At Wildlife Direct offices, located on the srventh floor in Nairobi,I sit at a location where I overlook a modern housing system. I have a great bird’s eye view of things and can bear witness to the diverse birds that I see soaring/hunting over the quarters inhabited by humans. Swifts, Black Kitesand Pigeons dominate the show.

I live in a neighbourhood where nothing is short of modern living: beautiful houses with at least a car packed outside every house. On weekends when I am staying within the confines of my small compound, I only need to sit at the doorstep and I will see a Black Kite perched on an electricity pole, eating the remains of a piece of fried chicken that was left by a well-fed child, disposed in the bin in the backyard but somehow the Kite, given its sharp eye sight got it. Augur Buzzards also emit their repeated nasal “nhwaa!nhwaa!…” as they hunt around away from their otherwise normal hunting grounds-open fields with mole excavations. These guys are mole hunters. Well, there is a small open field closeby, so this partly justifies their presence but occasionally they swoop downwards and pick up something;definately food remnant. A walk around the perimeter wall,what I wouold describe as the estate’s backyard, Marabou Storks, Sacred Ibises and Cattle Egrets almost always post sentry at about any one given time along a polluted stream at a dump-site(now cleared but the posting sentry culture still continues).

The main highway through Nairobi otherwise Mombsa road heading eastward has become a breeding site for ciconiformes-the family of storks, herons and egrets. Heronries (mixed congregations of the ciconiformes) occur on most Acacia trees, clustering at the different separated tree groves that border the highway.

The whole point here is not how Kenyan birds have become urbanized but that they have dived into the stresses of the city especially into the stresses of pollution-noise, smoke, food from refuse dumps, whereas water in some cases is sewage water. To a greater part therefore, these stresses are of intoxication form.

Statistics show an increase in respiratory illnesses in humans in most cities around the world and Nairobi is not an exception, majorly because of the intoxicants from vehicle and industrial carbon gases. Talking of exhaust and industrial fumes, the birds in the city ‘look dirty’ in particular the smaller birds and in particular the House Sparrow that ventures close into proximities of the fumes-emitting vehicles and industrial premises, even nesting on some of these buildings. To a keen observer, the white-coloured egrets on Mombasa road are only naturally,clean looking and white as their counterparts out of town when they moult then the clean moult is subjected to the smoke and dust and quickly becomes brown or even blackish. I can only wonder how the inside of their bodies is? what of their lungs? and what of their livers that have to struggle detoxicating their blood? I know there is serious intoxication going on in these creatures despite their quest for the town-bound movement being satiated.

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Last weekend I visited the KARI Katumani quarantine station where I spent much of the weekend birding and filling my lungs with fresher rural area air. Apparently city pollution and the cold in Nairobi were not doing good to my respiratory system.

So, this is what I saw while scouting for birds:

Take a closer look at one of the bottles in the lady’s hands. Whatdo you think is the substance in them?Hint: this is an agricultural premise.

Now take another look at the crop, the top of which is the maturing grain. This is definately millet but something else seems to have been yielded of the crop and looks khaki in colour and paper-like.

Well it is paper. Can you guess what for?My first guess was so that birds do not feed on the crop. Well, that is wrong! It is to prevent cross pollination since these are thoroughbreeds with certain ideal properties so any pollination from neighbouring farms will dilute the ideal property, but still, I believe secondarily this also accords some protection to the crop from the birds.

The real control against the pest birds feeding on the crop however is from the lady, (and many others who were shy to face the camera) in the field who use the bottles in which are pebbles and persistent shaking as well as action of the sun has scoured them to look white, so if you guessed that the bottles had milk in them then you were wrong!Sorry for my wrong hint!

Even better is the attitude of the ladies who vent out noise to scare away the stubborn birds-Red-billed Queleas, widowbirds and numerous other voracious seedeaters. They say this is their source of income. They also argued that if chemical spraying was applied in which case KARI is an institution that can easily afford that heinous venture, thendefinately the effects of thechemicals would be felt by humans even long after the crop has matured.

The message is short, clear and noble: No poisonous sprays for safe food crop and meintenance of our jobs!

