Baraza

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 He informed the house that the manufacturers had withdrawn the pesticide, thus suggesting there was no need.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

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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

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Category: Poisoning wildlife, richard leakey, wildlifedirect | Date: Apr 02 2009 | By: admin

Dear Friends,

I have some AMAZING  NEWS. It is rare that WildlifeDirect has such a great impact on an important story  - we have been fighting a battle to get the pesticide Furadan, which is a carbamate based poison used to kill predators banned in Kenya.

Honestly, it’s been a losing battle, the authorities here refuse to take responsibility, the Kenya Wildlife Service blames the agrochemical association and agricultural minsitry, the ministries blame the people for illegal ‘mis-use’ of the pesticide while the PCPB, the Pesticide Controle and Products Board deny that the pesticide is even being misused despite all our evidence, and those concerned with saving predators have been reporting collapsing lion and vulture populations, …frankly we almost gave up hope. When a USA based news TV programme, CBS 60 Minutes called us we agreed to do interviews and help with the program although it did not occur to us how poweful this could be. The show aired on Sunday and visitation to our website peaked on Monday, and then I recieved this note from our chairman. Richard Leakey today

Dear WildlifeDirect team

I just received a call from the CEO of the organization that manufactures Furidan. They are discontinuing supply
to all African countries where there are predators including South Africa, all of Eastern Africa. He has directed
Juanaco in Kenya and other distributors in Tanzania to  buy back all stocks held by retailers and he believes
that within 8 weeks it will be done with. He has offered to work with us to see that similar products are not taken
to Africa byers. So well done, we have another success on our list !

Richard.

Richard Leakey, FRS.

So, I’m feeling a little high now, we want to thank Anthony Kasanga and all the other the lion guardians for telling the story so poignantly, and of course for saving our lions. We also thank Martion Odino who has kept up the pressure on everyone by revealing the scale of furadan poisoning in Kenya through his research and by writing the Stop Wildlife Poisoning blog. I especially want to thank Drew and his team at CBS for following through with such a powerful story!

It’s wonderful how powerful our campaign has been, please continue to help us by circulating this information as widely as possible and supporting our blogs that are keeping wildlife safe. Let’s hope that images like these will be only in the past.

Kind regards

Paula (Executive Director WildlifeDirect)

Tags: conservation, FMC, Furada, Lions, Poisoning wildlife, richard leakey, stop wildlife poisoning, wildlifedirect

10 responses so far