Tragedy as Boni Khalwale's bull gores its trainer to death
Dr Boni Khalwale has been the face of cattle regularly locking horns in Ikolomani constituency. His bull Inasio has gored its trainer to death.
A bull owned by Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale has killed its caretaker and trainer. Forty-six-year-old Kizito Moi was reportedly gored to death by Inasio, the champion of the famous Ikolomani bullfighting competition.
Moi, the bull's caretaker, had worked for the senator for the past 24 years as a caretaker and trainer of his bulls. His body, which had deep injuries on the head, neck, stomach and back was discovered on Sunday morning
Mr Khalwale said it was rare for animals to turn on their keepers, and that the last time a similar incident had occurred in Ikolomani was 30 years ago.
"My farm has two sections - the dairy section and the bulls section. The deceased only worked on the bulls' side - training and looking after it. In the morning he did not report for work and everyone was concerned. My wife asked his colleagues to go to his house and check on him. But when they went to the house, they checked the bull's den and found his body lying in a pool of blood," said Mr Khalwale.
The victim is believed to have died on Saturday night.
According to Mr Khalwale's records, the five-year-old Inasio weighed 1,200kg and was crowned the reigning bullfighting champion on January 1, 2024.
While the deceased had handled and trained several types of bulls, it is not clear how he ended up being killed by the animal.
"These animals, which are trained for bullfighting, can attack when hungry or provoked," said Mr Austin Munasia, the treasurer of the Kakamega Bull Fighting Association.
He called for a thorough investigation into the death, saying it was possible that people had killed the victim and dumped his body in the animal's den.
He said animals are trained to listen to people and they rarely kill people.
According to the traditions of the Idakho and Isukha Luhya sub-tribes, if an animal participating in bullfighting kills a person, people chop off its body parts while it is still alive until it drops dead and share the meat.
Mr Munasia said the killer bull should be taken to the field where the fight usually takes place and left for people to scramble for its flesh.
"When you cut off a body part, you run away without looking back. Another person cuts his share and also runs away until the animal is exhausted and drops dead. People share the meat," he said.
Mr Khalwale said the traditional process of dealing with such a disaster would begin on Sunday and end a day after the burial of the deceased.
"We are treating this as an unfortunate accident - it is rare that a bull can kill its caretaker. We will follow all the established procedures that are followed in such an incident so that we don't leave anything to chance," he said.
According to tradition, the person who takes care of the bulls that participate in the bullfighting contests is usually a bachelor and has no children.
Mr Khalwale said he was coordinating with Mr Moi's family members to give the deceased a befitting send-off.
