Two suspected poachers gunned down as Nyeri residents cry foul

NYERI: Two suspected poachers were Saturday shot dead by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers at the Solio ranch in Nyeri County.

Another suspect managed to escape with gun shots toward Kiawara with the rangers on hot pursuit. But the rangers said they had recovered a gun with eight rounds of ammunition.

Speaking to the Standard, KWS Senior Warden Cyrus Mureithi said the suspects were ambushed some 200 metres from Ngiri cutline bordering Kiawara area of Kieni County.

"The three had sneaked along the cutline at around 1.00 am and were about to scale the fence, when the rangers on patrol picked them out," Mureithi added.

He said three, tried to escape prompting the officer to open fire and killing the two suspects on the spot with one managing to stage a narrow escape.

"There have been several attempts to gain access to the Rhino sanctuary by people we suspect are residents of the neighboring Solio settlement scheme," the senior warden observed.

He said rangers have intensified patrols and have been swift in preventing such incursions, adding that had it not been for the quick action, the three wound have killed rhinos, since they were very close to their sanctuary.

Mureithi said most of those killed are from the area, as their sniffer dogs always lead them to some of the houses in either of the six villages that make up the scheme.

He defended the rangers against accusations of harassment and mysterious disappearance of people living around the ranch.

"Those spreading such kind of information are misguided and it is aimed at deterring our rangers from pursuing those suspected to be behind poaching activities," he noted.

The warden said this year, only one rhino has been killed in the expansive ranch, adding that the KWS has managed to reduce poaching activities there in the last two years.

Area residents have openly accused KWS of openly targeting them on war against poaching, saying they have become soft targets because of their proximity to the ranch.

"We fear they have been recycling the same guns recovered in crime scenes and planting them on innocent people," Boniface Mwangi, a resident told the Standard at the scene.

The bodies of those killed were removed to Nyeri Referral Hospital mortuary by the police.