Stop Wildlife Poisoning

MWEA, SAMBURU, KANO PLAINS, MARA FINDINGS

Hi all. I have been back in the office for 3 days having just toured some of the areas where there has been documentation of carbofuran poisoning. All seems well at the gaze with the full spectacle of the wild animals and birds feeding, playing and even in the act that will culminate in breeding. But is all really well? Indeed it is good news of no poisoning for some places and still bad news of poisoning for others. Nonetheless, for the good news I managed a smile on the last day or is it night of the trip.

Yesterday I received a call alert (‘flash’) from an unfamiliar number. I flashed back but no return flash to signify any urgency. I ignored the number but while I scrolled through my call log to make another call this morning, I stumbled on the number that I was flashed with yesterday. It then struck my mind that I had noted down some numbers during the field trip. I checked my field note book and there I stumbled on it! It belonged to a certain guy in Mwea who I had approached and faked that I needed bird meat. We had then fixed a meeting for early this month. We agreed that he would alert me when he was ready and that he would link me with a bird meat vendor who poisoned the birds. You would not suspect that such a deal can take place in such a place especially given that everybody else seemed busy planting rice.

In the neighbourhood of Kisumu town, in Kano plains, some kilometres past the site that was Ahero Rice Scheme, there is an out grower scheme where locals are growing rice on individual rice plots. During a short stop over, I observed a lot of birds flocked in the place and a couple of farmers were out working in their plots. I talked to one old woman to know if the birds were not a problem at harvest time. She said they were indeed but her grandchildren would chase them away by wails and beating of metal cans. I then asked her if she thought killing of some of the birds would be a solution but she said she did not think it was necessary adding that in any case, birds were being poisoned for meat. I then confirmed that after all, there is poisoning in the area. For a while there was on-going bird poisoning in Ahero Rice Scheme but with the stalling of the operations of the rice scheme, bird congregations have reduced and Furadan supply for use in the irrigation scheme also cut, bringing a cessation in the poisoning frenzy.

Samburu NR seemed all tranquil, with the expected heat dominating the local climatic conditions and emphasizing ‘this is Samburu’. For three days I roamed the reserve with my friend and spotted many carnivores and scavengers. We got to see six lionesses in total but were disturbed that we had spotted no lions absolutely during the three whole-day drives around the national reserve. In fear that poisoning might have taken the lives of quite many of these I ended up talking to an expert in the area who advised me to relax and that the kings of the jungle were around, not always in company of their ‘wives’ and there were strategic localities where these could be found. I was glad the place was safe for the time despite earlier recorded incidences of carnivore poisoning in the area, though she added that she was in the process of getting to find out more about poisoning in the area.

Masai Mara also turned out looking good. I even passed by the Mara Conservancy incognito. The area has had the most recently documented cases of poisoning-this year, 2008. With hippos and lions as the reported victims, both seemed to do just fine. It was captivating witnessing lion/lionesses feasting, playing and in the act of breeding in one encounter.
The lioness below took advantage and got “the lion’s share!”

while the lion paid attention to his queen in an imminently heated up act that would bring forth another generation!

The vultures on the other hand looked good sprawled on the grass, not dead but waiting for thermals.

While others did not mind the flies after an unpoisoned meal.

Generally the presence of the Gnu on the first of their biannual migration to and from (Tanzania for this case) Kenya and Tanzania enhanced the bountifulness of wildlife in the Mara. Isn’t this beautiful?

Keep reading our Wildlife Direct’s blog for the latest in the wildlife poisoning scene.

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Tags: Kano Plains, Masai Mara, Mwea Rice Scheme, poisoning, Samburu National Reserve, Wildlife Direct

This is an not new information but it’s still interesting. I just found out that in 2006 six rare Abyssinian lion cubs were poisoned in a zoo because authorities could not afford to feed them. However, Muhedin Abdulaziz, the administrator at the Lion Zoo in the capital, Addis Ababa, said “The dead cubs were sold to taxidermists for $170 each to be stuffed and sold as ornaments”.

Apparently federal wildlife officials monitored the poisoning, which they said “was painless”.

