Nairobi News

The Ministry of Tourism has released a report on the impacts of the current drought on the lives of wildlife in the country.

The report launched by the tourism Cabinet Secretary Peninah Malonza in Nairobi shows that 1198 animals have lost their lives following the severe drought.

From the report, the most affected ecosystems include Amboseli, Tsavo, and Laikipia-Samburu.

Amboseli and Laikipia-Samburu ecosystems are worst affected by the drought, having recorded more than 70 elephant deaths each, followed by Tsavo, which has recorded 54 deaths of elephants (Tsavo East, West, and Ranches), totaling 205.

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Also, the ministry confirmed the death of s 512 Wildebeest, 381 common Zebra, 49 Grevy’s zebra, and 51 buffalos, among others.

It states that the rhino population has not been seriously affected by the drought as only one rhino, aged about 2 years, has died in Ngulia Rhino sanctuary, Tsavo West National Park.

From the report, the drought continues to worsen as the days pass, as evidenced by the upwards trend of wildlife mortality between February and October 2022.

“The continued worsening of the drought condition could affect more rhinos in overstocked rhino sanctuaries (e.g., Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary, Tsavo West National Park among others).”

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This week, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) announced the death of arguably one of Africa’s last remaining giant elephants at the age of 65, which was called Dida.

KWS said that Dida died at Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park from natural causes.

As drought continues to ravage the lives of human beings as well as animals, the Ministry of Tourism has made some recommendations to mitigate the death of more animals, including the urgent and immediate provision of water, as well as salt licks, is required in the most affected ecosystems (Amboseli, Tsavo, Laikipia-Samburu).

The call for the provision of hay to Grevy’s zebra in northern Kenya has been made, which should be enhanced over the next two months (November and December) to cover a wider area.

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Also, the CS said there is a need for an urgent total aerial census of wildlife in the Amboseli ecosystem before the next rainy season to determine and evaluate the impact of the current drought on wildlife.

The Ministry of Treasury has been asked to allocate funds to support the next National Wildlife Census in 2024 to establish the impact of the current drought on wildlife populations in all the affected ecosystems.

Further, the ministry has called for funding to support the destocking of Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary (Tsavo West National Park) and prevent any imminent drought-related mortality of black rhinos in the sanctuary.

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