Kill Rogue Elephants

The Nation (Nairobi)
August 23, 2004
Cyrus Kinyungu
Nairobi

Three stray elephants were yesterday shot dead by Kenya Wildlife Service rangers after they terrorised Limuru residents for more than nine hours.

The beasts, each weighing an estimated six tons and aged over 10 years, were part of a herd that had strayed out of the Aberdares' Kereita forest and into Bibirioni sublocation of Kiambu District.

Residents of Kinyogoori, Ngarariga and Gitogothi villages were woken up at 5am yesterday by the beasts, which invaded their farms, destroying crops and fences and other homestead structures.

They rubbed themselves against houses, leaving the villagers terrified.

A subchief, Mr Michael Kang'ethe, said the residents started screaming as early as 5am as the animals broke through fences, sending their domestic colleagues scampering for safety.

"Our cattle broke out of their sheds and ran into the darkness as they escaped from the jumbos, while the dogs almost got into our houses as they sought protection," a villager said.

Yesterday, the area was alive with activity as the residents skipped church services to try to drive the animals away.

The older villagers played hide and seek with the beasts as excited children moved closer to get a glimpse of the huge animals, which they had most probably seen only in pictures.

As the crowd drove the animals out of one farm they met another herd approaching. And on turning back, the pursuers were forced to scamper as the animals went for them, trumpeting and kicking up dust in anger.

At one point, residents said, a youth was trampled and injured in the stampede as one elephant followed close by. Luckily, the animal's attention was diverted elsewhere and it changed its course.

At Kinyogoori, a colonial reserve with hundreds of crowded houses, one full-grown bull estimated to weigh more than 6 tons vented its wrath on farms as it destroyed maize crops and green vegetables on small plots.

With people surrounding it, the agitated beast decided to destroy structures in some homesteads. It trampled down fences, bathrooms, kitchens, gates and granaries.

Attempts by KWS rangers to dissuade the villagers from following the animal was unheeded even as the invaders turned brutal.

Minutes before the rangers, accompanied by administration police, decided to shoot some, one had demolished a pit latrine and slipped into it with the hind legs.

It struggled to pull itself out for over five minutes as hundreds of people gathered around, defying the rangers' warning that they keep off.

When it finally got out, hundreds of villagers scampered for safety with the jumbo in hot pursuit.

They were saved by the rangers and the APs who shot it dead.

And after the rangers removed tusks from the fallen jumbos, it was all joy as the villagers closed in with pangas and axes to get a share of the meat.

The villagers almost fought as they disagreed on how much meat each should carry home.

Even before the beasts were felled, women carried baskets as their male colleagues toted polythene bags and machete in readiness for the windfall.

Mr John Githinji of Kinyogori said the area lies on the elephants' migratory route.

Ngong forest warden Mary Karabui, who led the operation, said the animals could not be driven back into the forest as it was dangerous to do so. Owing to the dense population in the villages, it would be disastrous trying to drive them back to Kereita forest, more than 10km away.

"We believe the elephants came from Kereita forest, which is part of the Aberdares. We suspect they passed between Gatamaiyu and Kinare parts of the forest," she said.

She explained that KWS was putting up an electric fence in the section of the Aberdares as a permanent solution to the problem.

"Plans to put up a live-wire fence at Gatamaiyu and Kinale parts of the Aberdare forest are at an advanced stage," she added.

At the time of going to press, two elephants were still roaming the area. The KWS officials were still considering driving them back to the forest.

One was at Gitogothi, a stone's throw away from novelist Ngugi wa Thiong'os home, while the other was near Kinyogoori High School.