Ok, what messed up zoo will poison their own animals, and what kind of freak wants to buy a stuffed poisoned lion cub!?

Please help us stop this  kind of abuse. Support the team  that aims to Stop Wildlife  Poisoning.

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Tags: Ethipian zoo, lions, Poisoning wildlife

Hi, this is Ngaio again. 

Thanks to everyone for their comments and research. I think a few major issues are emerging here.

First and foremost, there is the issue of whether or not wildlife mortality and endangerment to human health have arrisen from legal (or labeled) useage or from illegal use. If it arises from legal use then FMC definitely has to take responsability for that.  Now, strictly speaking, the company is not responsible for individuals using carbofuran illegally, but they are knowingly manufacturing a highly toxic compound that is being purchased to poison wildlife, not just for agricultural purposes. We are talking about numerous incidences that are decimating wildlife populations, not just one or two isolated cases. If FMC had andy sense of corporate responsability they could launch an education campaign and carry out a proper risk assessment relevant to Africa to establish various toxicity levels to the species likely to be exposed. But would an effective education campaign then result in a decrease in their sales? And might a risk assessment reveal the risks to wildlife?

Howard, you made a good point–I completely agree that we need to back up our claims with some good, hard science. We cannot afford to be emotional on this one, it’s too easy to tear down emotional arguments. It would be very useful to see what sort of hard data FMC has. I was interested to read Jophie’s post regarding the claim that a hippo would have to consume 300 to 500 kg of carbofuran at once to die. Is this on the basis of toxicity tests carried out on hippos or surrogate species who would respond similarly? What dose level would this correspond to? To make some headway, we will need to be able to clearly establish that a) the animal was exposed to carbofuran in x formulation, b) the exposure to the carbofuran was the predominant or only cause of death and c) the level of exposure was consistent with a legal / illegal application.

Another issue is the root cause of the poisoning: human-wildlife conflict. As Dipesh says, it’s going to take more than banning a compound (or suggesting a ’safer’ alternative) to make the problem go away. Colleen, I thought your point about promoting more harmonious and equitable farming practices was very relevant. It’s certainly necessary to encourage people not to take matters into their own hands and go after a lion that has killed some of their livestock, for example, but it is also critical to take steps to minimise livestock losses in the first place. An audit of farming practices, crops and use of pesticides would likely reveal the occasions when pesticides are used, but not actually necessary. I’ll have a look through the list you sent and see about contacting some of the groups.

I guess the thing that strikes me the most, at the moment, is the argument that carbofuran does not pose an ‘unreasonable’ risk. This is a chillingly ambiguous term. Are we to believe that the wildlife and human health incidents noted up to now are ‘reasonable’ risks then? Who is setting this threshold?

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Greetings everyone, this is the first post of a multi authored STOP WILDLIFE POISONING blog.

Our meeting last week in Nairobi revealed the shocking damage that carbofurans are having on Kenya’s wildlife and led to a press release on Monday by Richard Leakey that has already attracted much local and international interest by the Daily Telegraph here, Reuters here FM radio here and in India here. The story has been picked up on several blogs like Not Honey here and Ethics and Animals here as well as here and Yubanet here. We expect the story to continue to generate interest.

This video taken by a vet Asuka shows the debilitating effect of secondary poisoning on a lion after it ate a hippopotamus that had died of carbofuran poisoning in the famous Masai Mara game reserve.

This incident raises grave concern about the toxic levels of pesticides that are entering into an otherwise pristine ecosystem, this could have been due to inappropriate use locally, or even possibly from agricultural areas may kilometers away. Either way, it shows just how dangerous this chemical is in Kenya.

We are looking for a good name for our campaign - In the USA there is a group called the Poison Action Network North America (PANNA), in UK there is the Campaign Against Illegal Poisoning of Wildlife (CAIP).

Sadly, the poisoning of wildlife is not unique to Kenya and big cats, but is also a problem across the sea - conservationists in the USA are raising awareness about the attempts by the city authorities in Philadelphia to rid parks of rats has wiped out squirrels. Humans are notoriously good at creating more problems than they solve.

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