Stop Wildlife Poisoning

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 24 2008 | By: Martin

HI. I am so sorry for being ‘off’. I hooked a hike. I am in Sopa Lodge in Samburu National Reserve for the night as I type. See the photo below. Sorry for the poor quality: Power was running low and the photo was taken in the night at around 22.15hrs. yet the lighting conditions of my simple room were not the best. The place has neither cell phone nor internet connection but I will post this out tomorrow once I am somewhere there is accessibility to network within the park.

A friend invited me on a bird survey/guiding tour. I thought it worthwhile to accompany him because I noticed his circuit included places where wildlife poisoning is known to occur. While the circuit begins from Nairobi, it covers areas of Thika town outskirts, Mwea, Samburu, Baringo, Kakamega, Kisumu Masai Mara and then back to Nairobi. I have been to some of these places and I thought it wise to get to observe for poisoning and interview one or two people.

Having come through Mwea Rice Scheme, I was able to talk to two people. The first directed me to a second party who i made a ‘false’ appointment with to get poisoned ducks from early next month. We even exchanged contacts and he is eagerly waiting for the time to reach and I will be his guest. He told me he does not poison birds himself but there are specialists who poison the birds using Furadan and when the time came he would link me up with them. It is a pity that poisoning is shielded so that it goes on behind the scenes. This makes detection very hard and therefore this situation may run out of hand if it does not receive immediate attention. Here I was standing right in the face of poisoning while all seemed so well when in fact it is otherwise. In addition he told me the National Irrigation Board carries out aerial sprays against vermin birds when the crop is maturing and almost ready for harvest. Unfortunately, their exercise is indiscriminate. He told me that this year, the exercise will be on about November. The young man further pointed out that these poisonings are executed mostly at roosting sites and birds die en masse. He said that nobody collects the birds, more so smaller species. Large species collected, mostly ducks are taken for consumption. He mentioned three species that he knew were falling victim of aerial sprays: Egrets, Herons and Ducks. At the time I joined my friend and he expressed disappointment that he had not been able to locate one species known to occur here amongst its other known few, restricted ranges. Honestly I could not help wondering quietly if the poisonings were not contributing to the scarcity of the bird species(Yellow-crowned Bishop).

More will be on your way as we get to the sites

Here’s me posting, after I got to Safaricom network (at Viewpoint, in Samburu Game Reserve) area 30hrs later.

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Tags: furadan, Mwea, poisoning