furadan, it’s the only poison that is used here to eradicate pests’.

We regret that the poisoning incidents are tarnishing Kenyas name, and makes the Masai Mara seem like a place where the local community are at constant conflict with wildlife. Things couldn’t be further from the truth. Most of the local communities benefit tremendously from tourism here and  value lions higly as the most sought after species for visitors. Indeed, tourism revenues even pay for their cattle which represents their wealth. However, there is a drought and cattle are being driven into the protected areas in search of grazing. This is illegal and the authorities are trying to enforce the law, but there landscape is vast and are a few individuals slip past the patrols. This is when cattle get taken and pastoralists sometimes lose their pateince when a cow gets taken by a lion. Furadan is a convenient way of disposing of the lions, it is very cheap, tasteless, and has no smell. Only a few grains will kill a lion. It usually kills much more than the intended targets.

The local communities are not at all happy about these incidents and are pleased with the arrest of the culprit. They have regularly appealed for help in reducing the wildlife livestock conflict. This is an opportunity for conservationists and many of our partners have come up with innovative approaches from guarding the lions to building re-enforced lion proof bomas for the cattle to sleep in. Support these projects to help save our lions.

Please help us to continue raising awareness to save our endangered wildlife. Thank you for all your support towards WildlifeDirect.

Tags: carbofuran, conservation, FMC, furadan, government, Kenya, Lions, Poisoning wildlife, wildlifedirect

No responses yet

Category: Africa, Kenya, Poisoning wildlife, WildlifeDirect news, furadan | Date: Jun 02 2009 | By: Maina

Dr Paula Kahumbu, Executive Director of WildifeDirect was interviewed by Voice of America (VoA) today about Furadan. Paula disscussed the expected call for a total ban on Furadan by the Honourable John Mututho, Member of Parliament for Naivasha and Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture in Tuesday’s parliament session.

Look out for the airing of the interview expected at between 1600 and 1800 UTC. It will be available in the English to Africa section of the VoA website

Look out for it.

Update:

The interview airs at Africa News Tonight at 1600 and 1800 GMT and the stream is already on www.voaafrica.com. The story has already been posted on the Website. You can already download the MP3 file or listen to the interview from the site.

Tags: FMC, furadan, Kenya, Lions, Parliament, poisoning, wildlife

No responses yet

Category: Africa, Kenya, Lions, Poisoning wildlife, big cats, conservation, furadan, predators | Date: Jun 02 2009 | By: Maina

NAIROBI, Kenya - 2 June 2009. A Kenyan legislator, Honourable John Mututho, is today expected to ask for total ban on Furadan in parliament. Hon. Mututho, who represents the Naivasha Constituency and is Chair of the Parliamentary Agricultural Committee, will ask the Minister for Forestry and Wildlife to effect a total ban on this pesticide that is reported to have killed more than 30 lions, hundreds of vultures and other animals.

Furadan is the brand name of Philadelphia-based FMC Corporation’s formulation of carbofuran-based pesticides considered to be the most lethal in their class. Available cheaply in Kenya, the pesticide is being used by local herdsmen in retaliatory poisoning of lions and other carnivores blamed of predation on their livestock.

It is more than a year ago when Kenya’s conservation icon, Dr Richard Leakey started calling for a ban on the lethal chemical that was recently the subject of a documentary by American broadcaster CBS.

On 29 April, after American broadcaster, CBS, aired a documentary about lion poisoning in Kenya in their 60 Minutes programme, the pesticide manufacturers, FMC Corporation, immediately announced the withdrawal of Furadan in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and instructed the local distributor, Juanco Limited to immediately begin a buy-back programme in Kenya to remove all available stock from the shelves. There are only about 2100 lions left in Kenya.

The buy back programme is considered by local conservationists to be largely effective but some agro-vet stores are still hiding old stock and selling it under the counter. As a result, more than one month later, the pesticide is still reported to be causing wildlife deaths in various locations in Kenya.

On 25 May, one lion, a number of hyenas and 35 vultures are reported to have died at Olololaimutiak gate in the Masai Mara Reserve from retaliatory poisoning from a cow carcase that had been laced with poison suspected to be Furadan. The cow had been killed inside the reserve where they were grazing illegally.

These recent cases have prompted a group of Kenyan conservation organizations, including Nature Kenya to launch a campaign to push the government to ban this deadly chemical. They support of this campaign from the Naivasha Member of Parliament, Hon. Mututho is welcome. His push for the hearing of his proposal for a total ban has been postponed twice already.

On 18 March 2009 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that ”dietary, worker, and ecological risks are unacceptable for all uses of carbofuran” and hence cancelled all tolerances for carbofuran in in food. On 11 May, they announced the total ban on these tolerances. In December 2008, the EU also effectively banned carbofurans. Canada is expected to follow suit in the near future.

American scientists concluded, in as far back as the late nineties, that there is no foreseable way that carbofurans can be used on crops without killing birds. The EPA also concuded that ‘all products containing carbofuran generally cause unreasonable adverse effects on humans and the environment and do not meet safety standards’

The Furadan problem in Kenya is therefore not only a wildlife issue but also a human health issue. A researcher, Martin Odino, who’s been monitoring Furadan use in Bunyala Rice Scheme in western Kenya reports that birds are deliberately poisoned and sold in the local market as human food.

