Kenya equips rangers to deal with human wildlife conflicts
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E-mail Xinhua, April 15, 2013
The Kenyan government has released 156,200 U. S. dollars to Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to equip its elite rapid frontline response team of rangers to tackle rising human wildlife conflicts.
The money will be used by KWS's Problem Animal Management Unit (PAMU) to purchase the rangers' tools of trade.
"Rangers are expected to undergo training on the use of the equipment in due course," KWS Corporate Affairs Manager Paul Udoto said in a statement issued in Nairobi on Monday.
He said in year 2012, 3,737 cases of wildlife mortality resulting from human wildlife conflict were reported across the country down from 4,887 in the previous year.
The East African nation has been losing 100 lions a year for the past 7 years, leaving the country with just 2000 of its famous big cats, meaning that the country could have no wild lions at all in 20 years.
Conservationists have blamed habitat destruction, disease and conflict with humans for the lion population decline.
KWS has been conducting animal translocations to reduce incidences of elephant mortalities and reduce the agency's expenditures on Problem Animal Control (PAC).
PAMU, an elite rapid frontline response team of rangers, was established in the year 1994 to undertake problem animal control across the various human wildlife conflicts (HWC) hotspots in the country.
"They beef up ground teams when they are overwhelmed with human wildlife conflict incidents across the country. Human wildlife conflict remains a major challenge in the management and conservation of wildlife in Kenya," Udoto said.
He said the materials which include a custom-made Land Cruiser van, tents and equipment, cameras, GPS equipment, rain clothing, binoculars, and computers, have already been deployed to the unit.
Already, the government has released 218,000 dollars for payment to people killed or injured by wildlife across the country.
A total of 230 cases, out of which 46 were deaths cases and 184 injury cases, were reported and approved by the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife at a ministerial wildlife compensation committee meeting in February 2013.
"KWS has also stepped up efforts to combat human wildlife conflicts with aim of alleviating the suffering occasioned by these human wildlife interactions," Udoto said.
According to KWS, Rapid change in lifestyle of local communities from pastoralists to crop farming and other incompatible land-use practices have tremendously led to increased human wildlife conflict in the Narok County.
"Such conflict in many areas is mainly attributed to increased human population and loss of elephant habitat due to uncontrolled human activities, especially crop farming, charcoal burning and human settlements," it said.
KWS has launched a national elephant conservation and management strategy which provides a clear roadmap for conservation and management of elephants in Kenya for the next 10 years.
The elephant strategy seeks to reduce cases of human-elephant conflict and increase the value of elephants to people and habitats.
It outlines strategies KWS and other conservation partners will use to protect the species, particularly in key strategic locations, such as dispersal areas, migration corridors and in the human-elephant conflict hotspots. Endi
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