Wild animals not spared by drought

• KWS relocates eight rhinos as Nakuru game park goes dry

Nairobi National Park has eight new rare residents - white rhinos.

The huge animals have been moved from Lake Nakuru National Park to save them from starvation as their former habitat has been hard hit by drought.

The acute shortage of pasture has forced the Kenya Wildlife Service to relocate the huge herbivores to the Nairobi park.

Ten rhinos were to be moved by Monday, but KWS rangers were still searching for two females not seen since Wednesday.

The rhino programme coordinator at Lake Nakuru National Park, Mr Linus Kariuki, said white rhinos were targeted for relocation because of their rarity not only in the country but also in the world.

The number of white rhinos is also being reduced at Nakuru National Park to prevent injuries that a result of territorial fights as dominant males fight young adults.

Hit hard

According to Dr Isaac Lekolol, a senior veterinary officer in the KWS capture unit, when the number of animals exceeds the ecological carrying capacity of an area, some animals are moved to ease pressure on pasture and water.

Nakuru National Park has been hit hard by the drought that has resulted in rivers that traverse the park drying up and the level of water in Lake Nakuru going down due to the destructive human activities in Mau Forest.

The white rhinos bear the brunt as they are grazers and depend on grass in contrast to their cousins, the black rhinos, which feed on shrubs and trees. There are 327 white rhinos compared to 609 black rhinos in Kenya.

Meanwhile, a Naivasha councillor has complained about the invasion of farms by wild animals at Longonot and Ireri areas.

Mr Samuel Waithuki said zebras, buffaloes and monkeys were now a menace to farmers. “The human-wildlife conflict needs to be addressed urgently if farmers are to harvest anything from their land,” he said.

He said farmers, including those with huge parcels of land, had become depended on relief food as crops had been destroyed by animals.

He said the anticipated heavy rains might be of little help if the wildlife-human conflict was not addressed.

“We are appealing to KWS to fence off Longonot National Park where the animals stray from,” said Mr Waithuki.