Stop Wildlife Poisoning

Category: carbofuran | Date: Sep 02 2008 | By: Martin

In yesterday’s post, I put up a photograph of the Australian Cane Toad which is known to be a poison bag for amongst other predators, the crocodiles and wallabies (the likes of kangaroos) in Australia. Just while evolution experts may explain that the frog may have evolved this mechanism over time so as to be unpalatable to its predators who were a threat to its numbers (the situation is now different with the species know to multiply wildly, the result of species introduction where conditions in new place favour its success and therefore may be with less diverse predators that cannot match up to the frog species numbers, the frog thrives. This is the case of alien species turned invasive). The whole point is that the cane toad must have evolved its unpalatability as a counter mechanism to an unfavourable condition, in this case predation.

In Kenya, the poachers who poison birds have knowledge of particular birds that do not succumb easily to the poison. Whether this is a physiological mechanism, or a learned behaviour in others, I honestly cannot tell, but the fact is, you have to go through a lot of trouble if you have to lay your hands on such birds.

In an older post, I mentioned that Marabou Storks are renowned scavengers yet I have not witnessed or heard of the bird die where vultures fell victim of poisoning, particularly Furadan poisoning. Yet the bird poses in wait at almost any other kill or still baited kill where vultures congregate to eat. May be the reason is the more aggressive vultures eat up all the poison lacing and when the Marabou eats last, it has the least exposure to the poison.

In Busia, Cattle Egrets are said to be not so good targets of poisoning. But I think it is the egrets as a whole. Locals would not know how to differentiate them; yet again I know the other egrets prefer more of the wetland area in paddy fields than the Cattle Egrets. These are the Great Egret and the Yellow-billed Egret. These birds are said to swallow baited insects but comfortably take to the wing. The few that get to die fly tens of miles away before dropping dead.

Great Egret

Yellow-billed Egret

The egrets, storks and herons all constitute the family cicorniformes. Now I would be biased to think that this family is unique, whether as a result of evolution, that I cannot tell but in some way, the Marabou Stork and the Egrets seem to an extent to beat the odds of poisoning. But I cannot explain the matter with their ‘open-mouthed’ counterparts, the Open-billed Storks who are poisoned in large numbers for food, although even these if not beaten dead when they get disoriented, a number end up flying away. Food and feeding habits are a little different, but the poachers employ relevant baits to nail their quarry but still they explain disappointment particularly for the egrets.

Game birds are another puzzle as they seem to suspiciously regard any human-laid bait. Guineafowls and some francolins are confessed by hunters to be a hard target.

So, for deadly chemicals, with Furadan being the chemical of choice in Busia, certain birds, seem to have their way to spare the lives of a good number of their members.

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Tags: Busia, Cane Toad, francolin, furadan, game birds, Great Egret, guineafowl, Yellow-billed Egret

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 15 2008 | By: Martin

It all happens in such fields and waterways that supply water to the Bunyala Rice Scheme.

At this point I am confused which is wrong: poisoning fish or eating poisoned fish? No. I mean which is MORE wrong? For sure both are wrong. I think in short ‘we are poisoning us!’-Human beings and other wildlife!

I had a telephone conversation with my informant in Busia , Kenya last evening who told me everything is going on normally. By this ,he meant birds are being baited as usual. He also went on to say fish poisoning is also on. Well, with the paddy in the fields and water gushing in through the waterways (such as the one shown above) from the River Nzoia, (one of our renowned local rivers) when the watergates are opened, fish also come along. When the watergates are closed, the water stagnates. The chemical is then put in the water and in a matter of a few minutes, fish are seen to float! The species victims of this method include Tilapia species , cat fish and some species of eel. The fishermen then retrieve them from the shallow waterways and are taken for sale. The chemical’s name is nothing close to what we can figure out at the moment.Just like carbofuran is known by the locals in the area as ‘indubuha’ this one is known as ‘gumofwe’. Honestly I do not know what that is and even the spelling may be wrong because I have just reconstructed it based on the way that he pronounced it. With the young man being semi-illiterate, that is the best he could do to get me the name of the chemical. He also said this is also a very toxic substance. In addition, he said some people bathe in the water.I should get down there shortly to get the real name of the chemical and witness the scenario.

It was birds, then now fish. Surely, if this chemical is also toxic to humans, then we are dealing with persons whose bodies are toxic material bags. As if not enough, some of them are going on to ensure the chemical is not only on the inside of their bodies, but also on the outside by bathing in the water with the chemical that kills fish.

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Tags: Bunyala Rice Scheme, Busia, Catfish, Eel, poison, Tilapia, toxic

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