August 2020 Animal Welfare UpdatesA Male Impala Succumbs to Wire Snare
It was a macabre scene; death as usual, had visited a Kenyan wildlife conservation area - Soysambu Conservancy, in Nakuru County, west of Nairobi Capital, claiming the life of an unsuspecting male Impala. The Impala’s lifeless body greeted the enthusiastic de-snaring team composed of ANAW and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Rangers as they made their routine rounds deep into the expansive ranch, in search of wire snares. The impala’s carcass lay besides a nearly destroyed thicket of acacia bushes. Indeed, it was evident that the animal had suffered immensely before it finally succumbed to the strangling wire snare by its neck. Further prognosis revealed that, if the de-snaring team had arrived, just, a few minutes earlier, perhaps, they would have saved the animal; for it appeared to have been dead for a few minutes before their encounter. So sad, the team did not make it on time! The routine de-snaring exercise was carried out in Nakuru County Ranches from 18th – 21st August 2020 removing 112 wire snares (70 live and 42 dead). All the snares were tree noose wire snares set in the bush targeting wild animals. 65 snares (50 live and 25 dead) were lifted in Soysambu Conservancy, 38 snares (15 live and 23 dead) were found in Manera Farm and 9 snares (5 live and 4 dead) were lifted at Kenya Agricultural Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) farm. In the three ranches, the de-snaring team was keen to create awareness on the importance of wildlife conservation and more vigilance especially by the guardians who patrol the ranches. 10 Wire-injured Zebras Rescued
ANAW rescue team in conjunction with the KWS Naivasha Vet Unit attended to 10 zebras with snares or snare related injuries. Four zebras; two with neck snares and two with leg snares were attended to at Soysambu Ranch while six were attended to at Manera Farm. Unfortunately, one of the zebras at Manera farm had a snare wound on the hind limb that had severed the tendon impairing its ability to walk normally thus the veterinary officer had to euthanize it to alleviate suffering. A Middle-aged Man Arrested for Killing Warthog in Kasighau Ranch
Further, in the ranch’s neighboring town of Bungule, another man was found selling giraffe meat and was subsequently arrested as well. Similarly, the guardians laid an ambush near Mwarungu dam after they received intelligence of a man transporting bush meat stuffed inside jerricans and apprehended him with the bushmeat stuffed jerricans as evidence. The team has noted an increase in bushmeat signaling tough economic times for the communities living next to the ranch who hunt bushmeat as alternative means of livelihood. The team has, however, vowed to be more vigilant to thwart any bushmeat poaching in the ranch. Building Resilience and Capacity for the Donkey Owning Communities Along Kenya-Tanzania Border
ANAW in partnership with Brooke East Africa (BEA) and the county governments of Kajiado and Narok successfully implemented a Donkey Cross Border Movement Project that ran from July 2019 and concluded in March 2020 achieving tremendous strides in safeguarding and upholding the welfare of donkeys in Kenya. The project objective was to establish the existence, nature, and movement of donkeys along the Kenya-Tanzania border demonstrating its correlation with the increased demand for slaughter within the Kenyan abattoirs. Through key recommendations highlighted by the project, ANAW has again partnered with BEA to implement a Phase 2 of same project that focuses on enhancing border donkey owning communities’ resilience and vigilance to better protect their donkeys running from August 2020 to March 2021. The project is titled, “Building resilience and capacity of donkey owning communities and grass-root government officials for increased vigilance on donkey movement along the Kenya-Tanzania border.”
Finally, the team met with the County Directors of Veterinary Services (CDVS) in Kajiado and Narok, Dr Achola Yala and Dr Bernard Njau respectively, to discuss on the modalities of the new project and to request their continued engagement and collaboration. The project continues with intense field- work involving stakeholder engagement in Narok and Kajiado counties, seeking to wrap up this quarter’s activities and deliverables by the close of September.
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