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We are now struggling with pushing on with the implimentation of the outcomes of the just convened meeting of the Stop Wildlife Poisoning Task Force at Wildlife Direct, Nairobi, Kenya . We still hope Richard Leakey’s call for ban of carbofuran will yield a reasonable response from the government. Meanwhile we are trying to make headways with a review of all that concerns carbofuran which is essentially our mission. Hopefully, we will garner enough of more of the necessary evidence (of course in addition to what we already have) against carbofuran to get everybody’s attention and only justifiably lay to rest the chemical that clearly is dangerously outliving its time. I say enough of more necessary evidence because we hope it will not be deemed insufficient. I just do not know when the evidence will be sufficient to the local and international custodians of this chemical and many others. What it means is that the chemical continues to act out there both in its good ways (limited since even proper use is harmful; EPA will agree with me) and limitless lethal toxic ways. I hope when the information is enough, our wildlife populations will still stand at handsome figures though. I hope this will not be when almost, if not every organism, including humans, when tested they will positively have carbofuran in their systems (A sad case for Alaska where pollutants are just in almost every living thing which is what I have stumbled on, thinking that I would read something far from toxic chemicals).

The wild supply and haphazard distribution of the pesticide Carbofuran will therefore continue facilitating poisoning of wildlife, birds, fish and who knows even of human poisoning whose facts lie locked in the confines of lack of data and documentation. Such is the desperate need of heed at which we stand.

After ‘a break’ from head aching matters of carbofuran, today I ventured into the current affairs of the fate of our planet and read of the goings on in the U.S.

Based on a conference held in July 17-20 the15th Protecting Mother Earth conference - organized by Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) where there were more than 600 attendants, mostly from indigenous nations of the United States and Canada, but also from as far as Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, and Europe Came together. Generally, they talked of global problems, challenges and solutions. They discussed energy and climate change as it affects indigenous peoples. Stories were told of health damage and ecological destruction brought about by oil refineries, coal power plants, gold mining, and nuclear military activity.

I think the whole issue of energy and climate change just infers global warming. Indeed this is documented of the conference of Minnesota’s new proposed 1600-mile oil pipeline extension which opponents say would contribute significantly to global warming for the way oil is extracted from the tar sands, which is extremely energy intensive. Tar sand oil extraction requires stripping all the trees and vegetation, scooping up and steaming the sands. Potential oil spills on Minnesota’s wetlands is also a concern. IEN states that very few of these projects are assessed for their social and cultural costs or their cumulative environmental and health impacts, which would cause fragmentation of the boreal forest, disruption to indigenous cultural life-ways and production of greenhouse gases.

Here we go again, global warming directly linked to a toxin-highly acknowledged energetic fluid-oil- which will intoxicate wildlife, fish, birds and humans during its extraction, distribution and use for man’s energy requirements.

Shawna Larson, Ahtna Athabascan and Supiaq, Aleut/Eskimo from Alaska, working with the Alaska Community Action on Toxics said that heavy metals and highly toxic persistent organic pollutants, such as DDT, PCBs, and dioxins, some already banned and rarely used in the Arctic are found in very high levels in native people and wildlife in Alaska. These pollutants used somewhere else are transported by wind, water currents and migratory species and concentrate in large quantities in the Artic. Alaskan indigenous people according to their cultural traditions feed on local fish and wildlife, which are considered to be the most contaminated in the world.

At this point, I think we should refresh our minds on the contaminants of Alaska.

For the whole story, read Talking about the future of Mother Earth.

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In August 2006 a local company hastily fly-tipped truckload after truckload of chemical waste at around 15 locations around the city. The United Nations says the dumping of the 500m tonnes of waste led to at least 16 deaths and more than 100,000 other victims needing medical treatment.

The legal case against Trafigura, the Dutch multi national shipper company that dumped the residue, was dropped in an out of court settlement in early 2007 when they agreed to pay the Ivorian government around $200m (£100m) in one of the largest ever payments of its kind. This money was to pay for the clean up and for compensation to the victims who each received approximately 500$

The waste, which contained a mixture of gasoline, water, caustic washings and the poisonous gas hydrogen sulfide, was unloaded in Abidjan from the vessel Probo Koala on August 19 2006 and then dumped in open air sites throughout the densely populated city. According to this news article Abidjan may lose up to 1,000 more people as a result of the toxic dump which is emitting choking fumes. Local authorities claim that over 70 people have so far died from inhaling the fumes; most of them children and the aged. Figures from the World Health Organization indicate that 135,000 people have sought medical treatment for various ailments arising from the toxic dump. The Ivorian Health ministry puts the figure at 131,113. A thousand deaths will mean plucking out one fifth of the population of Akouedo, one of the worst affected communities. It is believed that this is a conservative estimate, the casualties are likely to be much greater.

