Stop Wildlife Poisoning

Category: carbofuran | Date: Oct 06 2009 | By: Martin Odino

Dear Readers,

Apologies for my irregular writing lately. Many atimes I have been confronted by unavoidable field challenges unfavourable for blogging but I will keep doing my best to fully update you whenever the opportunity allows. My posts are therefore bound to be long but interesting so please kindly hang in there and read them through.

The latest development at Bunyala Rice Irrigation Scheme is the expansion of the cultivation field at least up to twice the former size. While the current size is at least 500ha large, the paddy fields continue to be reclaimed every day extending in all directions and I am informed the locals have been advised to leave no fallow land uncultivated by the national agricultural authorities. It is expected that the rice yields will alleviate the famine situation in our country, Kenya.

A small section of the extended agricultural land. The trees to the right are part of an untended live fence to a home. Irrigation water has spread into the compounds of most surrounding homes.

Much as this establishment sounds nobly humanitarian, the farmers are pessimistic that the intensive rice growing will bring them any economic fortune on their part. They boldly proclaim being robbed of their effort-draining toiling and moiling by the irrigation board which provides rice farming inputs enticingly labeled subsidized. The farmhands (casual laborers) who also happen to be the land owners say they tediously tend and eventually harvest the crop needless to add are responsible for the daily airing and drying of the cereal at the irrigation board’s storage premises awaiting to be sold. It is the irrigation board that indeed springs back into action to sell the processed cereal when the time comes. From the sale, the irrigation board then takes back what the farmers owe them and the remaining penny is forwarded to the farmers. In the words of the farmers that I talked to, the amount is best described to range between peanuts and negative, to mean you may still owe the board especially if the crop fails and this debt is carried forward to be recovered next season.

From my research perspective, my study site is greatly altered especially the transects that I have been working in. There are more of these now and are tougher to navigate because the maiden ploughing involves ‘deep flooding’ with the water depth in the feeder canals extending up to hip high for an average Kenyan man. My assistants and myself walk the whole day to be able to survey the whole site for bird poisoning. We must admit that in a number of cases we miss out on the poisoning going on on the distal end of the study site which extends beyond the comfortable optical aided view of our binoculars.

Taking GPS readings and recording bird mortality (myself writing from a low culvert slab and my assistant close by looking on far afield; the other is the photographer)

Talking of poisoning, it is of course Furadan poisoning of birds. Much as the farmers are staggering to keep faith that their intensive rice farming should pay this season, the season has come with fairly good news of no Furadan for rice planting! It does look like someone after decades of deviance is being careful to observe the law for once of Furadan not being allowed for use in rice fields. It must follow the persistence at Wildlife Direct to question the explicit law breaking by the supplier in getting the poison to Kenyan irrigation schemes. Bravo on this move! But the pesticide is still available.

Dangerously wielded by radical bird poachers, the pesticide continues to crash populations of birds through deliberate poisoning for human consumption:

The photos below were taken 2-3 days ago.

Poisoned African Open-billed Storks in a sack

A poacher making away with dead birds in a sack

The purple colour of Furadan showing on the snail baits for the storks; the little faded shade of purple is most likely because the bait was prepared the previous day

Bounty of the birds being the migration period is not making it any better.A flock of Black-tailed Godwits.

An unrecovered carcass of a poisoned Black-tailed Godwit by the poachers; one of the cases where we missed out on a bird poisoning incident. Small fishes that come with the flood water had nibbled on the bird’s neck tissues. A larger fish would probably gulp down the whole carcass and also die.

The poachers say the Furadan is still available from sources they are not comfortable to talk about owning up only Uganda as one of these sources. The pesticide’s identity is kept top secret to any stranger and every bit of its evidence is destroyed almost as soon as it is purchased but for the poisonous granules of course. The small pack (see below: note there is no label on the container) now costs around 8.5 dollars (Ksh 600).

Nonetheless, we are still doing our best in trying to educate the poachers most of whom are torn between the vegetable farming idea and keeping on with the poaching. One factor stands in the way of those undecided. Furadan availability! The good news is a number are increasingly becoming convinced that vegetable farming might just be a better idea and one has offered to look for a piece of land where we can start from.

An education session: Poachers peering at knowledge in my guide book

Please keep reading. I will be giving you more poisoning updates inclusive of a video clip of how storks are beaten to their death and captured once disoriented by Furadan poison shortly.

Technorati : Bunyala Rice Irrigation Scheme, Furadan, Kenya, Poisoning, Wildlife Direct

Tags: Bunyala Rice Irrigation Scheme, furadan, Kenya, poisoning, Wildlife Direct

2 responses so far

Category: carbofuran | Date: Sep 22 2009 | By: Martin Odino

Dear readers,

I have been underground for a while! I mean to apologize but…. I am still on with the business of ending wildlife poisoning. I will be back soon with stories at my study site in Bunyala.

