Locals threaten to kill jumbos over conflict

Kajiado residents have threatened to kill wild animals that have been roaming in residential areas if the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) does not take preventive action.

 Drought related human-wildlife conflicts have escalated in Kajiado as invading wild animals search for food and water. Herds of elephants are roaming freely within private and communal lands far from areas bordering Amboseli National Park to the chagrin of suffering locals who have been hit hard by drought.

Oloorngosua village in Kajiado Central is among areas bearing the major brunt of the human-wildlife conflict affecting residents livelihood and the schools calendar.

Last week, Oloorngosua primary school learner is said to have missed death by a whisker when he came face to face with a herd of roaming elephants when coming from school, irking the members of the public to stage a protest. The locals have held peaceful protest in the last one week.

Marauding elephants

Armed with arrows and spears, the irate residents said the wild animals have been destroying crops, water tanks and bore holes.

 They have vowed to hold their children at home saying the Jumbos are a threat.  “Our children will not go to school. Letting them go to school is surrendering them to death. The marauding jumbos are increasing by day. We are also affected in our daily operations and we have to keep observing the movement of the jumbos least we lose lives,” said Alex Kisanju.

They have also vowed to reiterate by killing the animals if KWS officers will not act promptly. “We mutually co-exist with wild animals. We are not hunters and we strive to protect our animals however in these cases of marauding dangerous jumbos we foresee ourselves taking law into our hands. We have reached out to KWS to help us but no help is forthcoming. We will kill the jumbos because our children also need to be in school like others, “said Kores Saitabau.

 In the last three months, several elephants have been killed by locals in Kajiado South over the conflicts which have seen three people die in a span of two months from attacks by jumbos.  Local leaders slam KWS rangers accusing them of engaging with illegal charcoal trade instead of protecting the locals. Recently governor Joseph Ole Lenku vowed that he will led local leaders and residents in closing all animals’ corridors owing to the continuous unaddressed human wildlife conflicts in the County.