Residents feast on rare game meat after train killed five elephants

By Renson Mnyamwezi

Residents of Voi town and its environs scrambled for game meat after a train crashed into five elephants.

The passenger train hit the beasts that had imposed a virtual dawn-to-dusk curfew as they crossed the railway line near Ndara.

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) personnel said the jumbos were crossing the railway while going to a watering point near Ngutuni Lodge.

When word about the incident went round, residents of Maungu and Kajire armed with knives descended on the carcasses for a share of the meat.

A large number of wild animals have broken out of Tsavo National Park in search of water and pasture, being testimony to the worsening drought ravaging most parts of the country.

Tsavo East senior warden Silas Muriithi said cases of elephants being killed by trains and vehicles have increased. "We have been experiencing increased cases of animals being killed along the railway line, and the Mombasa-Nairobi Highway," said the KWS official, yesterday.

Fear of attack

Meanwhile marauding elephants are reportedly disrupting learning in some schools in Mwatate District.

Residents complained they have persistently called KWS personnel to drive the elephants back to the park in vain.

Nominated Councillor Dickson Babu said parents had been forced to escort their children to and from school for fear of being attacked.

"Pupils have to leave for home as early as 3pm for fear of attack by elephants from the park," he said.

 

 

Read all about: elephants Kenya Wildlife Service Voi Tsavo National Park KWS

 

 

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