The iconic circus is set for a comeback after closing in 2017. But this time, it will focus on human feats and stories, and so sparing animals from having to perform.
RINGLING BROS CIRCUS RETURNS – BUT WITHOUT ANIMALS
The so-called “Greatest Show on Earth” is set to make a comeback, as the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus announce its return to the stage.
The Ringling Bros circus stopped its 146 year-run back in 2017, after falling ticket sales and a long history of criticism and legal challenges by animal rights groups who condemned the circus’s use of animals.
Now, the show’s big return – set to begin with a huge 50-city tour next year – will for the first time be free of animals, and instead focus on human feats and narrative story lines.
“Ringling has always evolved: Logically, in order to be successful for 146 years, you constantly have to change,” Kenneth Feld, the chief executive officer of Feld Entertainment, which purchased the circus in 1967, told The New York Times.
Ringling’s controversial use of animals had faced constant negative attention, with the circus forcing animals such as elephants, lions, and tigers to perform tricks, endure lengthy journeys across the country, and suffer many incidents of alleged animal abuse.
Undercover investigations repeatedly revealed the miserable lives of the animals, including the Ringling Elephants who spent most of their long lives either in chains or on trains, under constant threat of the bullhook, or ankus—the menacing tool used to control elephants.
AN ELEPHANT BEING ‘TRAINED’ TO PERFORM BY TRAINERS WITH BULLHOOKS
As calls for better treatment towards animals have continued to grow over the years, Ringling’s latest iteration will reflect modern attitudes and instead focus on inspiring and exciting human performers. The circus has already begun worldwide auditions for performers in countries including Ethiopia, Mongolia, and the US, with the 50-city tour scheduled to begin on Sept. 28, 2023.
Animal rights campaigners are among those welcoming the return of Ringling’s circus.
“Feld’s decision to bring the circus back without animals sends a very clear message to the industry that the circus can dazzle audiences with willing human performers and that no animal needs to be exploited,” said Rachel Mathews, a director from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Foundation, told the Times.
“What people see in the circus is a display of human dominance,” Mathews added. “The fact is the public doesn’t want to see that anymore.”
In 2009, PETA conducted a hidden-camera investigation into the treatment of Ringling’s elephants. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered Feld Entertainment, the circus’s parent company, to pay a $270,000 penalty to settle violations of the Animal Welfare Act for its treatment of performing animals.
Criticism of animal acts in the circus dates back to at least 1920s, when the Ringling circus, facing pushback from a growing animal rights movement, removed Lions and Tigers for about a decade, according to Greg Parkinson, the former executive director of Circus World Museum, in the Ringling family’s hometown, Baraboo, Wis. (The Sea Lion and Elephant performances stayed on.)
As Ringling Bros. announces an animal-free comeback tour after a five-year hiatus, PETA is offering it the group’s web domain Circuses.com, which was previously used to expose the abuse of animals used in its circus.
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The values of Zimbabwe’s and Namibia’s ivory stockpiles have been grossly overstated, and their proposed sale would lead to another poaching epidemic.
In 2020 the world reacted in shock when Namibia announced plans to auction off 170 live Elephants to the highest bidder.
Despite criticism, the plans have continued to move forward — and that may just be the start. Tucked away in a press release justifying the auction was a rehash of the country’s oft-repeated desire to also sell ivory. The Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism’s stated:
“Namibia has major stockpiles of valuable wildlife products including ivory which it can produce sustainably and regulate properly, and which if traded internationally could support our Elephant conservation and management for decades to come.”
Namibia is not alone in this desire to capitalize on its wildlife. In Zimbabwe’s national assembly last year, the minister of environment valued the country’s stockpile of 130 metric tonnes (143 tons) of ivory and 5 tonnes (5.5 tons) of rhino horn at $600 million in U.S. dollars. This figure, which would value ivory at more than $4,200 per kilogram, has since been seized upon by commentators seeking to justify the reintroduction of the ivory trade.
Charan Saunders is an environmental accountant dedicated to ethical conservation, so she wanted to understand these numbers and how they motivate countries. In truth, she found not even full black-market value comes close to arriving at this figure.
Black-market values are, of course, often invisible to the general public, but the most recent data from criminal justice experts finds that unworked (or raw) Elephant ivory sells for about $92/kg on the black market in Africa, while rhino horn is currently selling for $8,683/kg.
Therefore, a more realistic valuation of Zimbabwe’s ivory stockpiles, using an optimistic wholesale price of $150/kg, would give a potential income of only $19.5 million in U.S. dollars.
This is a 30th of Zimbabwe’s estimate.
And even then, those numbers fail to account for the disaster that would happen if ivory sales return — as we saw in the all-too-recent past.
The One-Off Sales
SEIZED ILLEGAL IVORY
International trade in ivory has been banned since 1989, following a 10-year period in which African Elephant numbers declined by 50%, from 1.3 million to 600,000. However, in 1999 and 2008 CITES allowed “one-off sales” of stockpiled ivory, to disastrous effect. The selling prices achieved then were only $100/kg and $157/kg, in U.S. dollars respectively, due to collusion by official Chinese and Japanese buyers.
The intention of CITES in approving the one-off ivory sales was to introduce a controlled and steady supply of stockpiled ivory into the market. The legal supply, coupled with effective systems of control, aimed to satisfy demand and reduce prices. This in turn should have reduced the profitability of (and the demand for) illegal ivory. Poaching should have followed suit and decreased.
Instead, the sales led to an increase in demand and, consequently, an increase in Elephant poaching. The 2008 ivory sale was accompanied by a 66% increase in illegally traded ivory and a 71% increase in ivory smuggling. An investigation in 2010 by the Environmental Investigation Agency documented that 90% of the ivory being sold in China came from illegal sources.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) comparison of Elephant poaching figures for the five years preceding and five years following the sale showed an “abrupt, significant, permanent, robust and geographically widespread increase” in poaching.
Still, some African nations look fondly at the 2008 sale and have long hoped to repeat it. The Zimbabwe Ministry’s 2020 statement follows yet another proposal to the 18th CITES Conference of the Parties (COP18) by Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana to trade in live Elephants and their body parts, including ivory. The proposal was not accepted by the parties.
Why Didn’t Ivory Sales Work?
The one-off sales of ivory removed the stigma associated with its purchase, stimulated the market demand, and increased prices.
The ivory that China purchased in 2008 for $157/kg was drip-fed by the authorities to traders at prices ranging between $800 and $1,500 per kilogram. This meant that the bulk of the profits went to filling Chinese government coffers — not to African nations — and in doing so, created a large illegal market which drove prices even higher.
