Rare Antelope Facing Extinction

The Nation (Nairobi)
April 23, 2005
Barnabas Bii
Nairobi

Sitatunga, a rare antelope, faces extinction.

Found only at Kingwal Swamp in Kenya, its numbers have fallen from 300 to less than 50 within two years.

Yesterday, residents of Kingwal in Nandi North District criticised the Kenya Wildlife Service for failure to conserve the rare antelope, now threatened by massive poaching.

They claimed KWS was not helping them to protect the aquatic antelope from wild dogs and people who kill it for its highly valued meat.

On Thursday, the residents saved a male sitatunga from being mauled by a pack of wild dogs. The dogs early this month killed a sitatunga and injured another one last week.

Toretmoi Sitatunga and Biodiversity secretary Julius Tanui said more than 12 sitatunga had been killed in the last three months.