The blog title above not only rekindles hope that the remaining stocks of Furadan are now getting depleted but also confirms that FMC indeed upholds ethics by pulling off their supplies of the chemical as the only proper measure to follow lions’, birds’ and other biodiversity outcries of being decimated by carbofuran. And what else could be an affirmation than FMC executives’ words that indeed they have not supplied any Furadan to Kenya since August 2008! and an invigorated buy back underway starting March 2009! This was at the meeting with the Stop Wildlife Poisoning Task Force at Wildlife Direct on 15th April 2009.

But the blog post Lion Poisoning in Tanzania just challenges the reassuring words above. The post contents are words from our informant and colleague who also sent along a pdf. document of the scanned label of the Furadan pack they purchased from one of the Agrovet stores in Tanzania. The pdf speaks volumes! Please look at the 1st page of the sent furadan-label.pdf by our informant for the details I will give below.

JUANCO is East Africa’s distributor of FMC-manufactured Furadan. FMC proclaimed they stopped distributing ‘their’ Furadan to Kenya (essentially to East Africa) around May 2008. The manufacture date on the label pdf reads November 2008. Zoom the document and you will see the date as well as repeated ‘JUANCO’ underwritten in faint brown on the user information in bold black. The underwritting is JUANCO’s ‘water mark’ and therefore authenticates that the product is distributed by JUANCO in this case after being supplied from FMC.

If the product was manufactured in November 2008, there is a likelihood that the product was distributed this year (2009). It means Furadan supply was not halted in May 2008 and there might be on going distribution by the company in question especially due to the fact that there are collosal stocks in the neighbouring countries, Uganda and Tanzania (Furadan is available, for the case of Uganda). Yet again birds continue to be taken down in Bunyala in thousands by the poison with a ghost source but with labels on its containers certainly pointing to JUANCO. Worst case scenario is rebuying to resupply, God Forbid!

The poison’s supply withdrawal and buy back just have not alleviated the situation so far….or are they in effect?!

Technorati : Bunyala, FMC, Furadan, JUANCO, Kenya, Lion, Tanzania, Uganda, Wildlife Direct

Tags: Bunyala, FMC, furadan, JUANCO, Kenya, Lion, Tanzania, Uganda, Wildlife Direct

One response so far

Category: carbofuran | Date: Jul 18 2009 | By: Martin Odino

So far!

Bunyala Rice Irrigation Scheme: In these rice fields, birds are poisoned using Furadan by the thousands each month

Dear readers, early 2000 marked the start of confronting the problem of poisoning using Furadan by conservationists especially ornithologists amongst others ecologists in Kenya. Furadan had been introduced into Kenya in the early 80’s as an agricultural nematicide pesticide and people, farmers and non-farmers alike had discovered its deadly poisonious nature, harnessing the property for destructive non-agicultural related killing of biodiversity.

In the early 2000s, FMC sent some officials to Kenyafor the first time to come discuss the issue with the conservationists that the pesticide had been observed to be killing birds, especially waterbirds in rice irrigation schemes. At the end of the meeting the FMC delegates left with amongst the agreed measures they had to undertake back at their company in the U.S.A to: brand on Furadan’s label, “Not for use in paddy” and to sell the pesticide in packages of 25+ Kg weight. Everyone then sat back and waited in joyful hope.

Time continued wearing past and the faithful Kenyan conservationists that had shared the same discussion table with FMC ran out of patience, realizing they had been taken for a raw deal. Afterall, none of the agreed on steps to be taken by FMC were implimented and nobody from FMC ever justified the one-sided decision to rubbish the decisions. Meanwhile, the pesticide continued to be abused to kill biodiversity which Kenya, a struggling third world country relies on for its revenue.

It is unfortunate that the turn of events associated with Furadan poisoning caught everyone unawares. But I think it is expected when you understand the sniping nature with which the pesticide operates as a poison and I bet it would be the same with many other poisons. Even the regulatory organizations, PCPB and AAK (their names must have changed) sat tight and did not consider that their role to verify the safety of the pesticide product was an absolute failure and the proof of the pesticide’s safety either by the manufacturer or even by the Kenyan regulatory agencies’ a total sham. Instead the pesticide continued hiding behind wiping completely the nematodes (soil worms) as it was any biodiversity unabatedly.

With just birds as the reference point for Furadan’s foul play and lacking in progressive mortality documentation, there was no much to face the local regulators and persuade them that the pesticides needed their urgent attention. Soon however, whispers of extended foul play of the pesticide in killing other biodiversity in the background grew louder . Two surveys were then undertaken to find out the distribution and general use of the pesticide. Amongst the findings of the surveys were wide distribution of the pesticide extending to non-crop agricultural areas or pastoralist areas and commercial crop farming areas especially rice growing areas. Also, intents for which Furadan was being used in most of these areas was revealed to be downrightly inclined more to abuse as a poison than proper pesticidal use. Furadan had become rogue and even EPA points it out clearly that it is unsafe even when properly used hence its ban in the U.S.

