Stop Wildlife Poisoning

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 13 2008 | By: Martin Odino

Biodiversity is faltering the world over as BBC reveals that current trends imply that world governments will fail to meet their agreed targets of curbing biodiversity loss by 2010.

Habitat loss, hunting,pollution and the grande global warming phenomenon have all come down heavily to crush biodiversity to the edge of the limit of survival. These forces are more or less operating in a worldwide scale and should only in a most fair and responsible way be handled by all the states of the world.

But poisoning seems to have a special place especially as far as wiping out birds species is concerned. As I read  National Geographic Channel’s article, Birds in “Big Trouble”Due to Drugs, Fishing,more, I could not stop feeling that poisons must be a nightmare threat capable of wiping out whole species in short time with very minimal room for the reversal of the situation. The article reiterated the catastrophic decimation of the white-rumped asian vultures due to Diclofenac poisoning by up to 99.9% of their original since 1990’s. The whole story can be read in the article Many Asian Vultures Close to Extinction.

Poisoning, which may result from pollution is operating in many regions in the world in remote locations in a most quiet way. I am however concerned by the poisoning of birds particularly in Kenya. While many tend to overlook the killing of birds because they are many, then I must say we are wrong because the kiling is mostly indiscriminate cutting across the flock species as well as the small numbered non-congregating species.

In a walk across the neighbourhood of Bunyala Rice Scheme a while ago,a young man was so determineed to show me a beautiful species that always perched on the cows like Ox-peckers but to his disappointment he could not sight it. I spotted a handful Wattled Starlings on a nearby tree in non-breeding plumage but he vehemently refused that those were not the birds. We went on to ask an elderly man grazing his cattle if he knew and had seen the birds and to his shocking surprise he confided that in a split of time it appeared the birds had vanished. We came to a poisoning site and stumbled on the carcass of a mature male wattled starling in breeding plumage concealed in a grass tuft. This was a poisoning site. From a distance I could see children and young men walking into homes with small hand-washing basins.I could not see any pool wher they may have been washing or drawing water, but why not use buckets to carry the water back to their homes? The young man I was with told me that actually the basins contained the purchased spoils of furadan poisoning which were none other than birds. He said the basins used would actually be much bigger during the peak hunting season during rice planting because the numbers poisoned would also be bigger. It then struck my mind that one conservationist and scout in Mwea Rice Scheme reported that in the 1990’s, poisoned birds quantifiable in pick ups were being ferried away from the rice scheme to unknown markets. What is common to these two sites (Bunyala and Mwea) is that in both cases, it has been reported that Tree Ducks, otherwise Whistling Ducks are almost not to be observed and most probably is because they have suffered heavy mortalities from poisoning.

This was not all. I witnessed one cyclist carrying abour 10 storks in a sack tied on his bicycle rear with  their large bills protruding beyond the sack, which gave them away. We are not just talking of poisoning of a few birds but what I would refer to as birds concentrated in habitats with food abundance thereby drawing as many of their kind as possible, yet the poisoners also give it the best of their poisoning techniques and poisons to catch the most of them-basins, sacks and pick ups of poisoned birds.

As we walked back from the poisoning site, I could not help feeling that the grsslands were more deserted by grassland birds than they should be, given the thickness of the grass density I observed. Deserted or poisoned? Likely, the latter is the justification.

Tags: BBC, biodiversity, Birds, Bunyala Rice Scheme, diclofenac, drug, ducks, Mwea Rice Scheme, National Geographic Channel, poisoniing, Wattled Starling, white-rumped vultures

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 09 2008 | By: Martin Odino

There have been outcries of landmark poisoning incidences starting with ourselves here at Wildlife Direct of carnivores, scavengers- usually hyenas and vultures, and raptors (real predators rather than scavenging). No doubt these are now known to have our attention and need our acting for their survival.

History is ingrained with wild ducks as prime victims of sport hunting. In the USA, migratory duck shooting is an annual event. Northerly- southerly migrating flocks of ducks do not go without some of their members dropping down from the skies at the force of a sport- hunter’s artillery. Sometimes, though proclaimed illegal, lead bullets are used, leaving duck family members’ numbers (and definitely other living organisms) imperilled by lead poisoning. Biologists sampling the bottoms of wetlands in the US and other waterfowl hunting areas have found in some areas more than 100,000 lead pellets per acre in the upper few inches of bottom samples. Diving ducks are more likely to swallow lead shot. Snow geese and swans can dig even deeper – as much as 12 to 15 inches deeper. Kenya apparently is not free of duck shooting either, the incidence of the shooters not willing to give or even sell some of their dead ducks to National Museums of Kenya scientists for avian flu testing in Mwea early this year (2008) leaves us with a lot fear if there is no threat of lead poisoning from lead shot as well. This is however yet to be proved.

In western Kenya, some bird hunters report that in the 1990s, it was possible through carbofuran poisoning to get up to 50 ducks a day. These are mostly the white-faced whistling ducks. In May 2008, I only witnessed a pair of the ducks on one occasion, then 3 individuals on another and that was about all that I saw in 5 days. The locals admit the number of the ducks which in the past years would average flocks of at least 8 individuals has generally dived.

Yesterday (7/7/2008) I got an email from a renowned, noble, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Hon Warden David Mead, whose efforts led to deregistration of carbofuran for use in the Mwea Rice Scheme in particular reference against poisoning ducks and other waterfowl in the 1990s. He was surprised when I told him that I had been informed the previous evening (6/7/2008) that there was still poisoning going on in Mwea Rice Scheme. David did not rule it out and went on to digest for me the likely situation based on his vast experience. He revealed that where the ducks are many, there was almost certainly poisoning. This is where the poisoners target! Here’s what he wrote, “I must confess to surprise, as I have informers at Mwea who have a vested interest in keeping an eye on things. However that’s not to say it’s still not happening, but there are very few Tree Ducks on the scheme this year, when they are usually very numerous in May and June, and thus it is doubtful that it’s worth anyone’s while to attempt to catch by Furadan use on the Rice Scheme itself? I can give no valid reason for the fewer ducks, so it is quite possible they are being targeted (poisoned) on the banks of the Tana River, where they rest up prior to flying on to the scheme. They rest up several kilometers below (downstream of) the big Tana R. bridge, which is on the main Nairobi/Nyeri road….” I just wonder where the once very many ducks of Mwea and Bunyala are going..

Are the ducks numbers going down and their status up the ranks of the threat categories with the poisoning just augmenting the situation? We need to be on the lookout.

Tags: Carnivores, ducks, hyenas, National Museums of Kenya, poisoning, vultures, Wildlife Direct

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