Baringo residents defaecate in basins for fear of elephants (Kenya)
Baringo residents defaecate in basins for fear of elephants (Kenya)
Joseph Kangogo, The Star
January 11, 2021
See link
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2021-01-10-baringo-residents-defaecate-in-basins-for-fear-of-elephants/
for photos.
Residents of Kerio Valley are defaecating in basins at night for fear of
being attacked by stray elephants should they dare walk to their latrines.
More than 30 elephants have escaped from the Rimoi and Lake Kamnarok game
reserves located at the border of Baringo and Elgeyo-Marakwet counties.
“Our families, including men, no longer come out to use the toilets at
night. Instead, people prefer using basins for fear for their lives,”
Dorothy Kiprotich said on Thursday. She is a resident of Ayatya village.
She said the jumbos are so wild and “they can easily attack and kill.”
The residents said the animals have camped in the area since December. They
said they have reported to Kenya Wildlife Service but the agency is yet to
take action.
In 2019, an elephant attacked and killed primary school teacher Jackson
Chepyegon at Sessunin village in Barwessa ward. The residents said the
memories still linger and that they can't take chances with their lives.
Kiprotich said they have stopped their children from going to school in the
morning. Learners are only allowed to leave home after 10am when the
animals will have disappeared to the nearby bushes.
Farmer David Chepkong’a said the jumbos have caused massive destruction in
farms. More than 200 households have been affected. “They have cut down my
barbed wire fence, eaten and destroyed my banana, mangoes and peas. They
have also eaten the pasture I had preserved for my cattle,” Chepkong’a said.
Farmers Stephen Chelal, Collins Masaria, Andrew Paliat, Paul Chesang and
Joseph Makilap said they had suffered similar losses. The affected villages
include Cheptargok, Koitum, Chemale Chesawany, Chepkorony, Koiser, Seron
and Ayatya in Barwessa ward, Baringo North constituency. Residents said
elephant invasion has been a recurrent problem and asked the government to
provide a lasting solution or they kill the beasts.
Baringo county senior KWS warden Peter Lekeren said they had already
deployed officers to drive away the stray elephants. He attributed the
upsurge of human-wildlife conflict along the Kerio Valley to encroachment
onto the protected Kamnarok Game Reserve. “Due to scarce water this dry
season, it has forced the elephants to break and walk kilometers away to
the seasonal water points near people's homesteads,” Lekeren said.
He said only fencing off the game reserve would provide a lasting solution.
"We fully support that as KWS," Lewkeren said.
The warden warned locals against taking the law into their hands to harass
or threaten to kill the animals saying they are so fierce and dangerous.
He urged the residents to make reports in good time to KWS and also follow
the right procedures for compensation in case of attacks, death, injures or
losses due invasion into farms.