The surveys listed amongst the poisoned biodiversity include birds with especially shocking mortalities in vultures and water birds, also seedeaters, lions, hyenas, wildebeests, warthogs, crocodiles, fish, domestic dogs, domestic cats and unconfirmed human mortality cases. The list is longer and disturbing and drove Wildlife Direct Chaired by Dr. Richard Leakey in May 2008 to organize a stakeholder’s meeting to share and discuss the matter of poisoning using Furadan: The Kenya Wildlife Service, World Wildlife Fund, Endangered Wildlife Trust, National Museums of Kenya, Kenya Society for the Protection and Care of Animals, EAWLS, BirdLife International, Wetlands International, Peregrine Fund, National Environmental Management Authority, JUANCO, PCPB all attended. Numerous presentations were made on cases of various biodiversity poisoning giving testimony to the heineous destruction attributed to the poison and showing how urgent an issue Furadan poisoning had become. While ALL saw the endangering conservation problem associated with Furadan poisoning, Juanco and PCPB saw otherwise with some of the officials from these two organizations declaring some of the studies whose results had been presented non-scientific; data insufficient hence inadequate evidence against Furadan.

While the 2 defenders of the pesticide made their stand clear that ‘Furadan is not a problem’, Dr. Richard Leakey nonetheless led our campaign at Wildlife Direct to end wildlife poisoning by calling for a ban on carbofurans (Furadan and its likes) just days after the meeting. The call was directed at various relevant government ministries: Ministry of Wildlife and Natural Resources, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries. With Dr. Richard Leakey’s and Wildlife direct’s motive bold, sincere and with natinal interest at heart, unfortunately nobody seemed to heed us. Further at Wildlife Direct, this blog was set up to tell the world on the dangerous, latent, wildlife poisoning issues, focusing particularly on Wildlife poisoning. Other Wildlife Direct blogs also continue to document on the issue as it affects them: Baraza Blog, lionguardians and kilimanjaro lion conservation plroject blog (currently inactive)amongst others.

Fighting almost aloof in Furadan poisoning terrorism, the CBS documentaryin March 2009 rejuvenated our vigour. The reality of mad lion poisoning was vividly highlighted; Over 60 lions killed from the pesticide’s poisoning. It goes just beyond this with various other organisms studied to be under great threat for instance during the meeting in May 2008 lorries of poisoned birds were shown to have been poisoned by Furadan; Vulture population in Kenya has nose-dived with some species such as the Egyptian Vulture possibly extirpated in the region. Instanteneous vulture mortalities in Kenya were reported in 2005 reaching up to over 200 strong which is about the largest congregatory figure of mixed species of vultures. This means a total loss of whole colonies in some poisoning instances; Numerous waterbirds and currently in Bunyala, Kenya montly bird mortalities are projected up to 3000 mixed bird species in one site whose area is hardly 400 ha.

We went further on at wildlifedirect to pursue on getting long term data at one present day Furadan poisoning site in the name of ‘evidence’ for our local regulatory agents, PCPB and AAK because the pesticide continues to be easily aquired for use from agrovet shops despite its evidenced gross abuse. This goes on even after the buy back program by FMC and recently the pesticide has been found broadly displayed in a number of agrovets in one of the capital towns in the country, Eldoret; check Furadan availability on our blog. So after some fundraising, we have been gathering data and documenting the observations on this blog on Bird Poisoning in Bunyala since February this year (2009). Even with this, no expertise has heeded these revelations and no regulatory persona have gotten on the ground to witness this. What it means is that we have hit a regulation stalemate of the pesticide. The regulatory agencies remain put and indifferent despite our monthly updates on Furadan poisoning to them.

With the prevalent stalemate however certain recent developments have occured. For instance various conservationists met with FMC officials in June 2009;Wildlife Direct’s top person met with the Minister for Wildlife on the issue; also we have had some other politicians’ support in fighting against the pesticide in parliament and a parliamentary discussion on the ban of the substance. The problem is that our motive is clear: ban Furadan for human and biodiversity’s safety in Kenya, while the various people and institutions we are meeting are taking too long to take on a sound decision and impliment it.

Please keep reading for more updates and revelations and support us in our campaign to end wildlife poisoning. You realize the case of Furadan availability in Eldoret was from a coleague who is doing his other research. It may not always be the case and it is not possible for me to be everywhere. However, just through a scout located on the site we can be able to integrate the information and make a follow up. The case stresses the need for me to get scouts at areas I refer to as ‘hot spots’ which are essentially intensive poisoning areas. I have done surveys in 3 major rice growing schemes and in two of these I have nobody on the ground. For a start, a scout just needs a phone with a camera option to be able to send me a short text message and to take a photo of the incidence.Such phone locally would cost 90 dollars, so 3 pieces for a start. Further, I have noted Furadan supply is on the increase again but traded on secretly. We therefore need to be clear on Furadan availability, another task that scouts would easily help me accomplish, because most likely there is another supplier or suppliers taking root and the killer will just keep wreaking havoc with its continued supply. While the regulatory agencies are indifferent, I strongly believe with continued gathering of whooping evidence of the cases of poisoning with a diverted approach now to media publicity we still have a greater chance of getting the poison banned.

keep reading.

