The CS for Tourism and Wildlife Alfred Mutua has urged the Wildlife Training and Research Institute to establish the reasons behind sharp decline in wildlife numbers.
According to Mutua, the only species not affected by the drop was elephants whose population was on the rise in the last couple of years.
This came as it emerged that cases of human-wildlife conflict were on the rise, mainly around national parks and game reserves across the country.
The recent drought caused massive deaths of animals which was worsened by the illegal game meat trade according to data from WRTI.
Speaking after visiting the Naivasha based institute, Mutua termed wildlife as critical for the country’s tourism sector which was attracting close to 2mwo million visitors every year.
He challenged the institute to embark on research to establish the reasons behind the drop in the number of wildlife in the country.
“Over 68 percent of our wildlife are outside national parks and we have seen a decline in the number of wildlife which is worrying,” he said on Wednesday.
Addressing staff from the institute, Mutua deplored rising cases of deaths and losses attributed to straying wild animals.
“We shall in the coming days be launching a mobile unit that will educate members of the public on how to live with the wild animals and to keep off their territories,” he said.
The CS at the same time challenged the institute to come up with snake anti-venom noting that currently the country was importing from India and South Africa.
He welcomed the planned construction of a Sh268 laboratory in the institute for research.
“The government will support the construction of this modern laboratory in phases as we grow the tourism sector by increasing the number of visitors,” he said.
WRTI chairman David Nkedianye said that they were keen to make the institution the best in the region for to wildlife research.
He said that plans were underway for the construction of a multi-million laboratory for complex issues around wildlife research.
WRTI director Dr Patrick Omondi thanked the Tourism Promotion Fund, which had supported the institute in their works.
“This is the only wildlife research institute in the country and it will help in addressing wildlife needs at a time when there are many emerging challenges,” he said.
