Baraza

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 He informed the house that the manufacturers had withdrawn the pesticide, thus suggesting there was no need.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.