Tags: Bunyala, EPA, FMC, furadan, Kenya, poison, Richard Leakey, Wildlife Direct

One response so far

Category: carbofuran | Date: May 21 2009 | By: Martin Odino

Hi friends. I have a couple of things that seem to be looking up which I would like to put across to you. Indeed you are the pro-anti-wildlife poisoning community with whom we share with every little success we attain. Thank you so much for your support and please keep supporting us.

First, We [Dr. Richard Leakey (Chairman, Wildlife Direct), Dr. Paula Kahumbu(CEO,Wildlife Direct and myself))] have been trying to have the poisoned bird samples tested for Furadan, now two weeks since I got them from the field. After going through what I would describe as seemingly protracted delay in the testing of the samples, finally we have word that the analysis will be done. I however still dread the rates which during my last visit at the institute I was informed that ‘new, international rates were to be adopted starting any second in time’. I however believe that we will pull through this.

We are also aware that our Kenyan parliament will be discussing ‘Why Furadan should not be banned in Kenya ‘, today. Our fingers are crossed.

Third, it appears the buy back by FMC, through the local supplier, JUANCO is doing well, but my fear is how effective the buy back process is. I have a hunch that the we could be deceived by a pseudo success with the buy back of Furadan. This especially follows the findings, from a visit to an area, 2 days ago, where I have done two surveys in the past. This is in Kajiado District, Kenya where in the surrounding rural neighbourhood, Furadan has been used to poison carnivores: lions and hyenas as per the surveys’ findings, to resolve human-wildlife (carnivore) conflict.
After going around virtually all the agrovet shops in the small market centre, of all the agrovet shops that were open, I only found Mocap (the replacement of Furadan)in one. The others did not have Mocap. Then I wondered, how come they all said Mocap had replaced Furadan and significantly, no agrovet seemed to be stocking it? In addition, all the peopple I asked about Furadan and Mocap were so suspicious and a number needed my phone contact!?

Mocap in 1 agrovet shop out of about 15 agrovets.

I was yet to get more overwhelmed in wonder until when I got mocked at with a pack of the killer pesticide in the last agrovet that I paid a visit. In the earlier surveys, I had met a male sales person at the counter of this agrovet. This time it was a lady. So I informed the lady that I had come looking for a certain young man whom I had interacted with sometime back and that I was doing a survey on Mocap and Furadan. I described the man precisely, hoping the fortune from furadan sale had not changed his physical appearance.As the lady regarded me with suspicion, the gentleman matched in. Strange, she informed him that I had just been asking for him. Thanks to the matching of my description. A few exchange of Masai words that left me enshrouded in ignorance but at last I was welcome.

The gentleman was suspicious but when I truthfully told him that I had come to seek some information about Furadan, his Moran ego, being Masai, overtook him and as he mockingly rebuked me and my associates for succeeding in ‘banning’ furadan, he danced and went behind the sales lady where there was another shelf facing the other way round, fished out something, blew off some dust from it with his strong exhalation, picked up a rag and wiped the white container with a pink cap, then marched back to the counter and with a resounding thud, dropped it under my nose in my full view!a 200gram Furadan 5G pack! I shook it to confirm it had the granules. Yes it had contents! God! What if there were hundreds of this where he had got this one from?

I thought quickly, realizing I had to be cautious here. I pushed away the thought of what could be fished out next. A club?…or a spear?afterall I noticed I was foe at this point. Tactfully, I sought to know his opinion in pesticidal effectiveness of Mocap versus Furadan, giving him a lead that Furadan might afterall be the way better pesticide.

And so my friend let loose of all that lay covered at heart with my lead: He revealed that loads of the pesticide are stashed by some farmers and some retailers (some poachers too I bet); he did not trust the buy back and said most likely Furadan would just be given a different trade name and be re-introduced to the market, may be with a slight colour modification and would be sold more expensively to recover for the years that it is will have been lying underground. He went ahead to give me an example of a domestic fly insecticide once called SNIP that was banned then 3 years later reintroduced as AGITA, with slight colour modification and infact the package was maintained but for the trade name and now costs 300% higher (Does it mean 100% for every year in ‘banned’ state?). For some reason, he said contraband Furadan is infiltrating into Kenya from Tanzania. To the best of my Knowledge, Furadan supply is supposed to be withdrawn and is being bought back by FMC from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The salesman could not resist smiling as he reminded me that the ’sweetness of profits’ in this agrovet business is realized in dealing with contraband products and that Furadan could bring big-time returns!

I cunningly divulged from the Furadan discussion and slowly cooled down the heat that ensued from what the agrovet man had revealed as I sought a way to disengage from the dialogue and leave. I had samples to be analysed that I had to go follow up with. And so I contemplated in my mind about the whole experience. I cannot stop thiking the other agrovets still had Furadan stock somewhere. What if JUANCO were buying what was just on the shelves?Do they really have authority to check back stage supply storages of these agrovets? may be this is where PCPB and AAK can flex their muscles undefeatably, but sad that they are not just willing to do it yet. They are still in denial that Furadan is indeed more of a poison than a pesticide.