To me it’s obvious that Trafigura accepts responsibility for the crisis although they claim ‘officially’ that the payment is not an admission of liability but that it was ‘made out of sympathy for Ivorian people, and it also disputes whether the chemical slops were the cause of the large number of medical cases’.

The multinational, which specialises in trading oil and metals, undertook to identify and clean up any sites which could still contain toxic waste linked to its shipment. The deal is good for everyone except the people of Africa. the Ivory coast cannot pursue Trafigura of any further charges, and the two French executives of Trafigura, Claude Dauphin and Jean-Pierre Valentini, were released and never charged. The Ivory Coast government agreed not to pursue Trafigura for any further compensation as part of the deal.

The bad guys include officials who endorsed the dumping and Ivory Coast’s prime minister responded by dissolving his 32-member cabinet as a result.  Understandably the public are still angry and they set fire to the home of the Abidjan port director and attacked the country’s transport minister.

That was the 18th August 2006. Well, it’s two years later and guess what? The money has been paid and the waste is still there and people are still dying.

While Trafigura cannot be charged in Ivory coast the world is not standing back. This week an Amsterdam court will start hearing evidence relating to the Probo Koala waste scandal. This case is about the Probo Koala and does not affect the dump in the Ivory coast but their handling in Amsterdam. It now emerges that Trafigura, chartered a vessel, which at first attempted to have the waste processed in Amsterdam, but the company it contracted for this rejected the cargo because of its odour. Trafigura later ordered the Probo Koala to set sail for Ivory Coast where a local company registered only a few days earlier had promised to do the job.

Meanwhile British lawyers have mounted the largest class action yet lodged in the UK courts for up to 30,000 Africans allegedly poisoned by this toxic waste dump. This action is being brought against Trafigura, a London-based multinational, over the dumping in 2006 of 400 tonnes of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast.

According to Times online Martyn Day, senior partner with Leigh Day & Co stated “That we can bring a case with 30,000 claimants from a far-off land to trial within three years of the events shows that in England we have a system for group claims that is second-to-none in the world in holding multinationals to account for their actions,”

The law firm was brought in by Greenpeace, which in turn was asked to help by the Ivorean Government. Until 2006 Day was chairman of Greenpeace UK and is still on the executive of the Greenpeace Trust. By bringing the claims under the ‘no win, no fee’ scheme Greenpeace we can develop a treasure chest to help to finance large cases like this.

So you’d think like Trafigura has learned a lesson right? Wrong!

According to Afrol News on 24th June this year a vessel from the shipping company Trafigura, “High Land”, landed in the Nigerian port of Lagos where it was observed off loading allegedly dangerous and poor gasoline, aimed at West African consumers. The vessels previously stopped in Tema, Ghana, where it may also have loaded off bad gasoline.
Trafigura is the world’s third largest independent oil trader. According to their own figures, last year’s turnover amounted to US$ 51 billion. The company so far has denied any wrongdoings and claims to operate by strict ethical guidelines.

This article explains that “The Basel Convention was adopted in 1989 largely due to African outrage over dumping incidents and schemes such as the infamous Koko beach dumping in Nigeria in 1987. The original Basel Convention which demanded controls on such exports however was seen by most countries as being far too weak to control the toxic waste trade which can involve great profits and potential therefore for corruption. Thus in 1995 the Convention Parties decided to create the Basel Ban Amendment – a total prohibition on all forms of toxic waste exports from OECD/EU countries to the rest of the world.

This amendment however, while implemented by the European Union, has not yet entered into global force and ironically many of the countries that are currently having their workers and environmental health severely impacted by hazardous waste have failed as yet to ratify it. These countries include, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, and Cote D’Ivoire. Some countries like the United States, Canada, Australia and South Korea have openly opposed the global ban. Worst of all the US, the nation that produces the most hazardous waste per capita, has failed to ratify the original Basel Convention let alone the Basel Ban Amendment”.

