Stop Wildlife Poisoning

Dear readers,

In a first incident of its kind in Zimbabwe, poachers have poisoned waterholes subsequently killing 9 elephants, 5 lion, 2 buffaloes and an unspecified number of vultures. This adds to the spate of grisly killings of wildlife incidences by poachers of which most go unnoticed, unreported and undocumented. To read this and related stories, visit BBC’s website.

“Poachers in Zimbabwe have poisoned waterholes in five game reserves to kill animals, say wildlife officials.

Nine elephants were found dead with their tusks removed from the carcasses.

Five lions also died but officials said their skins were not taken, suggesting they were accidental victims of the poisoning.

The incidents are the first of their type on record and tests are being carried out to determine the nature of the chemicals used.

A spokeswoman for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, Caroline Washaya Moyo, said two buffalo were also killed, as were vultures that had eaten the dead animals.

Ms Washaya Moyo said the parks authority had deployed teams in the affected game reserves to investigate the poisoning.

Zimbabwe has been battling to curb poaching, which has mainly targeted rhinoceros and elephants for their horns and tusks.

Ten rhinos have been killed in Zimbabwe by poachers so far this year.

The crime is driven by booming demand for rhino horn in Asia, where it is believed to have medicinal properties, despite ample scientific evidence to the contrary.

Conservationists have warned that rhino populations are facing their worst poaching crisis for decades, especially in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

In May, authorities in Kenya seized more than one tonne of ivory at Nairobi’s international airport.

About 115 elephant tusks were found inside metal containers by sniffer dogs.

Officials believe Kenya has become a transit point for international ivory smuggling, largely to Asia.”

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Dear friends

We believe that our campaign to have carbofuran banned in Kenya is on a positive trend bolstered by the fact that the Pest Control Products Board has for the first time agreed to discuss the recent reports on pesticide poisoning of birds.

However, we remain concerned at the extremely slow pace of response by our government to reports of  pesticide threats to human, environment and wildlife health.We continue to demand that the government authorities take matters more seriously as seems to be happening in the developed world, and now in China.

According to this article in agra-net.com, China, one of the manufacturers of pesticides containing carbofuran that is used in Africa, has now initiated the process to restrict the domestic use of the same chemical.

China’s Ministry of Agriculture has taken new measures to prohibit the use of “high-toxicity” pesticides by restricting registration applications for 22 active ingredients, leading to an eventual use ban for ten of the ais in 2013. The measures have been taken in an effort to “ensure the safety of the country’s agricultural produce” and “help protect its environment,” the ministry states. Starting last month, no new applications for field tests, pesticide registration or manufacturing permits will be processed for the following ais: the insecticides fenamiphos, fonofos, phosfolan-methyl, calcium phosphide, magnesium phosphide, cadusafos, coumaphos, sulfotep, terbufos, methidathion, phorate, isofenphos-methyl, carbofuran, methomyl and ethoprophos; the acaricide/insecticides aldicarb, omethoate, isocarbophos and endosulfan; the rodenticide zinc phosphide; and the fumigants methyl bromide and aluminium phosphide.

On the face of it, this seems to be a good move from China and we applaud the Chinese Government for initiating this process. It is well documented that Evidence suggests that China’s farmers routinely misuse pesticides and fail to protect themselves. A ban on some pesticides will have additional benefits – because 58% of all suicides in China are conducted using pesticides.

A major part of the problem in Kenya is that so many agencies share responsibility for worker safety, food safety, and environmental and wildlife health.

The Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture manages the Pest Control Products Board which licenses and regulate the use of pesticides in Kenya. Their mission is

To provide professional, efficient and effective regulatory service for manufacture, trade, safe use and disposal of pest control products while ensuring safety to humans, animals and the environment.

Although WildlifeDirect has submitted numerous reports of lion and vulture poisoning, poisoning of fish, and poisoning of birds, PCPB’s annual report shows that only one investigation into pesticide poisoning of wildlife was conducted that year.
Finally, China has taken a responsible action by banning pesticides that threaten their people and the land. In Kenya, the Government seeks to increase the access of pesticides to farmers country wide in an effort to improve food security 20 – 50 gms) which makes the product more affordable to small scale and mostly illiterate farmers by packaging the products in tiny containers (small plastic bags with 20). A trader does not require any education or specialised training to sell pesticides.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to observe that Kenyan farmers generally lack health and safety awareness. According to officials at the PCPB, most Kenyan farmers  do not read labels and although they say that protective equipment is provided, I have personally never seen a subsistence farmer wearing any form of protective clothing, or storing deadly chemicals in locked cabinets.

