By Leonard Korir
Narok, Kenya: Residents of Kirindoni area in Trans Mara West District have threatened to kill rogue lions from the nearby Maasai Mara National Game Reserve.
This follows frequent attacks on their livestock by the lions that have left residents counting losses.
About 10 cows and 15 goats from the village situated along the Mara escarpment, which overlooks the game reserve, have been killed.
The lions have terrorized the area for the last one-week leaving residents with sleepless nights as they are forced to keep vigil of their manyattas for fear of further attacks.
Led by Kirindoni assistant chief, Sadiya Ole Nanteya, who also lost seven goats, the residents petitioned the Government to act with speed and rescue them from further attack.
They have issued a one-week ultimatum for the KWS to relocate all the stray wild animals back to the game reserve, failure to which they would use force to drive them out.
They claimed that despite the huge losses they have incurred from such attacks, they have not received any compensation from the Government except from the Mara Conservancy, a non-profit organisation managing Mara Triangle.
“We wonder why the Government claims that all wild animals belong to the State yet it has failed to confine its animals in the protected areas leaving them to stray to the villages where they indiscriminately kill people and animals. It beats logic that when someone is killed by these animals, the Government is slow to act but when a single lion or elephant is killed in defence, the Government is fast to act including terrorizing residents,” said former senior chief, Julius Ole Maki.
Trans Mara KWS warden, Grace Wendot confirmed the incident and said there have been frequent invasion by straying wild animals. She said KWS rangers were carrying out intensified patrols aimed at pushing back the animals to the park.
