Four hippos have died in Lake Naivasha amid fears of poisoning.
The controversial deaths at the lake have sent tongues wagging as scientists investigate possible poisoning.
This brings the number of hippos that have died in the lake to six in the last week, amid fears the toll could be higher.
Two of the carcasses were spotted by fishermen in the Kibokoni area and the others near the Malewa River as KWS scientists moved in to investigate the latest incident.
In the last couple of months, tens of hippos have strayed onto nearby farms and estates after their grazing land was flooded as lake levels rose.
According to Laban Ewoi, a member of the Kamere Beach management unit (BMU), the four carcasses were found deep into the lake and were bloated.
He said that the animals did not have any injuries, raising fears that they could have died after eating something poisonous.
“We have spotted four more dead hippos in Kibokoni and Malewa areas, and the carcasses are bloated, and it’s rare to find so many dead hippos in a span of one week,” he said.
On her part, Grace Nyambura from Lake Naivasha and Lake Oloiden Fishermen's Organisation said this was the highest number of hippo deaths reported in the lake in years.
She added that it was common to spot a hippo that had died of old age or from wounds inflicted by other hippos in the troubled waters.
“Six hippos have died in the lake in the last week, and all of them have bloated stomachs, and this is very suspicious,” she said while calling in KWS to urgently investigate the new cases.
Speaking on the phone, KWS communication officer Duncan Juma said that they had dispatched patrol teams to the lake to collect samples from the carcasses as part of their investigations.
“Currently, there is heavy rain and water hyacinth around where the carcasses were allegedly spotted, and this has hampered our operations,” he said.
Last week, fishermen at Kamere landing beach watched as two hippos struggled to breathe for hours along the lake shore before dying.
A postmortem conducted by KWS scientists indicated that one of the hippos overfed on cereals after straying into one of the farms around the lake.
Juma said that this caused bloating for the animal, which struggled for hours before dying on the shores of the troubled water body.
“The second one had fed on fishing nets, and this compromised its digestive system, leading to its death, and there was no poisoning as alleged,” he said.