We maintain that by making pesticides widely available to a population that is unable to uses the products safely is negligent and short sighted. We are simply putting deadly chemicals in the hands of largely illiterate population who are not only using these pesticides in a manner that is dangerous to their own health, but to the consumers of the produce and the water consumed, as well as the environment in general including effects on fisheries, insects pollinators especially bee populations, and of course wildlife. This affects the agriculture industry in general as disease resistance grows, pollinators are wiped out and public health and productivity is compromised.

Most Kenyans still believe that the government has their interests at heart and that it makes decisions that are good for them. Well, perhaps it is time for Kenya to take note from the Chinese experience and follow suit by banning dangerous chemicals and removing them from the shelves.

Aphids are notorious plant/leaf-eating pest. I recall during my undergraduate studies hoping onto a bicycle  and heading to the campus farm fields to secure an assortment of substances-neem, sugar solution, etc-up citrus plants of what constituted one of my professor’s project.The aim was to get a substance that would constructively distract a biological set up in favor of citrus fruit production. The microecosytem of a citrus plant constitutes aphids feeding on the plant, attendant ants feeding on the aphids’ sugary secretions and the carnivorous ladybirds creeping in to snatch away and eat the aphids but heavily guarded by the attendant ants. The attractant would therefore get the attention of the attendant ants which would otherwise fight off the ladybirds. In the process, the aphids would be eaten by the voracious ladybirds to the benefit of the citrus plants promoting high yield.

In our last meeting with FMC, they noted that Furadan’s withdrawal would penalize Kenyan farmers that had been using it properly as a pesticide.The chemical product was (is?) a heavily depended on broad spectrum pesticide (deadly poison?) and had served a major role in feeding the world .

The insect pests (some disease vectors others voracious phytophagous-plant feeders ) onslaught seems to be the major threat in the way of desired agricultural productivity to ensure food security. The ideal trend in agriculture has therefore been to employ the strongest pesticide to wipe out the pests. But  this just never really amounts to eliminating the current problem pest per se. The ideal pesticide kills virtually all organisms at least according to Kenya Pesticide Control Products Board boss recently defending the worldwide banned Methyl Bromide because ” it kills all living things in the soil. So it eliminates pests completely,”. But Methyl Bromide due to be phased out completely worldwide by 2015 is said to contribute to global warming, one of major threats to all biodiversity at present.

On the  long road to ban DDT in the US during the early 1970s, initial review of the chemical by the mostly economic entomologists team (inherited from the United States Department of Agriculture) furnished the then EPA’s administrator with seemingly biased findings: that DDT was not an imminent danger to human health and wildlife. Many environmentalists felt the ruling was biased in favor of agribusiness and tended to minimize concerns about human health and wildlife. The decision not to ban thus created public controversy leading to scientific reviews in court hearings, the cancellation of DDTs uses and its eventual ban.

its all about….

Nature is fashioned in food pyramids and chains with higher predators consuming lower predators and producers. While this would constitute biological control in agricultural pest control argued arbitrarily to also have its pros and cons, chemical pesticide control threatens the very existence of the natural control of pests employing natural predators. The increase in crop pests due to the loss of their predators to the very pest control chemicals cannot be ruled out. We are developing an irreversible dependance on monster chemicals which turn around and bite us right in our backs with the ultimate expensive outcome of speeded up species extinctions of which man is not exempted.

It may be ill fated that the issue of Furadan in Kenya has to creep through a slow winding path before anything is done. However, with each passing day there is an intoxicated dying organism, certainly a dying bird and most probably a suffering may be dying human being from exposure to carbofuran or any other deadly pesticide when there are better options.

Dear Friends,

Sometimes we feel alone in our campaign but there are others out there  who are concerned about carbofuran and other pesticides. Here are some great links

African Answerman wrote a very detailed blog post about the history of Carbofuran in USA here

Here is part of what he wrote

“In California alone more than 77 workers were documented with serious Carbofuran illnesses.

FMC Corporation was the main producer of Carbofuran by 2002. It had either filed for most of the patents or bought them from other companies.

As more and more states independently began to restrict the chemical’s use, FMC looked abroad. Even after the EPA formally banned the product in 2008 and the Supreme Court denied FMC’s appeals in 2009, FMC could continue selling the deadly powder abroad.

It did this directly, but that was bad PR and risked further law suits simply from workers who would be packaging it in the U.S. So instead it licensed the product to a number of willing partners, including China’s Jiangsu Hopery Chemical Co., and that’s the company that continues to sell it to East Africa on license from FMC. In Kenya its main distributor is now Juanco Ltd.