Raw ivory prices in China increased from $750/kg in 2010 to $2,100/kg in 2014. The market had been stimulated, prices increased and the volume of legal ivory available was insufficient to meet demand as the Chinese government gradually fed its stockpile into the market.
Japan, the other participant in the one-off sales, has systematically failed to comply with CITES regulations, meaning that there were (and still are) no controls over ivory being sold, allowing the illegal markets to function in parallel to the legal one.
In a very short space of time, criminals ramped up poaching and Elephant numbers plummeted.
What Has Happened to the Price of Ivory Since Then?
With no recent legal international sales, combined with the significant U.S., Chinese and United Kingdom domestic ivory sales bans, the price for raw ivory paid by craftsmen in China fell from $2,100/kg in 2014 to $730/kg in 2017. That’s when China closed all its official ivory carving outlets and theoretically stopped all official ivory trade.
The price currently paid for raw ivory in Asia, according to an investigation by the Wildlife Justice Commission, is currently between $597/kg and $689/kg, in U.S. dollars. Ivory sourced in Africa and sold in Asia has additional costs such as transportation, taxes and broker commissions. The prices paid for raw ivory in Africa have decreased correspondingly from $208/kg to $92/kg in 2020.
Those numbers pale in comparison to a living Elephant. A 2014 study found that live Elephants are each worth an estimated $1.6 million in ecotourism opportunities.
Funding Conservation
One half-truth is that the money earned from the legal sale will be used to effectively fund conservation.
One of the CITES conditions of the 2008 sale was that funds were to go to the conservation of Elephants. South Africa placed a substantial portion of the income from its share of the pie in the Mpumalanga Problem Animal Fund — which, it turns out, was well-named. An internal investigation found the fund had “no proper controls” and that “tens of millions” of rand (the official currency of South Africa) had bypassed the normal procurement processes.
Ironically, proceeds were also partly used for the refurbishment of the Skukuza abattoir, where most of the 14,629 Elephant carcasses from culling operations between 1967 and 1997 were processed.
All the while, Africa’s Elephant populations continued to decline.
How to Stop Poaching
In light of these deficiencies — and in light of Elephants’ recently declared endangered status — the very reverse of actual conservation can be expected if any nation is again allowed to sell its ivory stockpiles. The cost of increased anti-poaching efforts required from the consequent increase in poaching will outweigh the benefit of any income from the sale of ivory stockpiles.
To stop poaching, all international and local trade must be stopped.
Repeating this failed experiment will send a message that it is acceptable to trade in ivory. Ivory carving outlets in China will re-open and demand for ivory will be stimulated. The demand for ivory in an increasingly wealthy and better-connected Asia will quickly outstrip legal supply and poaching will increase.
Meanwhile, the management of a legal ivory trade requires strong systems of control at every point in the commodity chain to ensure that illegal ivory is not laundered into the legal market. With recalcitrant Japan continuing to ignore CITES, “untransparent” Namibia “losing tolerance” with CITES, and Zimbabwe ranking 157 out of 179 on the corruption perceptions index, not even the basics for controlled trade are in place.
Therefore, aside from the strong theoretical economic arguments against renewed one-off sales, the practical arguments are perhaps even stronger: If international ivory and rhino horn sales ever again become legal, the cost to protect Elephants will skyrocket and these culturally valuable animals will plunge into decline — and possibly extinction.
About the author: Charan Saunders grew up in Cape Town and studied genetics and microbiology and then went on to qualify as a chartered accountant. She has worked in London in the forensic science field and was the chief financial officer of a major vaccine manufacturer for six years. She now serves as a financial director in the field of conservation.
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THE PREGNANT SUMATRAN ELEPHANT IS SEEN LYING ON THE GROUND AT A PALM PLANTATION IN BENGKALIS, RIAU PROVINCE (PICTURE: EPA)
A critically endangered Elephant and its unborn baby were found dead in western Indonesia after a suspected poisoning.
Disturbing photographs show the animal with blood coming out of its mouth on the island of Sumatra.
Local authorities are now investigating the death of the pregnant Elephant, which was due to soon give birth.
Its corpse was discovered during a joint patrol by conservation groups on Wednesday.
Conservationists suspect the incident may be linked to the palm oil industry, which they say consider the animals a pest.
‘From the sign of changes in the shape of its internal organs, such as the lung, it looks like it is burning, black and oozing from the blood,’ said Zulhusni Syukri, programme director of Rimba Satwa Foundation, one of the groups that found the dead animal.
THE CARCASS OF A DEAD SUMATRAN ELEPHANT AND ITS UNBORN BABY IN BENGKALIS
Rimba Satwa strongly suspect the animal was poisoned as pineapple was found in its stomach, even though the tropical fruit does not grow in that area.
There are already fewer than 700 Sumatran Elephants remaining on the island.
According to Indonesian forestry and environment ministry, the number has gone down from 1,300 in 2014 to 693 last year.
This is why the species is protected under an Indonesian law on the conservation of biological natural resources and their ecosystems.
The decline has occurred amid a loss of more than 69% of the animal’s potential habitat in the last 25 years, the equivalent of one generation.
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A thin shaggy bear tethered to a rope that is laced through the tissue of his nose waves his paws and moves spasmodically on his hind legs before an audience.
A ‘DANCING’ BEAR IN INDIA
It should seem unlikely that this sad sight could be accepted as enjoyable entertainment by anyone. But failures of human empathy are omnipresent, and many people are unable to understand that animals do not enjoy acting like humans—that, in fact, they have to be forced to do so, usually through cruel means. Like so many other kinds of animal performance, making bears “dance” has a long history stretching back to ancient times. Today the practice takes place mostly in countries of the Indian subcontinent, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Almost invariably the bears are exploited by very poor people who have few economic options, so initiatives to save the dancing bears must encompass programs to improve the prospects of their human owners.
Sloth bears in the wild
A SLOTH BEAR WITH CUBS
The bears used in this trade are mostly sloth bears, though some Asiatic black bears are also used. The sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) is a nocturnal forest dweller native to the subcontinent, where some 8,000 exist in the wild. Another 1,000 or so (estimates vary from 500 to 2,000) are held in captivity and used as performers. Sloth bears are one of the smaller bear species, about 30 inches tall at the shoulder and some 5 feet long. They weigh on average 200 to 250 pounds. They have a long shaggy black coat with whitish or yellowish hair on the snout and on the chest, where it forms a distinctive crescent. Their primary diet consists of ants and termites, supplemented by honey, fruit, grains, and small vertebrates. In the wild a sloth bear can live more than 20 years. In captivity, however, a dancing bear rarely lives past the age of 7 or 8.