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The Agricultural Association  of Kenya is the only government agency that has responded  to our letters calling for a ban on Carbofuran in Kenya. But it’s not the response we really wanted - they are basically denying that there is any proof that carbofuran is dangerous, and that the poisoning of wildlife is an issue of “misuse” not dangers due to “proper use” … read ‘it’s not our fault’.  They want us to address wildlife pest control issues with the Kenya Wildlife Service.

We’ve been trying to reach the Kenya  Wildilfe Service who initially told us that they would press for a ban on carbofuran but seem to have since gone totally mum.  In fact I’ve recently seen evidence to show that KWS has hired the company that imports and distributes Carbofuran for its construction work. Another suggestion of conflict of interest amongst stakeholders and regulators in this sorry story.

Remember we toled you a couple of weeks ago about a KWS meeting with FMC  (the producers of Carbofuran) well, we are being told that we cannot get access to the meeting minutes as it was a ‘closed door meeting!’. Why do they need to be so secretive?

So where does this leave us? Well, I don’t know about the others in the team, but I’m REALLY ANGRY!!!

The news coming out of USA about the ban on carbofuran is a bit more hopeful - some press say Carbofuran residues have been banned but they have only announced an intention to ban it.

The EPA have changed tact from cancelling carbofuran’s registration, a regulatory path that determines whether a product  can be sold in the United States, because of the hazards it poses to workers who apply it as well as to birds and other wildlife. This ban on residues essentially is revoking the regulations that allow carbofuran residues in food. I.e it would affect local production as well as imported goods. I think it’s a brilliant strategy and we applaud the EPA.

But I don’t understand where the manufacturer FMC gets off. Rather than addressing the concerns, they have been fighting the move in federal court, arguing that the agency must prove that the chemical represents a public danger. I wonder what staff of FMC think and feel - they must know how dangerous and damaging Carbofuran is. Imagine selling your soul for a salary! If I worked for them I would resign. FMC is the first pesticide manufacturer in 20 years to resist cancellation of a registered pesticide! FMC spokesman James Fitzwater said his company will push to keep selling the product. He sounds like a really nice guy.

Friends we have work to do.

The EPA’s July 30th tolerance revocation proposal is subject to a 60-day comment period.  So far there has been much praise for the strong stand taken by the EPA but the American corn growers have indicated that the ban goes too far and are hoping for a limited use of the pesticide to protect corn  I hope that the comments being received are all in support of the ban. In Australia a big user of Carbofuran, farmers see the EPA decision as a sign of things to come. We have our fingers crossed for Africa too. We need to help get carbofuran banned in USA in order for it to have a ripple effect in other nations that supply USA - like my beloved Kenya.

Here is the full document from the EPA website. Please submit your comments to the revocation proposal.

Tolerance Revocation

Tolerance Revocation Proposal

• Carbofuran; Proposed Tolerance Revocations

Public comments on EPA’s carbofuran tolerance revocation proposal are due to EPA by September 29, 2008 - July 31, 2008 FR Notice. How to submit comments.

Due to considerable risks associated with carbofuran in food and drinking water, EPA is revoking the regulations that allow carbofuran residues in food. Because dietary exposures to infants and children are of particular concern, the Agency is moving to revoke carbofuran tolerances first, before cancelling carbofuran registrations. This approach provides the most direct and timely means to realize protection of children from dietary risks. It also allows multiple stakeholders an additional opportunity to comment.

Even though carbofuran is used on a small percentage of the U.S. food supply and therefore the likelihood of exposure through food is low, EPA has identified risks that do not meet our rigorous food safety standards. The Agency is taking the necessary steps to address these risks to ensure we have the safest food supply possible. The U.S. has a safe and abundant food supply, and children and others should continue to eat a variety of foods, as recommended by the federal government and nutritional experts.

In a Federal Register notice published on July 31, 2008, EPA is proposing to revoke all U.S. carbofuran tolerances. The Agency specifically is requesting comment on whether any individual carbofuran tolerances, or group of tolerances, meet the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act safety standard. It is possible that one or more individual carbofuran tolerances could be maintained, if information is provided to demonstrate that the tolerance(s) would be safe.