In 2009 reports began to service in Kenya of the awful power of the pesticide, and more importantly, that it was available over-the-counter and was obviously not being used to kill aphids on soy beans. There is very little soy bean production in Kenya.

Children died. What was apparent was that the pesticide had been so successfully marketed in Kenya by Jiangsu, and was so relatively cheap, that small farmers were using it for everything possible, even when it was not particularly effective.

But the misuse of Carbofuran in Kenya drew world attention when Wildlife Direct reported that Maasai near the Mara were using Carbofuran to kill lions.”

The article got a very interesting responsefrom Dan Harms

“Worked with this chemical when I was with the department of Economic Entomology. It was used in the midwest as a granular pesticide applied to corn planting to control corn rootworm….a very toxic chemical for a very damaging pest. Very glad to see it off the market. It was developed as a response to pesticide tolerance in the corn rootworm populations, nothing else would work.

When working with this chemical we took special precautions, in the granular form it tends to be dusty, very toxic. It is a carbamate pesticide with a relatively short half life, the chance of residue on imported crops or food stuffs is very slight.

One of the major problems with carbamate poisons is that they, as cholinesterase inhibitors, build up in the human body. Compounds such as Furadan (carbofuran) are extremely dangerous and cause acute poisoning quickly (thus the lion death) but they also can cause long term damage if repeated exposure occurs. There is a medical test that can be done. If the body is allowed it can recover – so reports of long term damage although probably true are most likely due to negligance or ignoranc on the part of the damaged party. The stuff does carry a skull and cross-bones.”

Carbofuran sold in Africa carries a yellow box with an x in it – despite its toxicity there is no Skull and cross bones!

The issue of wildlife poisoning using Furadan and other pesticides has attracted much concern in Kenya. Jeff Koinange asked me to talk about it on Capital Talk, K24 on June 28th 2011. The interview raised a flurry of tweets and FB messages as well as hundreds of emails from concerned Kenyans saying WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!

Here is the interview in 4 parts

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YouTube DirektPaula Kahumbu Jeff Koinange interview on Furadan

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YouTube DirektPaula Kahumbu Jeff Koinange Furadan

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YouTube DirektPaula Kahumbu Jeff Koinange Furadan

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YouTube DirektPaula Kahumbu Jeff Koinange Furadan

Dear all,

We didn’t want to release this film as it is so disturbing. But then we owe it to the Kenyans whose lives are at risk.

Here’s hoping that the Kenya Government will do something about this disaster about to happen.

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Click here for video on poisoning of birds in Bunyala

Bushmeat is more often associated with mammals (majorly modest to large-sized mammals where herbivores like Giraffes and Antelopes, or primates such as monkeys come to mind first) which are an obvious tourist attractions. It is therefore possible that birds are overlooked as a lesser attraction yet many of these are important indicator species of the state of the environment, natural crop pest controllers and probably even have a role in breaking the life cycles of disease agents that would otherwise harm man.

Poisoned Openbills. Openbills are specialist snail feeders.

The much poisoned specialist snail feeder, African Open-billed Stork may have a role in checking Bilharzia by feeding on the water snails of which may include those that harbor the bilharzia vectors. This disease has historical high prevalence in native society set-ups with unfurnished toilet habits and pools of water…which more or less define the status quo in Bunyala. It is worth acknowledging however that Kenya’s birdwatching sector of tourism industry is picking up at the moment with a modest proportion of tourists inclined to birdwatching. Sadly however, the sector may not just live to yield its full potential because important birds’ wetlands inclusive of the unsung Bunyala are losing their bird populations in obscene proportions rendering the sites lacklustre in bird life.

The on-going bird poisoning in Kenya (also known to take place in some irrigation schemes in Uganda) is all aimed at obtaining meat for human consumption-Bushmeat. The technique remains a perfect disguise leaving no trace to follow of how the birds were massacred and an unresolved conundrum on the effects of the poison to the human consumers……but certainly the carcases end up in human beings’ stomachs which follows the illustrated meticulous preparation below. I should humbly warn you esteemed readers to observe viewer discretion for the following images .

A poison-killed bird (wild duck) is purchased from a poacher

The bird is purchased or picked up as a runaway bird that died away from the poisoning site

Feathers are removed from the bird

Once at home, the bird is prepared-feathers removed- by the mother or child (the case above) at the homestead. The child has no caution of handling the bird whose digestive system may be oozing fluids with the raw poison. Just shows recklessness and there is likelihood that the kid will be subjected to primary intoxication.

Opening up the pre-roasted birrd

The bird is pre-roasted while still with the entrails before opening it up to remove the entrails.