An international problem
Until recently, bears were also used in Europe for this purpose. Bulgaria was the last country in Europe to use dancing bears. As in India, the occupation was a tradition of nomadic tribes, in this case the Roma. The last three dancing bears in Bulgaria were surrendered to a sanctuary. However, in spite of the European law against the trade, several incidents were reported in Spain.
A PERFORMING BEAR AT A MEDIEVAL MARKET IN LOS MORALES NEAR SEVILLA
“I was really upset about it. How much pain did that animal have to go through to learn such unnatural stunts?” asked a witness who unexpectedly came upon the performance of a bear dancing, clapping, and rolling over for spectators at a market near Seville. The question is astute. In fact, the behavior that audiences are encouraged to interpret as “dancing” is the product of aversive training. The Roma training method involved greasing the bears’ paws and having them stand on hot plates while music played; the bears hopped on the plates to avoid the burning pain, which became associated in their minds with the sound of the music. Eventually, just hearing the music caused the bears to repeat this “dancing” movement.
The dancing bears of India are primarily under the control of a nomadic people known as the Kalandar (or Qalandar), who come from a line of tribesmen who once entertained northern India’s Mughal emperors with trained-animal acts. Thus, working with animals for entertainment is the traditional livelihood of the tribe, whose people also have sidelines selling animal parts as medicines and good-luck charms.
The Kalandar of India
The Kalandar are recognized by the Indian government as an economically deprived tribe, although efforts to help them have been few. Investigators from international animal-welfare organizations are working with them and are helping them obtain better economic conditions. Programs have been established by cooperating national and international organizations—such as the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), Wildlife SOS, World Animal Protection, and International Animal Rescue—that are aimed at helping the bears and helping the Kalandar. They seek to persuade the people that a livelihood that uses animals for entertainment is not sustainable. For example, the acquisition of a bear is a source of pride and prestige, but bears are expensive and the mortality rate is high, especially in the first three years of a bear’s life.
THE SAD ‘LIFE’ OF A DANCING BEAR
The bears are poached from the wild as cubs, an act that often necessitates killing the mother first. Some cubs, traumatized, die of shock. Others succumb to neglect or dehydration. Survivors are sold to trainers, who use sticks and physical threats to teach the orphaned cubs to stand, move on their hind legs, and perform other tricks. The cubs’ teeth are often knocked out or broken for the safety of humans; their nails are clipped short or removed (both of which are painful to bears); and a hot poker or piece of metal is run through the snout or lip to make a permanent hole through which a rope is anchored to control the bear. All of this is done without anesthesia. The trainers make the bears move by pulling on the rope, which causes great pain, and beating the bears if they do not obey. The owners, being poor themselves, cannot feed the bears a nutritionally sound diet even if they want to, and many bears lose their fur or suffer from cataracts and go blind.
THE FACE OF EXPLOTAITION
Efforts to stop the exploitation of bears
Bear dancing was outlawed by the Indian government in 1972. The practice has continued, however, partly because the Kalandar had no alternative and also because, until the early 21st century, there was no place to put confiscated bears; enforcement was therefore somewhat pointless. Special licenses were granted to the Kalandar so they could continue, while a Bear sanctuary at Agra was created by the WSPA and Wildlife SOS.
Although it is difficult to abandon long-held cultural and economic practices, the Kalandar have been willing to do so, provided that they are given the help they need to make a new start. In exchange for the bears, the Kalandar are given job training and equipment for alternative occupations, such as welding and the manufacture of useful products such as soap and incense. Some run small stalls and shops.
The first group of some two dozen rescued bears went to the Agra sanctuary in 2003. Since then more than 350 bears have gone to that facility and two others—one in Bannerghatta, near Bangalore, and another in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh state. The sanctuaries are run by Wildlife SOS; other animal-welfare organizations contribute funding. The rescued bears are first quarantined and given medical care. Once they are healthy enough to undergo the surgery, the ropes are removed from their noses—which are usually badly infected and bleeding. The sanctuaries provide environmental stimulation as well, including dens and swimming pools in which to cool off.
Rescues and sanctuaries
The rescued bears are socialized to get along together in a more natural bearlike existence, but most of them cannot be released into the wild and must depend on human care. Having lived long in human company, they would not know how to survive on their own. However, a special case occurred in April 2007, when authorities in Monghyr district, Bihar state, confiscated a group of four-month-old orphaned bear cubs from poachers who were planning to sell them to Kalandar. The five cubs had already had their teeth removed, and their muzzles had been pierced in preparation for the insertion of ropes. Although they had lost their mothers and had not benefited from normal bear-mother training, the cubs were still young enough to have retained some natural instincts and thus were candidates for reintroduction into the wild.
HAPPY BEARS AT THE SANCTUARY IN AGRA
After providing the cubs with dental and veterinary care, officials undertook to give the bears lessons in being wild. They helped them climb trees, dig for termites, and make dens. Officials of the program—a cooperative effort of the WSPA, the WTI, and the Bihar Forest Department—reported in July that the cubs were regaining their natural instincts and engaging in normal sloth-bear behavior. It was expected that they would soon have no need for human-provided food and could be released into a forest range in a protected area among a wild population of sloth bears.
When dancing bears are saved from indentured servitude to regain their health and freedom, both the bears and their rescuers experience great relief. Said WTI program officer Arjun Nayer, “For us the happiest moment was cutting off the restrictive nose ropes and muzzles. The bears found themselves ‘free’ for the first time to be themselves, not performers, not jokers to be derided and give amusement to people, but just be bears.”
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A three-year investigation has led authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo to 2 metric tons of ivory hidden in a stash house in the southern city of Lubumbashi.
The tusks are valued at $6 million on the international market and estimated to have come from more than 150 elephants.
The three people arrested in the May 14 raid are allegedly members of a major wildlife trafficking ring in the Southern African region.
POACHED ELEPHANT ON ITS KNEES WITH ANOTHER LYING DEAD BEHIND IT
Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have seized 2 metric tons of ivory in the city of Lubumbashi, a hub for ivory trafficking.
The May 14 seizure is one of the largest in recent years, according to Adams Cassinga, who heads Conserv Congo, an NGO that fights wildlife trafficking and which took part in the operation. The seized ivory is estimated to be worth $6 million.
