CONSERVATION SUCCESS AND FAILURE, CLOSE MATES
(The Pangolin, aka scaly anteater another endangered species)
Disturbing news emerged on New Years Eve when it became known that a mob of Masai youths had killed yet another adolescent lion on the Kitengela plains outside the Nairobi National Park, bringing to three such killings over the past few days. Twitter handle @Kenyan4Wildlife had repeatedly tweeted @kwskenya on the issue but sadly no response was recorded, nor were other channels of communication yielding any results according to further interaction with conservation groups in Nairobi.
The lion population in the Nairobi National Park, only recently counted, is critically low and the lion population in Kenya, as in the rest of East Africa, is progressively moving towards the endangered status, as poaching for trophies and relentless killings by cattle herders continue unabated.
2012 is expected to be a watershed year to make far reaching decisions how to defuse the wildlife human conflict, made worse by exploding human populations seeking land for farming and living in areas previously left to the wilderness and the wildlife but now competed over.
On a positive note though did KWS field staff arrest a poacher who had captured a rare male pangolin from the Rimoi Game Reserve in the Kerio Valley, freeing the animal and being able to return it to its habitat, while the poacher spent New Years Eve in the cells. Other suspects reportedly escaped immediate arrest but have been identified and warrants have been issued for their arrest too. Watch this space to find out if and how KWS will respond or else follow @Kenyan4Wildlife on Twitter to get instant updates of future developments on conservation issues in Kenya.