I am due to get back to the field in just about 1 week. Remember my operation A MONTH OUT WITH BIRDS GETTING POISONED and kindly support me. I believe there was no better timing for this operation especially with seeming attention captured from the agro-retail, governmental and the general public. Let’s see how bird poisoning goes this month which should indeed reflect on the effectiveness of the Furadan withdrawal process and reveal if the rice schemes are to be targeted for urgent buy back.

Will keep updating you. keep reading.

Tags: AAK, FMC, furadan, JUANCO, Mocap, Paula Kahumbu, PCPB, poison, Richard Leakey, Wildlife Direct

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Apr 20 2009 | By: Martin Odino

Dear readers, I am obligated to thank you all for your support hitherto. Thank you for visiting to read this blog and commenting and advising accordingly. I want to very specially also thank those of you who have donated towards this blog’s cause - to end wildlife poioning. In particular I want to recognize those donors whose email contacts I do not have and have therefore not been able to thank them personally. I am going to be using your donations for laboratory charges for testing of poisoned bird specimen brought back from the field during the April-May survey. I leave for the field this Friday 24/04/2009,and will update you on the latest from Bunyala as well as notify you on the lab testing proceedings.

A lot remains undone, especially with the campaign entering the MONITORING FOR FURADAN phase. We still need to sample agrovet stores for availability of the withdrawn pesticide by FMC. Further, not all sites, for instance are being monitored, but through your continued support I, with Wildlife Direct’s patron support, can put in place a more thorough monitoring system through supportive manpower. Mwea Irrigation Rice Scheme, a long-time bird poisoning site remains not consistently monitored. Yet there the poisoning of birds is even more secretive than Bunyala with the poisoned birds being sold to nearby low cost cafes. It is alleged that wild ducks are collected in sacks to be distributed to these eating spots.

Following our meeting with FMC last week where various concerned ecologists gathered at Wildlife Direct’s board room to meet the FMC’s representatives, it turned out that we need to have more and more of our samples tested to satisfy our local pesticide regulation bodies-Pest Control, Products Board (PCPB)and Agrochemical Association of Kenya (AAK) or Crop Life, Kenya. FMC blatantly claimed that we must make our observations scientific. In essence, they were saying that they need hard evidence of tested samples, not appreciating the fact that the costs of testing these samples are very high. Please read more about the meeting with FMC on the post Our meeting with fmc Baraza Blog.

From the meeting again, it became apparent that testing the samples at the Government Chemist Laboratory I mentioned in the post, Striving for better post-furadan poisoning days-Part 2, would possibly result in the laboratory findings not being accepted, at least by the standards of FMC, PCPB and AAK. This means we have to do our sample analysis at a different lab. The lab of choice is the KEPHIS lab-Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services. But the costs are way higher here, though the methodology and standards of the laboratory are of world class level. Each sample will cost about USD100. So, I am even still short of finances if I must get all my 10 samples from Bunyala tested. So this is the situation.

Please keep supporting me through reading, commenting and donating and…

end this barbaric poisoning frenzy and…

brighten the lives of the birds; both big and Small!

Tags: AAK, Bunyala, FMC, furadan, Government Chemist, KEPHIS, Mwea Rice Irrigation Scheme, PCPB, poisoning, Wildlife Direct

One response so far

Category: carbofuran | Date: Apr 13 2009 | By: Martin Odino

Hi everyone.Furadan withdrawal by FMC comes with renewed hope that Kenya’s wildlife should thrive again, especially the lions and birds that have been worst hit Furadan poisoning. We acknowledge the delicate situation that comes with the withdrawal of the poison and that there may be complications resulting to continued poisoning. At Wildlife Direct and I believe the entire conservation community, we are dedicated to try and stop the situation in the least almost altogether. To this effect, we are meeting with the manufacturers of Furadan, FMC, this week as highlighted in the Richard Leakey blog and Wildlife Direct’s press release on 8/April/2009 to among other things, share and discuss the withdrawal process and related underlying issues.

In Bunyala area, I honestly anticipate incapacitated poisoning of birds even with the small scale Furadan vendors in the scene. This is because I hope their Furadan stock is dismal and will soon run out if the withdrawal process is successful. In this area, I know at least 7 pairs of captive African Open-billed Storks due to the practice of using Furadan for poisoning. My hope is that these enslaved birds will soon find freedom!

The pesticide’s withdrawal process should yield emancipation for such poor captives as in the photo above.

It has also come to my attention that most poachers are not only poachers. Some are watchmen at night, some work in the rice scheme as subordinate staff, others are herdsmen and even fishermen. However, a few are specialized poachers. Generally numerous other economic activities besides poaching take place in Bunyala. May be this is a good thing in the sense that most of the poachers have an alternative activity to fall back to. I took photos of people involved in some of these:

This fisherman traps fish in the irrigation canals of Bunyala Rice Scheme. His economic activity seems to yield gains at least nutritionwise judging from his healthy look! Honestly I cannot compare him to the diminished physiques of the bird poachers.

