Demand for natural medicine pushes up poaching

Increasing poaching of wildlife in Kenya could be as a result of myths attached to the vice, a Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) boss has said.

Julius Cheptei, the Assistant Director for the Southern Conservation Area, argues that there is a strong link between the swelling cases of poaching and the possibility that people are looking for traditional medication.

This year alone, 12 elephants have died in Amboseli National Park. Five of this was as a result of poaching, three due to human-wildlife conflict and the rest through natural death. Of the five elephants killed, Mr Cheptei says the poachers seemed not interested with ivory but the private parts of one of them. It was killed in June. "This particular animal was pregnant," said Mr Cheptei.

World Health Organisation statistics show that about 80 per cent of the world’s population relies on medicines derived from plants and animals for its primary health care. This is particularly true in Africa and Asia where traditional medicines are widely used.