Revoking carbofuran tolerances is part of a broader series of Agency actions to cancel all uses of carbofuran in the United States due to human dietary, occupational, and ecological risks of concern. The cancellation process requires the development of several documents, including this proposed tolerance revocation. After moving to revoke carbofuran tolerances, EPA subsequently plans to publish a Notice of Intent to Cancel all carbofuran registrations.

EPA establishes tolerances for pesticides that may be found on foods, and can also revoke tolerances to better safeguard public health and the environment. The Agency must modify or revoke any tolerance that it determines is unsafe, that is, that does not meet the safety standard of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). The Agency is proposing to revoke all tolerances for carbofuran because exposure through food and drinking water does not meet the FFDCA section 408 (b)(2) safety standard. For further information on this process, see Revoking Pesticide Tolerances.

How to Submit Comments

July 31, 2008, FR Notice - Comments will be accepted on EPA’s carbofuran tolerance revocation proposal until September 29, 2008. All comments should be identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2005-0162.

Publicly available docket materials are available either in the electronic docket at Regulations.gov, or in hard copy at the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) Regulatory Public Docket.

Comments may be submitted by one of the following methods:

• Regulations.gov Open the docket and find the docket item for the July 30, 2008, Federal Register Notice proposing revocation of carbofuran tolerances. In the far right column titled Add Comments, select the yellow balloon icon and follow on-screen directions. This icon will only be functional during the comment period.
• Mail To: Office of Pesticide Programs Regulatory Public Docket (7502P), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460-0001.
• Hand delivery - During normal hours of operation, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays, deliver comments to OPP Regulatory Public Docket (7502P), Environmental Protection Agency, Rm. S-4400, One Potomac Yard (South Building), 2777 S. Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202.

Please do not e-mail or fax your comments. For questions or assistance, contact the OPP Regulatory Public Docket at (703) 305-5805.

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With the poisoned tip of a metal arrow piercing her right leg, a pregnant elephant stumbles miles through the African bush towards her death.

After two days of agony she falls to the red earth, while her killers, following on bicycles and carrying butchering knives, wait for the end to come.

In the darkness of a Kenyan night, the four poachers watch as she first loses her unborn calf in a spontaneous miscarriage provoked by the poison in her body.

An hour later, after the 35-year- old elephant dies, they move in - hacking off her face to steal the two precious ivory tusks which will make them rich for years.

Soon, they hope, the tusks will have been smuggled out of Africa and be on their way to a factory in Beijing, to be carved into jewellery and chopsticks.

Just a few weeks ago, though, these poachers were caught. James Ekiru, the head ranger at Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary (which is in sight of Mount Kilimanjaro and two hours’ drive from the port of Mombassa), says: ‘We followed their tracks, and 24 hours after they killed this mother elephant, we found them with the tusks lying on the ground.

‘They were starting to butcher her meat - cutting it into kilo pieces. We arrested two of them, but two more got away. They were local men.

‘We suspect the elephant was killed “to order”, and that her tusks would have been smuggled to China.

Read it all in Massacre of the giants: Once hunted to near extinction, Africas elephants slowly pulled back from the brink

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“In these woods, I am the master!”

Hunting or is it poaching which may involve weapons or poisoning is by far a mastery of skill rather than a crude means of survival as is mostly perceived.

I have had a couple chances during which I have talked to a poacher/hunter/poisoner by mingling in a way to suggest I am interested in apprenticeship in the same. In the end I have been amazed at how much they know about wildlife, weapons and poisons than many of us. This includes:

1. They know that poisons are lethal: Unlike what we know, the people who poison wildlife for food in significant cases don’t eat poisoned game themselves. They sell it and in many cases will buy meat or chicken for consumption. They will select the wildfowl that is not dead and slaughter it for consumption at their homes. Wild birds that remain alive are the least intoxicated and only end up being taken away because their appendages are broken to prevent them from flying during the state when they are disoriented by the poison. By the time they regain stability their ability to escape is impaired by their crippled state.

2. Poachers know where and how to get their quarry: Bird hunters know the ideal habitats to get which birds. They are the wild ornithologists who do not need a sophisticated sound playback system to get the attention of secretive birds. The only Flufftail (a kind of bird) I ever seen was in western Kenya and I was able to see it with the aid of a hunter who mimicked the bird’s call. He disclosed that that is how he got to get the birds where he laid poisoned bait.