A study on the effect of pesticide-fishing on dragonflies on Lake Victoria by a Kenyan PhD candidate at Harvard University, Dino J Martins, has also revealed that Furadan is being used widely to fish in the lake. Martin reports that HIV/AIDS orphans from the lakeside are allowed to collect the immature fish bycatch for their food thereby exposing them to this health risk.

Cases of inadequate monitoring of health risks in Kenya are not unusual and Martin Odino believes that it is just a matter of time before human deaths are reported.

WildlifeDirect has collected a wealth of background information. Anyone who needs to support Hon. Mututho on his call for the ban either by giving this issue media prescence or otherwise can get the information from us. We believe that when there is concerted effort from all those who care, Kenya’s parliament and government will be inclined to at least listen to one of their own - Hon. John Mututho.

Tags: birds, FMC, furadan, Kenya, Lions, Masai Mara, Parliament, poisoning, richard leakey, vultures, wildlife

2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 26 2009 | By: paula

As WildlifeDirect we often find ourselves receiving and sharing information that authorities do not want to hear. This has happened recently over the poisoning of wildlife using Furadan as well as over the deepening bushmeat crisis facing – both issues affecting wildlife in Kenya.

I guess we should expect questions and concerns, to verify our data etc, but to be outright dismissed? That was not what we expected.

I ignored all those who said ‘watch your back’. After all, we live in a democratic country with excellent freedom of press in Kenya.

Nevertheless, I can now report that despite our communications with some government regulators, we are not getting any positive constructive response, indeed we are being told to lay off. In the last few days I have even been personally harassed and threatened which makes me think one of two things.

1. We are on the right track to have upset some people so badly

2. It is even more important that we stay the course as a member of a large community of conservationists who are witnessing threats to wildlife and are willing to raise concerns and do something about it. But, we need to be very careful. It’s not uncommon for ‘accidents’ to affect people who stick their necks out in this country

Needless to say last night I went to bed feeling rather angry at the short sightedness of our government authorities, and frightened for the first time. I didn’t want to make this statement on the blog, but feel that I should make are record of it though I will not name the institution or individuals involved.

But I will reiterate what I’ve been saying all along, we need open and constructive dialogue between the conservation community and government agencies, after all, we are all on the same side and have the same objectives, that is to save wildlife and wild places.I’m happy to say that at least FMC, the manufacturers of Furadan did come to us to discuss our concerns even if we disagreed on some points. That dialogue helped us to understand each others concerns.

Tags: bushmeat, conservation, FMC, furadan, Kenya, Kenya Wildlife Service, KWS, wildlife, wildlifedirect

7 responses so far

Category: Poisoning wildlife | Date: Apr 18 2009 | By: admin

Here’s a report from Dino Martins, of the Insect Committee of Nature Kenya (The East Africa Natural History Society).
April 14, 2009

SUMMARY REPORT:
PESTICIDE FISHING IN LAKE VICTORIA

The Insect Committee of the East Africa Natural History Society has been surveying
dragonfly and damselfly diversity of Lake Victoria as part of a summer course (Ecology
of the Great Lakes and the African Savannah) for ~3 years.

As part of the surveys and interaction with fishermen and people involved in the fish trade, we have found that
pesticides are widely used to fish with in certain parts of the lake (especially nearer to
urban areas or towns).

We have gathered data on the prevalence of pesticide fishing and its effect on one
indicator group of insects: dragonflies (Odonata). The prevalence and distribution of
pesticide fished areas was roughly mapped through direct observation of zones of dead
fish that appeared to have been poisoned, and through interviews with fishermen and
other local stakeholders. Diversity and distribution of dragonflies was monitored by
direct observation at different sites. We also looked at dragonfly diversity in areas that
were not pesticide fished (but fished using conventional methods) and in areas that were
protected. The results are very clear: pesticide fished bays have much reduced dragonfly
diversity. On several occasions we found numbers of dead nymphs (aquatic larval
dragonfly life-stage) floating in the water where pesticides had been used, as well as
poisoned non-commercial fish species (mainly cichlids) and other aquatic insects. We
hope to publish the results of the dragonfly survey shortly.

Pesticides are widely available in lake-side towns, such as Mwanza, and sometimes sold
in shops that deal in fishing gear and tackle. Local people were often aware of the
pesticide fishing and were concerned about this. It is apparent that it is a few
unscrupulous fishermen who use this technique and not the majority. Several different
pesticides are used, including ‘Furadan’ which is the cheapest option available in local
shops. For more information, please contact the Insect Committee of Nature Kenya.

The victims of pesticide poisoning are not only fish, invertebrates and lake biodiversity, but include innocent and vulnerable HIV orphans who are who are permitted to pick through and select poisoned fish for their own dinner.

Dino J. Martins
Chairperson, Insect Committee –Nature Kenya – EANHS, Box 4606 Nairobi

Tags: carbofurans, fishing, FMC, furadan, Kenya, Kisumu, Lake Victoria, Poisoning wildlife, richard leakey, wildlifedirect

2 responses so far