Authorities arrested three people, believed to be members of one of the major wildlife trafficking rings in the region. The network is linked to the smuggling of 20 metric tons of ivory in the past five years alone.
The latest seizure represents more than 150 elephants killed for their tusks, Cassinga said. The tusks originated from countries in Southern Africa, which has seen a surge in ivory trafficking in the 2000s, fueled by demand from Asia, particularly China.
Ivory found in a stash house in Lubumbashi, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Image courtesy of Adams Cassinga/Conserv Congo
At the height of the crisis, 30,000 elephants were being killed every year, an average of 80 a day. African elephant populations have shrunk by 80% in the past 100 years, according to an analysis by WWF. The African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) is considered endangered on the IUCN Red List, while the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is critically endangered, only a step away from being extinct in the wild.
Poaching has declined in recent years, a 2021 report by Geneva-based nonprofit Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) found. One of the factors cited for the dip is the weakening of criminal networks because of raids and arrests.
DR CONGO AUTHORITIES SEIZE 1.5 TONNES OF ELEPHANT IVORY
“The reduced poaching seems to be the result of the dismembering through arrests and prosecutions of a large number of transnational organized criminal networks involved in ivory poaching and trafficking in East and southern Africa between 2014 and 2020,” the GI-TOC report said.
The Lubumbashi raid was led by the DRC’s top conservation authority, known by its French acronym, the ICCN. It included members of the national police force, court officials and the NGO Conserv Congo.
The team recovered the ivory from a stash house in Lubumbashi in the southern DRC. Traffickers brought the poached parts into the DRC from Zambia, which lies on the country’s southern border. Lubumbashi has emerged as a major hub from where poached wildlife parts are funneled out of Africa. The items originate primarily in Southern African countries like South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
“We are sure it will bring a great deal of deterrence in a place where previously wildlife laws were neglected and not applied,” Cassinga said in a tweet.
Weak enforcement of laws, armed conflict and corruption have allowed international gangs to operate with impunity in western and Central Africa. The DRC, which shares borders with nine countries, serves as an important transit point for the movement of trafficked parts. The Central African nation, which hosts the largest swath of Congo Basin rainforest, is also a source country for illegal wildlife goods.
Yet, from 2000 to 2014, when elephant poaching was rampant, the DRC recovered only around 8 metric tons of ivory in seizures. Then, between 2015 and 2019, authorities there confiscated 20 metric tons, according to data collected by the Environmental Investigation Agency, an NGO based in the U.K.
“We are making strong efforts to take down all the illegal trade networks. With time, we have bigger impacts on the illegal networks,” Olivier Mushiete, head of the ICCN, said in a phone interview with Mongabay.
The Lubumbashi raid follows a series of raids in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, last year. Mushiete told Reuters at that time that they expect to recover more than 60 metric tons in future seizures. The current operation was a result of three years of investigation.
“The relationship between the government and the civil society is improving. You can see that it is yielding results,” Cassinga said. He added that support from partners like Zambia-based Wildlife Crime Prevention and international donors like the Rhino Recovery Fund is helping them combat wildlife trafficking.
The skull of an elephant recently killed by poachers who ripped out its tusks in Province Orientale, DRC. Image by Matchbox Media Collective via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Ivory poaching is one of the most lucrative illicit trades, valued at around $23 billion a year, according to Bloomberg.
CITES, the global convention on the wildlife trade, banned the international commercial trade in ivory in 1989. However, some countries continue to allow domestic trade and international trade, subject to varying degrees of regulation.
In the past decade, efforts to curb ivory demand have gathered pace, with the U.S. imposing a near-complete ban on elephant ivory trade in 2016 and China banning the domestic trade in 2017. The EU tightened its rules on the ivory trade in 2021. Narrower exemptions limit the legal ivory trade, which conservationists say often serves as a cover for unlawful transactions.
The three suspected traffickers from the Lubumbashi raid are due to appear in court this week.
Even if seizures and arrests increase, the impact on poaching could be limited by countries’ failure to prosecute alleged traffickers. Coordinating cross-border investigations and amassing the necessary evidence is tricky. Wildlife crimes are often not prioritized by law enforcement agencies or judicial authorities.
The arrest of two Vietnamese nationals during the seizure of 3.3 metric tons of ivory from Uganda’s capital, Kampala, in 2019 did not result in convictions because both suspects skipped bail.
Raids also tend to net intermediaries but rarely lead to the capture of those who organize, fund and benefit the most from this illegal trade. “As far as dismantling the network, that is unlikely. It may be slowed down,” said Chris Morris, who works with the Kenya-based organization Saving Elephants through Education and Justice (SEEJ). “These cartels are a business. They are prepared for losses from seizures and arrests.”
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A recent study confirms alarming declines in raptor populations in Kenya. Incidental poisoning is a major problem for vultures in particular, depriving ecosystems of the birds’ vital role as scavengers. Conservationists are working with communities to help species recover.
“The population of raptors today bears no resemblance to those numbers we saw a half century ago,” said Simon Thomsett, director of the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust and one of the study’s authors. “And those had already drastically declined 25 years ago before we started to take notice.”
Drawing on road surveys carried out from 2003-2020, as well as historical data from similar surveys done between 1970 and 1977, the researchers found that populations of vultures and large eagle species had all declined. Numbers of previously common small and medium-sized raptors like black-winged kites (Elanus caeruleus) had also fallen sharply.
“The level of decline for many species was huge,” co-lead author Darcy Ogada told Mongabay. “But more surprising was the decline in medium-sized raptors like augur buzzards [Buteo augur] and long-crested eagles [Lophaetus occipitalis] which were once very commonly seen roadside birds and often seen in farms where they are the farmer’s friend because they prey on rodents.”
Vultures that died from poisoning in Maasai Mara, Kenya. Image courtesy of Nature Kenya
Ogada, who is assistant director for the Peregrine Fund’s Africa program, and her co-lead author, Phil Shaw of the University of St. Andrews in the U.K., led the team of scientists drawn from Kenya, the U.K., France and the U.S., which published the first report on nationwide trends for Kenya’s raptors.
“Given what we know about biodiversity loss in general in Kenya, we wanted to know specifically about the fate of Kenya’s raptors,” she said. “Fortunately, there was already historical data from the 1970s that was collected using the same method [road surveys], which could be used for comparison.”