Some people are productively involved in the transport sector. This young man and his colleagues offer my team bicycle taxi services when we are out in Bunyala for fieldwork.

The photograph above was taken at the bank of River Nzoia, one of Kenya’s prime rivers. The final stages of the river snake through Bunyala. It is a pity that destructive economic activities, particularly vegetation clearing and charcoal burning are taking place in its vicinity.

Some engage in sand harvesting from the river as seen in the photo, probably a better undertaking if done correctly.

So, will the poachers, deprived of Furadan take to ‘back door’ sources of poison, be it Furadan or other, to continue with the unsustainable wildlife poisoning or other destructive economic activities? This is what for the sake of conservation I wish to avert. But how?

River Nzoia, above is an all year round source of water in the region.

The rains, though inconsistent, when they come they fill to flooding the plains of Bunyala with water. The photo above was taken in Bunyala just before the end of my last month’s survey. The skies were readying to send the rains down.

Bunyala is characterized by high poverty prevalence. With uncontrolled bird poisoning having evolved with the availability of Furadan, the people against their knowledge have for long suffered nutritional injustices from eating poisoned bird meat. Further, vitamin-rich foods in the area are markedly deficient. I believe harnessing the water resource appropriately can make vegetable farming possible and an attractive, lucrative venture compared to poaching, a destructive, unhealthy, time consuming and a means of survival rather than an economic developmental activity. While this will take care of nutritional needs of the community, it will satiate the economic needs of the liberated poachers. It is this option that I want to market to the poachers and will give you details while calling for your support.

Please keep reading

Tags: Birds, Bunyala, FMC, furadan, Kenya, Poacher, Richard Leakey, Wildlife Direct

One response so far

Category: carbofuran | Date: Oct 01 2008 | By: Martin Odino

Melamine-contaminated milk poisoning in China as we now know did not begin with the epidemic of kidney stones in human kids that reached us just a couple of weeks ago. Gorilla babies, orangoutans and a lion cub have followed suit. Many more animals that rely on the mammary gland effusion must have fallen victim as well. I have not heard of the baby Pandas which should be also in China’s zoos, thanks God! Hopefully this is not being kept from the world. Such a trend assumed by the melamine poisoning only evokes fear and abomination!

The real reason that the poisoning reality was suppressed as is highlighted is that so that the privilege of hosting the Olympic Games would not be taken away. China seems to have been wrestling to conceal a violent turbulence of intoxicants for a while. This year’s Olympic games host managed to ‘contain’ the problem of atmospheric pollution that had also threatened its being the games’ host and now the melamine catastrophe that was apparently successfully contained in the secretive bag but which has raptured open letting loose the reality as scores of Kidney Stones diseased humans and wildlife alike. What is worse is that much of the entire world may have already had a taste of the harmful intoxicants.

The temptation to conceal an evil because it will ruin an imminent fortune is high but in most cases turns out more harmful than useful. China has seen a ban on many of its exports by many of its largest importers of its products and even the fortune acquired during the Olympics may cancel out with the loses on imports and the health investment towards the threatened human and wildlife residents.

Statements against our revelations on Furadan wildlife poisoning such as, “when you proclaim before the whole world that Kenya’s wildlife in parks is threatened by Furadan is putting the tourism industry at risk and portraying a bad image of our country” are very common amongst the guys that should be in the fore front in addressing the problem of Furadan poisoning to our wildlife. For some reason, they would rather have the wildlife fetch revenue, despite the ongoing depopulation of the animals in the background. At WildlifeDirect, through the Stop Wildlife Poisoning Task Force, we are trying to take measures that will stop the country from the possible disgrace of losing our wildlife particularly carnivores and birds, and even humans to Furadan. We are washing our torn, dirty linen while asking for its washing and mending rather than to have the world laugh at us. We are still asking for your support. This month and next month are particularly crucial in the sense that they are likely to be characterised by marked poisoning incidences especially in rice-growing areas, being the start of the planting season. Our financial resources are still low yet we want to begin awareness as a vital bird/wildlife poisoning pace reducing tool during our surveys as we seek a long-term solution to Furadan poisoning. In an earlier post, I put up our 1 year, $20000 budget. I believe through your support we can curb this imminent carnivore/scavenger loss that could lead to banning by our greatest importers of our commodity (tourism) in their market. Yet in this case, the wildlife loss may be irreversible!

Thank you very much those of you who have been supporting this Stop Wildlife Poisoning Campaign. Please keep reading our blog for the latest poisoning news.