3. They know the difficult/impossible quarry: Bird poachers know that game birds are difficult to catch. One told me that for business i.e. if you want birds to sell, game birds, the likes of guineafowls, francolins and quails are difficult to poison despite their congregating behaviour being ideal for poisoning. Instead, they use nooses and these require the patient or small scale vendor. At a trapping site in Busia, Kenya, the egrets are ignored since these will least likely succumb to a small dose of carbofuran; this will not be so economical to the poacher who wants to use a little of the chemical to get a bountiful catch. Still, egrets due to seemingly requiring a higher dosage of the poison will fly away even while intoxicated hence most likely will benefit a poacher or customer at a further locality who has not done any investment on the chemical and the actual baiting process. Most poachers on the other hand describe ducks generally as ‘dim’ and these settle to eating poisoned bait ‘without a second thought’, to use one poacher’s words.

4. The poachers also know which species are dwindling in numbers: Again, through consistent monitoring by these crude scientists parallel to their unpermitted cropping of wild birds without orders from the wildlife managers shows they are up to date with the trends and have their own red data lists out there. These red listings however mean nothing to them and they will continue with their indiscriminate hunting/poisoning methods to push to extinction the species whose numbers in those localities are struggling against the hunting pressures. Two bird poachers disclosed that the last they ever saw vultures must have been in the eighties. Our bird guide-books still bear maps showing these areas to be areas that vultures range. Men in their late Twenty’s admit having seen such birds during their childhood. The generation in their teens know nothing that looks like a vulture in their lifetime. If it is hunting that has driven the scavengers from these areas or even pushed the local populations to extirpation nobody knows. But they know the ducks, and notably the White-faced Tree ducks and Wattled starlings are dwindling steadily in the area because of poisoning.

So here we are confronting experts in what they have perfected in. By the way they also know if you are enquiring about poisoning and animals in the area then you are from the Kenya Wildlife Service, the local organization that values animals more than humans and will arrest you. So they will avoid talking to you or run away or they will just be given asylum by their own who will say nothing to you!

“The cover is good. I had better stay under cover till that KWS spy gets nothing and leaves my area!”

We need their own to change their own. But this requires incentive to the reformed to keep an eye, educate and create confidence for dialogue with the conservationists. If you can, please contribute towards a fund for one such person I know we see if there is some impact.

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What I think is that to just a reader, it will look an interesting, tourist inviting piece;  a tourist who has never seen this Serengeti-Mara migration,so called 7th wonder may be tempted to check to see if there is still chance to make it to the Mara given the migration happens in intermittent waves for much of July into August year in year out; still, the Kenyan government’s adrenaline levels must be at utmost peak levels with its pulse of excitement driving it to hysterical frenzy since econoomic recovery seems imminent especially after the many misfortunes that have befallen our country dealing it repeated blows to our economic success. I feel the urge in the government, ‘as a father’, to  give a pat on the back to its child organ, the ministry of tourism and utter sell!sell!sell! Indeed the close to 550,000 tourists that have visited the area in the last 3 years is a good deal but it can be better given the harsh economic times we are trudging through.

Fine, we are the gifted custodians of the 7th wonder of the world. Conservationists must feel it is time to take time out when wildlife abundance is hailed for the moment in the Mara; while those of us locked in the unending nightmare of wildlife poisoning could also do the same. But can we? the memories of the lion (and hippo) poisoning linger fresh as these only happened months ago in the area. Kipchumba Kemei, the publisher of the article must happily and rightly proclaim (in normal circunstances) ” Their presence has increased the concentration  of crocodiles, lions and hyenas along the river bank….” , may be as an animal concentration watch point  to the tourists?or that the animals are bountiful?

Looking at the list of the animals that congregate on the Sand and Mara rivers during the Gnu/Zebra migration,-crocodiles, lions, hyens (and the migrating animals themselves)- all are known and reported to have been killed by Carbofuran (Furadan) in Kenya. So what the tourists are enjoying seeing to the stop wildlife team is the sample of animals that carbofuran will effectively take down. Well, this is what I also wish the importers, distributos and licencers of carbofuran in Kenya are reading between the lines. Seventh wonder of the world my foot! just brings memories of a congregation of animals amassed for carbofuran to bring down!