Each year from 2010, the researchers spent four or five days driving slowly along roads in different parts of the country, identifying how many of each raptor species they saw. One team of scientists covered Laikipia, Samburu and Meru counties in central Kenya, while another team surveyed the southern part of the country, in Kajiado county and the national parks of Amboseli, Tsavo East and Tsavo West.
Raptors have fared better in protected areas, with the overall rate of decline for vultures and large eagles less pronounced in national parks and private conservancies than in unprotected areas. Medium-sized and small raptors like Montagu’s harriers (Circus pygargus) were actually seen more frequently in protected areas in the 2000s than during surveys in the 1970s, but those gains are tempered by an 85% drop outside of protected areas. Ten of the 22 species covered by the surveys are now found almost exclusively within protected areas, underlining the importance of these areas to their continued survival.
Andre Botha, co-chair of the IUCN’s Vulture Specialist Group, who was not involved with the recent study, said the survey method was a sound one.
“The method that was used to conduct the recent assessment is the same as that followed in 2010 [by these researchers] and also similar to approaches to surveys in various other parts of the world, so it is one way to assess populations,” he said. “It was, however, also scientifically important to follow the same method as previously to enable reliable comparison between the two counts.”
Medium-sized and small raptors like Montagu’s harriers (Circus pygargus) were seen more frequently in protected areas in the 2000s than during surveys in the 1970s, but those gains are tempered by an 85% drop outside of protected areas. Image by Radovan Václav via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).
Grim findings
“Outside of Kenya’s protected area network, there is evidence that populations of many raptors have almost collapsed,” study co-lead Phil Shaw told Mongabay, “and this cuts across species size, diet or ecological requirements. While most species have fared better within protected areas, several large raptor species have shown worrying declines even here, suggesting a need to bolster site protection and connectivity.”
Both the reasons for the decline and possible remedies are well-known.
“Some threats, like raptor electrocutions, can be easily mitigated and some excellent work is being done around the world to reduce raptor mortalities,” said co-author Munir Virani, CEO of the Mohamed Bin Zayed Raptor Conservation Fund. “A case in point is the remediation of power lines done in Mongolia where raptor mortalities from electrocution has been reduced by 98% per year.”
More complicated is eliminating the use of pesticides used on crops and medicine given to livestock, both of which harm raptors’ health.
“Mitigation in the form of banning the veterinary drug diclofenac, which was responsible for the decline of up to 99% of populations of vulture species in Asia, has dramatically lowered additional mortality in these populations,” Ogada said. “In the U.S., banning of the chemical DDT also led to national resurgence of the country’s national bird, the bald eagle, such that populations today are growing at 10% per year.”
Other threats faced by raptors include habitat destruction caused by expanding agriculture and logging, being trapped or shot (including for use in traditional medicine), and poisoning. Vultures in particular are vulnerable to poisoned carcasses targeting other predators.
A lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni). Some threats, like raptor electrocutions, can be easily mitigated and some excellent work is being done around the world to reduce raptor mortalities, say experts. Image by Sergey Pisarevskiy via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Helping vultures recover
Responding to the worrying collapse in vulture populations, the Peregrine Fund, Nature Kenya, BirdLife International, the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust and others are working to reduce cases of poisoning by tagging and tracking vultures, training people in the raptors’ range to help protect and rescue birds from poison, and building predator-proof livestock sheds as an alternative to poisoning.
Conservationists have documented cases of poisoning across the country to map hotspot zones.
“Keeping the records of poisoning incidences help us map the hotspot zones in areas where conflicts are rife so that awareness can be increased,” said Vincent Otieno, vulture conservation program coordinator with Nature Kenya. “From our records, such areas prone to poisoning are those that border conservancies and national parks.”
In Narok and Kajiado counties, at the southern end of the Rift Valley, community volunteers have been trained to respond quickly to vulture poisoning incidents. Equipped with rubber gloves, face masks, plastic containers, and fuel, they bag and burn poisoned carcasses so more vultures don’t gather and gorge themselves on a deadly meal.
They can also bring stricken birds to raptor centers at Naivasha and Soysambu, clinics set up to treat poisoned vultures. Once the birds recover, they are fitted with GPS trackers and released.
Encounters with 19 of 22 species studied using road surveys fell, including for the secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius), which was encountered 94% less frequently. Image by Ansie Potgieter via Unsplash.Several conservation organizations are working to reduce cases of poisoning by tagging and tracking vultures, training people in the raptors’ range to help protect and rescue birds from poison, and building predator-proof livestock enclosure as an alternative to poisoning. Image courtesy of Caroline Chebet.
“Tagging these vultures with GPS trackers helps us map out the areas where they spent most of the times,” said study co-author Shiv Kapila, from the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust. “The information we get helps when conducting anti-poisoning campaigns and education.”
Similar work with communities is taking place in the central counties of Laikipia and Samburu. In addition to training volunteers to respond to poisoning incidents, the Peregrine Fund is working alongside conservation nonprofit Lion Landscapes to construct predator-proof bomas, offering herders an alternative to way to protect their livestock from lions than leaving poisoned carcasses where the big cats — as well as vultures, hyenas and other scavengers — will find them.
Conservation groups have also trained rangers, police officers and Kenya Wildlife Service officers.
Botha, who is also the program manager of the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Vultures for Africa program, noted that conservationists in Kenya and South Africa have been working together for almost 15 years, training thousands of people across 15 African countries to reduce wildlife poisoning.
“We continually communicate and share expertise between countries and beyond, but the uptake of certain interventions are done with different degrees of success, largely due to different circumstances in-country and limited resources that are always a challenge,” he said.
This article by Caroline Chebet was first published by Mongabay.com on 17 May 2022
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As the Internet went into meltdown over the poaching of Cecil the Lion by Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer, another man was causing a stir after a photo published in National Geographic went viral at the same time.
Kerry Krottinger, a wealthy Texas hunter and businessman, has slaughtered so much African wildlife over the years that he amassed a veritable “wall of death” in his Dallas-area home. The National Geographic portrait depicts him sitting with his wife among the taxidermied bodies of Lions, Rhinos, Cheetah, Giraffes and enough Elephant tusks to open a traditional Chinese hospital.
The British-based charity LionAID, which uploaded the photo to their Facebook page, took a markedly dim view. “This is just one Texas trophy hunter with a ‘love’ of Africa,” they write. “Is it any wonder that Africa’s wildlife is disappearing? Just have a count of the various species displayed. Three Lions? So many Elephant tusks? A Giraffe? A Rhino? Kerry must be one of the leading conservation hunters on the planet!”