Tags: China, furadan, gorilla, intoxicant, Lion, melamine, Orangoutan, poison, pollution, Stop Wildlife Poisoning Campaign, Stop Wildlife Poisoning Task Force, Wildlife Direct

No responses yet

Category: Pesticides, carbofuran | Date: Sep 10 2008 | By: Martin Odino

Hi,

Since the month of June, some rains have been pattering the Kenyan soil, while wild herbivores have been doing well (even the wildebeest migration brought carnivore food to Kenya) and pastoralists are apparently not having any quarrels with carnivores (One of the significant human-wildlife conflict reasons). But even before then, since April 2008, Wildlife Direct has made a lot of noise to the public, raising attention on the wildlife poisoning that had assumed an uncontrollably wild trend. Still, some awareness has been raised with a couple of farmers showing some interest in knowing the monster behind the pesticides that they so preciously spend o for the best crop yields.I believe the two forces-noise making and favourable weather conditions- have merged to bring a seize fire on the wildlife poisoning. Unfortunately though, some renown wildlife poisoning areas are still reported with the harmful trend going on. I have summarized the information since the Stop Wildlife Poisoning Campaign by Wildlife Direct began in april, 2008 until now in maps showing the top-rated/reported poiosning areas, some of the affected wildlife in these areas and the current poisoning status in the areas in Kenya-current-wildlife-poisoning-status-in-kenya.pdf

Please keep reading our blog.

Tags: Carnivores, human-wildlife conflict, Stop Wildlife Poisoning Campaign, Wildlife Direct, wildlife poisoning

4 responses so far

Category: carbofuran | Date: Sep 09 2008 | By: Martin Odino

All our posts have been centered on large animals, illustrating carbofuran poisoning in lions, hyenas and vultures. The explanation behind this lies in effective exposure to the chemical pesticide.Their mode of feeding-carnivorous and scavenging -therefore accords these organisms the highest vulnerability. This just proves that ingestion or swallowing is the most effective way of getting the toxic substance into a living organisms body system. Further, fish have also been reported to have been killed through Furadan poisoning, other birds (non-vulturine), wildebeests, warthogs, crocodiles, just to mention those.

Clearly, out of the 8 divisions (technically and more precisely reffered to as phyla, these are sponges, worms, insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) of the members of the Animal Kingdom, it is not just fish,mammals,birds and reptiles that are suffering but also the other mentioned in brackets but sponges. Only the sponges can be said at a lower risk given that they are oceanic rather than part of inland biodiversty. The large volume of the oceanic waters in which they are found also confers them some safety since it would require more carbofuran than can be produced on earth at the present time to get the waters concentrated eneough to destroy the sponges. This post will therefore focus on alleged or reported highly suspected carbofuran poisoning cases for smaller or inconspicuous or ignored animals.

Insects and their likes, which constitute the division (phylum) Arthropoda-the largest animal group constituting 95% of the animals- in as much as pesticides are designed to kill them, I would say, have been ignored. I believe no organism is too abundant not to be destroyed altogether or be driven to extinction. In one of the posts in another of wildlife direct’s blogs, there were lions reported to have died from Furadan poisoning. Shockingly but also reported nonetheless was that flies that came to get tit bits of the fouled carcasses also died on their meal. Well, I have also been able to get reports that Honey bees have died of Furadan poisoning in Naivasha and Kitui, Kenya. Honey bees not only make a highly nutritious and medicinal substance, honey ,but they are also very important in pollination of our rops and other plants. In Naivasha, Kenya, Furadan is used to kill termites and is proclaimed even more effective than the pesticides intended to kill termites. In Busia, Bunyala, the Leech was a feared worm by the paddy field workers and the blood sucker would stick on one’s upper legs and suck blood till one used a knife to cut it off. Though a worm, it falls in a different category and it poses no threat to rice or any other crop. Presently, the farmers have noted the worm has declined and not as common as it used to be in the paddy fields. A few cannot stop thinking that  Furadan may be behind the decline in the leech numbers.

If I recall clearly, carbofuran is branded a nematicide. But what has been witnessed is an indiscriminate mortality situation cutting across the entire animal kingdom. Carbofuran leaves a lot to be desired as far as its pesticidal role is concerned. It is a chemical pesticide that leaves many questions unanswwered such as if it can cause secondary poisoning and the scope of the broad spectrum of living things that it can wipe out. There is great need for more intensive testing of the effects of the pesticide and if at all it has to remain in use as a pesticide, it should prove its ‘innocence’ and subsequently may be win again the confidence of wildlife conservationists.

Tags: amphibians, animal kingdom, arthropoda, Birds, bodiversity, carbofuran, fish, fishtoxic, honey bees, hyenas, insects, lions, mammals, reptiles, sponges, Tanzania, termitesKenya, vultures, Wildlife Direct, wildlife poisoning, worms

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Category: Pesticides, carbofuran | Date: Sep 07 2008 | By: Martin Odino

Hi,

Bunyala Rice Scheme is in Busia District, Western Province in Kenya. It is actually located at the border to Siaya District which extends southerly and easterly of Busia district.

Hardship area

The area is a flat expanse with characteristic scrubland and savannah conditions. This vegetation is scanty and poor short grasslands around homesteads whereas the grazing fields are a mixture of tufted grasslands with thick bushes and scrub whereas there is reed vegetation where water floods during the rains mostly resulting from the River Nzoia (a major river that drains into Lake Victoria) bursting its banks rather than from the rains flooding the plains.

