KWS officers stop Kisumu’s Kasagam residents from feasting on hippo

Residents of Kasagam Village in Kisumu County were on Tuesday evening disappointed after a spirited fight to slaughter a hippopotamus failed.

The villagers were denied a chance to butcher the animal after officers from the Kenya Wildlife Service heaped it into a lorry and sped off.

The male hippo had been killed by officers from the KWS after it strayed into farms.

The villagers had spent a better part of their evening sharpening their knives and pangas in readiness for the feast.

Their efforts were thwarted after the officers alongside the local chief took the animal to the KWS headquarters.

The dejected residents accused the officers of short-changing them in the “sweet deal”.

“This is unbelievable. How do you just take away our meal after all the efforts to cut it away,” said a disappointed Mr Opiyo.

'THIS IS NOT FAIR'

Ms Aloo, who had at one point thought of throwing away pork she had purchased, said the action by KWS offices were regrettable.

“It is very sad that we cannot feast on an animal that has been destroying our crops all these months. This is not fair at all,” she said.

And perhaps to show their determination to have a slice of the animal, the undeterred group chased the lorry carrying the hippopotamus for nearly ten kilometres to the KWS headquarters in Impala Park.

Mr Were said no amount of pressure from the area chief not to slaughter the animal would kill their spirit.

He said they should have been given “only two minutes to dissect the animal” whose destruction on their farms has been devastating.

“This is the best day of my life in this ghetto today. I can’t believe I will be eating meat tonight,” said Mr Were who carried a knife hoping to get a piece of the hippo, only to be later disappointed at the turn of events.