Kerry and Libby Krottinger in their ‘Wall Of Death’ room
Little is known about Krottinger’s personal life. Aside from being an energy millionaire with multiple companies to his name, he and his wife Libby operate a Gypsy horse farm called Ndugu Ranch. A website about the property had been taken offline, but a cache copy can be viewed here. A Facebook page also associated with the ranch was also taken down. Next to a smiling photo of the pair, Krottinger wrote he named the ranch after the Swahili word for “brother” or “family member,” and that the couple has “a great love for Africa.”
Krottinger’s kingly haul of animal carcasses was acquired through what’s known as “conservation hunting,” a practice that is supposedly designed to protect species by allowing people to hunt animals for a high fee that’s then to be used for other conservation efforts. Palmer, who is now facing indictment in Zimbabwe for poaching, said in a statement that he had trusted his guides and assumed his activities had been legal.
Far from poachers, conservations hunters — and the websites that promote them — see themselves as environmentalists. LionAID’s director Pieter Kat said the whole premise was nonsense.
“Conservation hunting is a complete myth,” he told Mic. “If conservation hunting had been effective, Cecil the Lion would not have to have been poached out of a national park, because conservation hunting would have maintained a viable and sustainable Lion population within their own trophy hunting concession.” According to Kat, steep fees like the more than $50,000 Palmer paid to kill Cecil typically end up in the pockets of tour operators. “Sustainable hunting does not sustain anything,” he said.
PETA president Ingrid Newkirk was blunter still. “The idea of killing animals to ‘protect’ their species is like having 5-year-olds build a child-labor museum,” she said in a statement to Mic. “True conservationists are the people who pay to keep animals alive through highly lucrative eco-tourism, not the power-hungry people who pay for the cheap thrill of taking magnificent animals’ lives and putting their heads on a wall.”
On Twitter, the response was one of almost universal disgust, with the photo generating near Cecil-levels of rage.
Kat was unapologetic about the Krottinger-shaming on LionAID’s Facebook page. “What we were trying to do there is to alert people to the fact that trophy hunters have this sort of enjoyment of their activity, and what we would like to expose to people is these sorts of people belong in the 19th century,” he said.
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ICONIC ROCKER SLASH IS DOING HIS BIT TO HELP CURB ELEPHANT POACHING
If former Guns & Roses guitarist Slash hadn’t put all his heart and soul into music and becoming one of the world’s greatest rock guitarists, perhaps he would’ve sought a career in zoology?
He is a trustee of the private, non-profit Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA) and shot a commercial for Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens with veteran actress Betty White to promote their new exhibit The Lair, which displays over 60 species of weird, rare and endangered amphibians, invertebrates and reptiles. He has shot other ads and PSAs before for the zoo.
“I used to not believe in zoos as a concept, but now because there are so many endangered animals; there’s so much poaching,” Slash tells Samaritanmag. “With zoos now, it’s really about conservation. They become safe houses for a lot of species so, I think, now, zoos are really necessary places, not totally about just family entertainment at any cost. It’s about education; it’s about conservation.”
Anyone familiar with Guns N’ Roses, Slash’s former band, knows he used to own snakes — as many as 80, which he got rid of when he became a father. He has been on the cover of Reptiles magazine and even had a band called Slash’s Snakepit post GNR. But he’s actually a lover of all animals.
Slash has been visiting the LA Zoo since the age of 5 and later in childhood went every weekend, sometimes twice. As a touring musician, he often visits the local zoos on his downtime.
in 2011, Slash received the inaugural Tom F. Mankiewicz Leadership Award from GLAZA at the 41st Annual Beastly Ball recognizing his long-time support of the zoo and the welfare of the world’s natural and civic environment (filmmaker Mankiewicz was GLAZA chairman who died in 2010).
The award will recognises his long-time contributions to environmental welfare programs and his support to the LA Zoo and zoos around the world.
GLAZA (Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association) President Connie Morgan declared: ‘Tom [Mankiewicz] advocated opportunities for interaction among our diverse communities and championed the cause of animals and the environment through education and on-the-ground conservation. He strongly believed the Los Angeles Zoo exemplifies both missions as a place where people come together having a good time while learning the importance of saving and protecting wildlife.’
To which Slash responded: ‘The biggest compliment for me is that it’s Tom’s award. I really adored that man. I miss him very much, and that aspect is very special and resonates deeply. Additionally, I profoundly appreciate the implications of the award itself. It’s a fantastic honour.’
But Zoo director John Lewis could not stop there: ‘Slash is a great example of our mission of nurturing wildlife and enriching the human experience. He is a champion for wildlife and conservation and has introduced our mission, his passion, to millions of his fans’.
“I just try to help the zoo,” says Slash of his role as a trustee. “We all on the board support and help the zoo’s best interests. We just try to keep all that together. It’s a pretty big thing. It’s a city-owned zoo and we’re trying to make it a private zoo and there’s just always something going on with that.”
In 2012, while on a trip to Australia, Slash took wildlife warrior Bob Irwin up on an invite, but left the meeting by signing on to aid Irwin’s new conservation initiative.
SLASH loves reptiles. So does Bob. And that’s enough.
A deep affinity for the cold-blooded creatures has forged an unlikely friendship between the legendary Guns N’ Roses guitarist and wildlife warrior Bob Irwin.
Irwin, who is the father of late ‘Crocodile Hunter’ host Steve Irwin, reached out to the guitarist when he learned the tour was coming to Australia, and invited him down to Queensland to visit the crocodiles and snakes.
After lending his support, Irwin returned the favour by urging his followers to catch one of Slash’s performances while he was visiting the country.
Slash and Bob Irwin at the launch of the Bob Irwin Foundation
In 2013, Slash performed in South Africa with rock super group Kings of Chaos and spent extra time seeing the local wildlife. Although he had been aware of the diminishing numbers of Elephants in the world, the former Guns N’ Roses guitarist learned on this trip that the situation was becoming increasingly more dire. While poaching rangers had increased their efforts to stop the illegal ivory trade, Slash believed that people needed to be more aware of the situation.
The guitarist also released the “Beneath the Savage Sun” video, which details the illegal ivory trade and tells the story of an Elephant who has lost a loved one from the Elephant’s point of view.
“How many killing seasons can you justify?” he asks. “How many dead and bleeding / only for an ivory lie?
“I was shocked that the poachers still manage to get away with it,” he told Rolling Stone in the above video. “A lot of people don’t know that every time they purchase anything that has even a smidgen of ivory in it, it comes from a dead Elephant. I think if people were more aware of that, it would have a dramatic effect on the whole ivory trade.”
