A man from Makueni County who survived a hyena attack three years ago has died after being attacked by a rogue elephant.
Mzee Musili Musembi was walking home in Ilikoni village in Kibwezi East Constituency on Wednesday night when the lone jumbo attacked him, according to witnesses.
Despite the alarm being raised, the elephant continued to trample Musembi, killing him on the spot. His death highlights the bad situation of human-wildlife conflict in the county, which has been exacerbated by the destruction of crops, grain stores, and plastic water tanks, as well as disrupting learning in local schools.
Musembi’s death has prompted local residents to demand that the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) take action against the rogue elephant.
Angry residents draped the victim’s body in the national flag and prevented the police from collecting it for hours, protesting the “lacklustre” response by KWS to the wild animals’ menace in the region bordering Tsavo East National Park. The police later collected the body, fired tear gas, and opened fire to disperse the villagers.
The human-wildlife conflict in the region has led to the destruction of crops and properties by elephants in recent months despite efforts by the county government and Tsavo Trust, a local conservancy, to seal off the park using an electric fence.
KWS has been shooting to death or relocating rogue elephants from the region, but this has not prevented the animals from sneaking into farmlands.
The ongoing electric fence project needs to be completed, and the population of jumbos in the parks reduced. The Minister for Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Penina Malonza has pledged the commitment of the government to stemming the rampant attacks by elephants through increased patrols by KWS rangers and fast-tracking the compensation of those attacked by wild animals in the region.
