How human-wildlife conflict is causing food crisis in my village

An elephant charges at bodaboda rider near Ol Maisor Ranch in Laikipia in 2017. 

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • The beautiful animals feed on maize and beans just when the crops are ready for harvest.
  • In my village, a pastor is nursing an ankle after he was attacked by the wild animals.

Food security in my village — Timbilil in Nandi County —is under threat due to wild animals, particularly the white colobus monkeys.

The beautiful animals feed on maize and beans just when the crops are ready for harvest.  

Three weeks ago, residents of the neighbouring Taunet village were up in arms after a hyena killed a calf. This had men in the village sharpening their machetes and combing through sugarcane farms with their dogs in search for the hyena.

Their hunt was not only fuelled by this incident, but by many other cases where goats had been eaten by the wild animals.

Locals are furious because agriculture is the main economic activity here. The relationship between man and the animals has become strained, and the villagers are now even hunting them down from trees.

The animals are also attacking people. In my village, a pastor is nursing an ankle after he was attacked by the wild animals.

Pleas to the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) to drive out animals from human settlements have not yielded any fruit as they are slow to respond.

The delayed government response to the conflicts between man and animals has made communities in Kenya, such as mine, to find their own means of dealing with the menace.

However, this move is dangerous because communities can wipe out certain species when they kill them in large numbers.

The government should not only respond fast to the pleas from the community but also ensure that there is public engagement to teach locals how to coexist with the animals.

Communities should be taught that the world does not belong to the human race alone. Unfortunately, when the government acts, it does not seek the community’s opinions, and how this would affect their livelihoods.

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