Slash’s singer, Myles Kennedy, was equally affected by the situation. Kennedy wrote the lyrics for what would become “Beneath the Savage Sun,” a doomy hard rocker told from the perspective of an Elephant who witnessed the death of a fellow pachyderm.
SLASH AND MYLES KENNEDY
Slash made a powerful video for the track – which is featured on the guitarist’s last solo album, 2014’s World on Fire – illustrating the brutality of the ivory trade with written facts, images of both living and murdered Elephants and poachers’ spoils. The video notes that the U.S. is the world’s second-largest consumer of ivory, so Slash hopes the clip serves as a wake-up call.
“We wanted to give the viewer an idea of the atrocities that are going on, to hit them full in the face with it,” says Slash, an animal lover who is on the board at the Los Angeles Zoo and has long been active in animal conservation. “It’s more of an immersive experience. The most important thing is to reach as many people as possible.
“Elephants are so beautiful, intelligent and sensitive,” the guitarist continues. “They have emotions we’re all familiar with. They care for their young. They move in big family groups that live on for generation after generation. They very visibly mourn their dead. When you actually meet Elephants and get to know them a little bit, they have a whole myriad of personalities.” (Slash was previously part of the campaign for Billy the Elephant.)
In addition to educating people about Elephants, Slash has also partnered with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), an organization he reached out to personally because he had worked with them in the past and liked how they were “hands on” in their causes.
Jeff Flocken, IFAW’s regional director, North America, has been working with the Obama Administration to draft and implement laws to regulate ivory. “Any legal trade of ivory encourages illegal trade,” he says. “Our laws are riddled with loopholes like Swiss cheese.”
He believes that if the U.S. led by example, real change is possible. “Last November, the U.S. crushed six tons of ivory that was seized illegally here in the U.S., and within months, China crushed 6.1 tons of their own ivory,” he tells Rolling Stone, adding that China is the world’s Number One ivory consumer. “It’s the first time they’ve ever done that. It shows that other countries are watching what we’re doing.”
Trade in elephant ivory is driving these amazing animals to extinction; largely at the hands of criminal networks that kill local wildlife rangers and support organized crime, smuggle drugs and transport illegal firearms. They do all this to meet the lucrative demands of consumers in China, the United States and elsewhere, many who don’t even realize that every piece of ivory comes from a dead elephant, but who still value the stuff as jewellery, trinkets, and yes, instruments.
Flocken added that the anti-ivory movement has begun facing opposition from the N.R.A., who want to protect ivory for ornamentation on gun handles, among other causes. Slash says that ivory ornamentation is not necessary and uses musical instruments as an example.
We love our instruments. We know that many of you love your guitars with ivory bridges and pianos with ivory keys, but we need you to think about where things came from and what are your ethics when buying and selling them?” Piano keys don’t have to be ivory,” he says. “It’s not important. And for inlays on guitars and tuning pegs, it’s absolutely not necessary and I won’t use it.” Do we really want to profit off of the extinction of such a beautiful and majestic species?
To prove his point, Slash donated proceeds from the sale of the song to the IFAW and has redesigned his website to provide more information about the ivory trade and serve as a place where people can donate to the organization. Supporters can also donate to the IFAW.
“Donating is great – that’s hugely necessary – but the other thing to do is to stop purchasing ivory,” Slash says. “Do not buy it. I think the more people that stop buying ivory is going to have a significant effect on the Elephant poaching trade.”
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18th March 2021: Just after dawn, Tolstoy lumbers into view. A wandering giant, with tusks almost scraping the earth, this great elephant has roamed beneath Mount Kilimanjaro for nearly 50 years.
He has survived ivory poachers, spear attacks and terrible drought, but the mighty bull could be confronting a new threat to his natural realm: surging demand for avocados.
A turf war has erupted over a 180-acre (73-hectare) avocado farm near Amboseli, one of Kenya’s premier national parks, where elephants and other wildlife graze against the striking backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak.
In 2020 Kenyan agribusiness KiliAvo Fresh Ltd received approval from the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to start its own avocado farm on land in Kimana, southern Kenya it purchased from local Masai owners. [Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP]
Opponents of the farm say it obstructs the free movement of iconic tuskers like Tolstoy – putting their very existence at risk – and clashes with traditional ways of using the land.
Adjacent landowners and wildlife experts say elephants have already collided with KiliAvo’s electric fence – proof that it impedes migratory routes used by an estimated 2,000 tuskers as they depart Amboseli into surrounding lands to breed and find water and pasture. “Can you imagine if elephants in Amboseli died of starvation so that people in Europe can eat avocados?” Kenyan conservationist Paula Kahumbu, who heads the campaign group WildlifeDirect, said.
HUMAN WILDLIFE CONFLICT
16th March 2022: The Elephant named Tolstoy is a living natural wonder, carrying some of the largest tusks on the planet. So when Big Life’s rangers don’t see him for a while, they go looking.
They searched beyond their normal patrol areas and eventually found him resting under a tree. All appeared fine, until he took a step… something was badly wrong. Tolstoy could barely walk. Upon getting closer, the rangers could see the problem: a puncture wound in the joint on his front right leg.
Tolstoy being treated for his leg wound
A wound like this was no accident. Tolstoy frequently plays a high-stakes game called crop-raiding. When he wins, he comes away with a bellyful of highly nutritious crops. But when he loses, he gets speared.
Tolstoy doesn’t know it, but his crop raids can cost a farmer their entire season’s income in one night, and these farmers (justifiably) care little that Tolstoy is one of Africa’s dwindling number of ‘super tuskers’. It’s not the first time this has happened: in 2018 he was treated for three spear wounds, also a result of crop-raiding.
The Kenya Wildlife Service vet unit, funded by our partners at Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, was quick to respond, but the decision to treat him was not made immediately. Darting an animal of this size, particularly with a wound in a sensitive joint, is extremely risky because the Elephant may not be able to stand after treatment. The decision was made to wait 24 hours and see if his condition improved.
Big Life’s rangers stayed by his side, spending the entire night out with him, but the wound showed no signs of improvement. The decision was made to dart him, and it was done quickly and professionally. His wound was thoroughly cleaned and treated, and Tolstoy was given antibiotics and painkillers before a jab to wake him up.
