Stop Wildlife Poisoning

Category: carbofuran | Date: Apr 27 2009 | By: Martin Odino

Hi dear readers! I have commenced on the April-May survey down in Bunyala.The rains are here, the locals’ morale is high and…..sadly, bird poisoning is still raging grande at large scale magnitudes. The rains have definatelycome with changes:

Hope to the locals since there is now expectation that the planted corn, from which the staple local food, UGALI, is derived will flourish and avert the long persevered food crisis in the area and country. The country is baically looking green:

Local biodiversity, represented by birds is teeming with adornment and bounty.

Pin-tailed Whydah

Black-winged Bishop

A flock of Speckled Pigeons

The rice growing area is almost all harvested marking the field’s conversion to such a vast poisoning field!

Unlike never before since this survey began in February this year, the area is busy round the clock at day time. In early morning, and late afternoon, the professional poachers prowl the expanse to do their poisoning of birds. When they are satisfied with the catch, ordinary locals lacking in professional bird-poisoning skills comb the fields once the experts have left and pick up the birrds that continue to die or are disoriented from eating furadan-laced baitswhich remain in the field and are deadly up to at least 24 hours after being set..

Above is one of the local bird poachers.

Kids disturbing a flock of pigeons in the hope that a disoriented subject will remain behind.

A bird picked by kids, 24 hours after the bait was laid out! Their efforts hatch afterall.

So I am still counting dead birds from furadan poisoning afterall, even after over a month since FMC proclaimed it withddrawn from Kenya.

Oh!one other thing I spent time doing after setting foot in Bunyala, due to the rains is finding a new route to the poisoning site. It needs one to be physically fit because you have to hop across about 5 feet wide water trenches to get to the study site!

Please Keep reading.

Tags: African Open-billed Stork, Bunyala, furadan, Poacher, poisoning