Removing entrails

The entire digestive system is then removed from the bird. This ideally “removes the parts where the poison is contained”. But what of the poison that circulated in the other body tissues before the bird died?The entrails are disposed off very cautiously lest chicken, cats or dogs feed on them and die instantly! The head (without the beak) and the legs of the bird are however given to the dogs.

Gizzard showing grit & rice that was laced in Furadan solution & responsible for the ducks death.

Shockingly, the gizzard which is part of the digestive system but renowned for being tasty is also prepared for cooking and consumption!

The bird is then thoroughly washed, especially the inside body cavity

The bird is then roasted a second time until all fluids drip dry.

The ready chunk above will be cooked normally and served for a meal.

This indiscriminate killing of birds for meat is a looming threat to the birds’ survival, crippling the avitourism industry and compromising human health. It is a deadly turn of events!

Bird poisoning follows a cycle in Bunyala. At planting season, water floods the fields and attracts water birds. The ducks are therefore in season at the moment and is their turn to be poisoned.

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The Open-billed Storks occur at the site in all seasons and are poisoned throughout the year. At harvest time, it will be the turn of the seedeaters and the cycle repeats. Please keep reading for the latest updates.

Bunyala Rice Irrigation field may just be known as the most westerly paddy plantation in Kenya and possibly one of the most expanded in recent years.

But the area is the heartland of  a once remarkable macrobiodiversity area. The neighborhoods are known by names of  animals once known of the area. Budalang’i area, once locally reminiscent  of the biblical Noah’s floods  due to its yearly seasonal flooding depicts a place of Lions. Close by is an area whose name translates to the Eland and tales and evidence of skin souvenirs of Jackals, Hyenas and Cheetahs among others can be found hung high up in the sheds of small domestic livestock. Tales are also told of gazelles and hares that were once numerous and would spring out of any other bush in the area.In many youth’s memory is also the Southern Ground Hornbill. The mostly biped bird currently listed under the Vulnerable threat category by the IUCN Red list of threatened species quietly matched out of the area to oblivion!

Human pressure like elsewhere on the continent and beyond is to blame for this undocumented and huge biodiversity wipe-out in Bunyala. Bunyala Rice Irrigation Scheme came as a blessing to the human residents …but also a curse in disguise to humans consuming intoxicated birds and a pure curse to primarily the birds. Phenomenal flocks of local birds visit the site to forage.

Photo taken in January 2011

A flock of Black-tailed Godwits from northern Europe at Bunyala Rice Scheme

Photo taken in January 2011

Collared Pratincoles at Bunyala

Other species not easily found elsewhere have found a home in the wetland conditions of the plantation even probably synchronizing their breeding patterns to fall between the planting/harvesting seasons to maximize on their breeding success.

Photo taken in June 2011

Locally uncommon Greater Painted Snipe in Bunyala

Photo taken in June 2011

The unobtrusive & restless Little Rush Warbler in Bunyala

But perhaps the most worrying scenario is that of famished migrating birds some from far northern Europe and even Asia which are mostly waders . These come to Bunyala Irrigation Scheme to gorge themselves, fueling up for their southern-bound and then the return northern-bound journeys. Here, I have seen thick flocks of birds that blot out the sunrise! the density so gross than I have ever witnessed during waterbird counts by Nature Kenya and the Ornithology section of the National Museums of Kenya at some of the remarkable water bodies of the Rift Valley known to harbor large numbers of such birds.

Photo taken in January 2011

Flock of the palaearctic migrant, White-winged Black Terns at Bunyala Rice Scheme.

While these are not directly targeted for poisoning, the stampede that ensues while poisoning other birds, mostly Openbills scares the birds away.

Photo taken in January 2011

Waders at Bunyala Rice Scheme

The sandpiper waders inclusive of the Spotted Redshank (to the left), Black-tailed Godwit (the bulkiest in the photo and categorized as Near Threatened by the IUCN red list) as well as the Ruff (at the foreground of the photo) above are targeted for poisoning. Others include the Wood Sandpipers documented in earlier posts. The list is long and a total of 33 species of birds are at risk of which 9 are migrants.

A study I carried out during 2009 found estimated mortality losses of 3 in every 10 birds on either the northern or southern bound journeys due to deliberate Furadan poisoning of the birds. Over half the number of individuals that use this site are therefore lost to poisoning every year. Yet migrating birds maintain remarkable fidelity to their stop-over or winter sites. Therefore, as long as there is still poisoning in Bunyala, this vital site for birds remains a dreadful sink for numerous resident and migratory bird species.

Please continue reading the blog and support through donations or otherwise our campaign to end wildlife and bird poisoning in Bunyala and elsewhere.