A photo showing some of the vegetation typical of Bunyala plains. The tufted grass is typical of its grazing fields(also note the almost bare area used in baiting birds using furadan)

Significance of the rice scheme

These conditions clearly define the area as one with low agricultural productivity. Livestock keeping is still the dominant human activity though the growing human population has shrunk the grazing fields thereby reducing livestock herds significantly. It is however not uncommon to find herds of over 50 heads owned by a family and these herds mix at the communal grazing field into super herds of indigenous animals. Even with such many animals, dairy production is low and milk is for domestic consumption and local sell. It is not wrong to state that these animals are mostly kept for prestige rather than livelihood sustainability.

A boy herding livestock (some of the sheep he is looking after in the mixed herd cut out at the top of photo).

Poaching, also an old practice carried down the generations still goes on in the area though the hunting grounds are now confined to the hills such as Wanga hill where wild game, especially antelopes have retreated following habitat destruction and terrorism by man’s aggression to them for meat mostly to trade in. Laughing hyenas in the distance in the night is a usual thing and claims of leopard visits in the dead of the night is an occasional but known possibility in the area. The fabled ogre in the traditional folklore according to my grandfather may have been the lion. The mighty strength, hairy body with tail, unpleasant odour (typical of beasts) and tendency to strike in the night (may be just as the man-eaters of Tsavo or an old lion with a high affinity for easy to catch human prey. This may have accorded this beast the description that it attacked in the night when in reality the younger, robust individuals may have been hunting normally in the wild) all befit the King of the jungle, the Lion. But now there is no more of the ogre/ (might be) lion.

The wife to the lion; lioness.

Crop farming (maize, millet and sorghum alongside a number of tubers), a revolutionarily acquired practice like in many livestock keeping communities also goes on at painfully minimal levels of zeal, the result of which the harvest is almost always zero. This is aggravated by the irregular and low levels of rainfall in the area, needless to mention the flooding calamity which always strikes and chokes the crops dead while in the field.

The Bunyala Rice Scheme established in the 1960’s in the area therefore brought some relief to the situation. Paddy did just well and everyone in the above activities was soon doubling up as a paddy tender, earning some daily income besides a portion of the rice crop in their holdings to supplement their starch requirements at home.

A section of Bunyala Rice Scheme

Furadan induction

In the early 1980’s Furadan made a debut in Kenya and Bunyala Rice Scheme like many other local rice schemes benefited from this awesome reliable nematicide pesticide. Birds were flocking the rice scheme to gorge on the grain and organisms that thrive in water when the floodgates are opened to supply water to the rice scheme. Grain-eating and wetland birds therefore flocked in such large numbers as any native had ever experience. Man’s desire for bird protein given the dwindling wild herbivore population shifted to the grain-eaters and wetland birds. Catapults by youngsters and herdsmen became common (These are no more since Furadan took over). Hunters quickly snatched the opportunity and shifted their focus to birds from wild game. With a wild instinct on boosting catch bounty they discovered Furadan as an effective bird-killing substance. Man’s bird meat consumption therefore rocketed and has been a normalcy to date.

Significance of Furadan to wild animals and birds

Birds are poisoned in such horrific numbers. Domestic and wild animals including snakes are known to have died from feeding intoxicated birds. Biologically, man is also an animal and from his wild, primitive, feeding behaviour, I must painfully say a wild one. He gets a dose of his intoxication by feeding on the poisoned birds. What may also become disastrous is the status of raptors in the area. Raptors target the smaller birds’ flocks which increases their chances of getting food while conserving their energy for hunting periods during the times when the fields are harvested, but the situation is more worrying even then. Smaller birds flock in smaller numbers and while poisoning progresses on, it means a large proportion of birds in these smaller flocks gets to eat the poison-laced food. In my survey in the area 3 months ago, I saw 7 species of raptors in 5 days, 3 of which are Accipiters, otherwise ‘shortwings’ in the temperate countries and which feed mostly on the smaller grain-eaters. Naturally, the easier, sluggish bird will be caught and predated upon by a bird of prey. These weaker, less sleek subjects to escape are poisoned individuals. Since the raptors go for the soft tissues first, the entrails of their quarry are the first to be eaten, exposing the raptors to high possibility of getting poisoned by eating Furadan contaminated entrails from the just ingested Furadan-laced food. Not so far from Bunyala area is the Lake Victoria where a number of cases have been reported of Furadan poisoning on fish which again the Banyala (People of Bunyala) and their Luo neighbours eat lavishly.

As site of our interest for education and awareness in the Stop Wildlife Poisoning Campaign at Wildlife Direct, such is the status quo in and around Bunyala Rice Scheme.

Tags: Antelope.Furadan, Birds, Bunyala Rice Scheme, Kenya, Lake Victoria, Lion, raptors, Stop Wildlife Poisoning Campaign, Wildlife Direct

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