Tolstoy comes round watched by members of the KWS team
With great effort, he finally stood and stared back at the treatment team, before retreating into the shade. For now, his prognosis looks good, but he’s not out of the woods just yet as he continues to heal. Big Life rangers will continue to monitor him while he recovers. And they will continue to spend their nights out in the farms, keeping Elephants safe and helping farmers to protect their crops, in order to prevent this from happening again.
The elephant named Tolstoy is a living natural wonder, carrying some of the largest tusks on the planet. So when Big Life’s rangers don’t see him for a while, they go looking.
They searched beyond their normal patrol areas and eventually found him resting under a tree. All appeared fine, until he took a step… something was badly wrong. Tolstoy could barely walk. Upon getting closer, the rangers could see the problem: a puncture wound in the joint on his front right leg.
A wound like this was no accident. Tolstoy frequently plays a high-stakes game called crop-raiding. When he wins, he comes away with a bellyful of highly nutritious crops. But when he loses, he gets speared.
Tolstoy doesn’t know it, but his crop raids can cost a farmer their entire season’s income in one night, and these farmers (justifiably) care little that Tolstoy is one of Africa’s dwindling number of ‘super tuskers’. It’s not the first time this has happened: in 2018 he was treated for three spear wounds, also a result of crop-raiding.
THE SADDEST DAY
27TH April 2022: “This is so painful.”
These few words spoken by ranger Daudi Ninaai describe well how we are all feeling at Big Life. Tolstoy, one of Africa’s biggest ‘tusker’ Elephants, and an icon of the Amboseli ecosystem, has died at 51 years old.
He was speared in the leg 6 weeks ago, almost certainly by a farmer defending his crops from one of Tolstoy’s night-time crop raids. The wound was treated, but the resultant infection has ultimately had the worst possible consequences.
Big Life’s rangers in Kimana Sanctuary have been monitoring Tolstoy since his treatment. Yesterday morning, they found him lying down. This was not unusual for an Elephant who took frequent horizontal naps despite his enormous size, but upon getting closer, the rangers could see signs of his failed struggle to stand up. They knew that this time was different.
Tolstoy was still alive and two Kenya Wildlife Service vet units (both funded by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust) responded. He was given further treatment, but getting him on his feet again was unlikely from the start. For hours the rangers and vets tried to pull him up with vehicles and ropes, with no success. A front-end loader was called in as a last desperate attempt, but Tolstoy was just too weak to stand.
With the rescue team running out of ideas, and night fast approaching, Tolstoy finally ran out of strength and died, surrounded by the rangers who have looked over him for so long.
Ranger Job Lekanayia is one of these: “Today is the saddest day in my job as a ranger, having lost one of the Elephants that I treasured the most. We tried everything that we could. I thought he would wake up, but he just couldn’t lift himself up.”
After 50 years on earth, there isn’t much that Tolstoy hadn’t seen. And there isn’t much that looks the same. His home has been transformed by the human species, and it is the consequences of rapidly expanding farmlands that eventually killed him.
His death is a reminder of the vulnerability of even the largest of animals, as well as the urgent need to protect habitat for wildlife and manage the interface between wild animals and human activities. There are solutions, and we are making progress despite a tragic setback such as this.
Over his long time on this planet, Tolstoy had a positive impact on countless people, and will be remembered as a calm and gentle giant. As ranger Lekanayia says, “All I can say is: rest in peace Tolstoy, we will miss you.”
TOLSTOY
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The withered carcasses of livestock are reminders that drought has descended yet again in northern Kenya, the latest in a series of climate shocks rippling through the Horn of Africa.
Mohamed Mohamud, a ranger from the Sabuli Wildlife Conservancy, looks at the carcass of a giraffe that died from hunger. (AP Photo)
As world leaders addressed the global climate summit in Glasgow, pastoralists watched their beloved animals suffer from lack of water and food. Yusuf Abdullahi says he has lost 40 goats. “If they die, we all die,” he says.
Herder Yusuf Abdullahi walks past the carcasses of his forty goats that died of hunger in Dertu, Wajir County, Kenya. He said “If theY die, we all die!” (AP Photo)
Kenya’s authorities has declared a nationwide catastrophe in 10 of its 47 counties. The United Nations says greater than 2 million individuals are severely meals insecure. And with individuals trekking farther in quest of meals and water, observers warn that tensions amongst communities may sharpen.
“The warmth on the bottom tells you the signal of hunger we’re going through,” he says.
Rain has failed for two seasons in the east African country, leaving families without enough food and water. It also has snuffed out pasture for livestock, crippling herder communities throughout the nation.
In September, Nairobi and aid agencies estimated that 2.1 million people in 10 counties were affected by the drought. The numbers are expected to rise to 2.4 million by this month, relief agencies reported.
The harrowing footage was taken by Kevin Mtai, a climate campaigner from Pokot in Kenya.
He said: “In Kenya we have contributed less carbon emissions, but we are the ones paying the highest price.
“Animals are dying and people are suffering because of the climate crisis.”
The children of herders walk past cattle carcasses in the desert near Dertu, Wajir County, Kenya. (AP Photo)
Experts warn that such climate shocks will become more common across Africa, which contributes the least to global warming, but will suffer from it the most.
“We do not have a spare planet in which we will seek refuge once we have succeeded in destroying this one,” the executive director of East Africa’s Intergovernmental Authority on Development, Workneh Gebeyehu, said last month.
As if in a macabre parade, cattle carcasses line the two sides of the dusty road leading into Biyamadow, a sleepy village in northern Kenya’s Wajir county.
The grisly spectacle of dismembered animals rotting beneath the scorching sun is the result of a prolonged drought that has been pushing pastoral communities here – and the livestock they exclusively rely on – to the brink of disaster, reports Aljazeera.
“In 72 years of life, I have never seen something like this,” said Ibrahim Adow, a Biyamadow resident.
cattle carcasses line the two sides of the dusty road leading into Biyamadow, a sleepy village in northern Kenya’s Wajir county. [Virginia Pietromarchi/Al Jazeera]
Gabriel Ekaale, a policy officer for the World Food Programme based in Lodwar told Sky News: “It’s estimated about 600,000 members of the population in Turkana County are in need of food or cash assistance.”
Kenya’s Catholic Bishops met in Nairobi this week to ask the country’s Catholic faithful to donate food to regions affected by severe drought, the Vatican News reports.
They released an open letter stating: “It is becoming clear that the frequent droughts that we are experiencing in many parts of our country are as a result of global climate change and environmental degradation.
“Here in Kenya, it seems our model of development has led to a culture of degradation of our environment and the depletion of our natural resources.”
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