Stop Wildlife Poisoning

Hi readers! I have been able to establish communication with some hunters and while I still hope to woo more into talking freely with me, the few I have interacted with are revealing a whole lot of techniques whose suitability befits the birds that a hunter is targetting.

An overview of the techniques reveals that Furadan is exclusively the only poison used to kill birds. The differential poisoning techniques then come in. These are mainly determined by the type of food and feeding modes by the different kinds of birds.
Small birds which are mainly seedeaters are poisoned by unshelled rice grain soaked in Furadan solution. This rice is scattered all over the dry rice field then flocks of seedeaters come down to pick up the grains one by one.My assistants and myself observed this method seemingly not so effective compared to the others. On one occassion, we estimated a flock of 500 mourning doves but the hunter in this case only walked away with 5 dead birds. We however noted that about 400 of these birds flew away during the waiting phase of poisoning when the hunter awaits the birds to get intoxicated, yet they had also been eating the poisoned baits.

There has been poisoning of doves in the field above for much of the week.

The second method involves employing decoys to get the attention of other birds. This method affects mostly Open-billled Storks though other birds also fall victim when the hunter opts to employ the earlier described method. This method seems the deadliest. While my data should give the actual effectiveness of this method, based on my local assistant and one hunters revelation, this method can annihilate an entire flock of Storks if the birds are not disrupted while eating. My local assistant revealed that a flock of 16 Open-billed Storks had all been killed about a week ago while one seasoned hunter attempting to poison Storks right under our noses confessed that the flock of 71 storks soaring above us could all get poisoned and killed. I must admit feeling ‘dirty’ as we peered on from our watch post without speaking up for the birds just awaiting to count the Storks that would die for purposes of getting data for my project. Well, thank God because a goat came along and startled all the storks to their flight. Further, I bet the hunters were uneasy with our presence so they abandoned their mission prematurely that day.

Live decoys used to lure others.

The third method involves putting furadan solution soaked rice put in metallic plates and put under water. I have not witnessed this method (though I hope to) because it is mostly used at planting time (its not planting time atthe moment) and targets ducks. The plates are put under water then when ducks come dabbling for food and find a lot of food in the plates under water, they gorge on these only to get overdosed with the poison-laced food and get disoriented.

Hypothetically, seedeaters are eating far less of the furadan-laced bait compared to the Storks and ducks which eat baits loaded with way more granules of furadan (snails) or more rice grains concetrated in plates under water respectively. An almost invariable confession by locals is that numbers of these bigger individuals are diving.
We have reason to fear for imminent ethological alteration in these birds; that flocks could degenerate into a handful score, then single individuals and eventually……

Keep reading.Will keep you posted.

At Wildlife Direct in Nairobi, I sit at a place that overlooks a modern neighbourhood and I have a bird’s eye view of birds soaring/flying above the houses: swifts, pigeons and raptors dominate the show.

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.