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Is this why those known to be poisoned are poisoned?

In my trip to Samburu National Reserve 2 weeks ago, the three day game drive yielding no male lion on scene sent my mind wild with thoughts about who is most lkely to fall victim of poisoning and why. For sometime I could not stop thinking the lionessses were widowed! until, Shivania, a lions expert conducting studies on the big cat in the area enlightened me that there were particular areas you would spot the lions and that they did not stick around the lionesses.

Before this revelation and later, Shivania’s eventual confirmation that the male cats were about and intact, I could not stop thinking that they had been hunted down and killed, another terrible outcome of human-wildlife poisoning. Afterall the surrounding community are overwhelmingly pastoral and such incidences would be favoured in such a set up. But lionesses would fall victim as well, especially since the would be the more ferrocious hunters with the lions known to be lazy beasts who spend long hours sleeping.

But yet again, why not have a homogenous pattern of mortalities in all predators and scavengers? Then there could be another reason, not necessarily applicable to only the lions, but in the entire biodiversity realm. I came up with the following hypotheses:

1. Some members of species characterized by hierarchial feeding behaviour are more vulnerable to getting poisoned than the other members - hierarchy in feeding implies the strongest, biggest or simply the leader gets the bite of the food first. Normally,if the prey is poison-laced, it may be with furadan, may be strychnine or any other lethal poison out there, the leader will most likely take in the fresh, thick layer of poison as he breaks into the prey. this means he/she is most likely to attain the lethal dosage of the poison hence has the highest possibility of succumbing to the poisoning. The other members of the species fight and tussle over the remnants of the poisoned prey may be shaking off,rubbing off with their own bodies or just get small chunks of the meal, lowering their chances of imbibing the poison up to the lethal dosage threshold, hence according them some degree of reduced vulnerability to dying from poisoning. This what I thought had become of the lions of Samburu but fortunate enough it was not the case. Nonetheless, do you also see this tendancy?especially the scientists out there in the field?

2. Members of species of large congregations of predatory/scavenger species without well-defined feeding hierarchy have a lowered chance being killed by poison-laced prey: I have in mind the hyenas and wild dogs. Usually, only one or two baits will be laid out for the predators. In this case these guys feed haphazardly, fighting, snatching from one another and sometimes even ending up losing the prey when stronger cats show up alarmed by their squabbling. Though some degree of hierarchy may be portrayed in the hyenas and wild dogs, with the stronger members having some advantage on the food ration, still this is very diffuse and so poisoning efficiency is to a significant degree lowered.

3. Many species congregations exhibiting species hierarchy of feeding make ’starter’ species more vulnerable to dying from poison-laced bait. The vultures fall in this category. There are 8 East African Vulture Species. Other than 2 species,the Lammergeir and Palm-nut Vulture whose feeding behaviour (specializes on eating bone marrow) and feeding site prefernce (scavenges on shorelines and river banks) respectively alienates them from feeding with the others, the other 6 are more or less dependant or symbiotic when it comes to feeding; the largest-billed, robust Lappet-faced Vulture opens up the carcass, also having priority on the meal. The same role is also excercised by the second runners-up, the Ruppell’s Griffon and White-backed Vultures. These latter two are however more common than the Lappet-faced Vulture. These species that initially open up the carcass are what I earlier referred to as the ’starter’ species. Clearly therefore, these are subject to initial exposure and chances that they will feed on much of the poison and get killed are much higher than their weaker-billed, smaller-sized counterparts, the Egyptian Vultures, the Hooded Vultures and finally the White-headed Vultures. As a matter of fact, of the shocking furadan caused vulture poisoning incidences recorded in Kenya in 2004 and 2005, Ruppell’s Griffons and White-backs were the most victims.

So in short, it seems the more ‘organized’ feeders are at greater risk of getting extirpated through poisoned baits than the ‘disorganized’ feeders. Hierarchy favours posoning. Thus is the sunnary hypothesis.

Thanks for reading and please keep supporting this Wildlife Direct’s stop wildlife poisoning blog for its sustenance in advocating against wildlife poisoning.

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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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