An idea implemented by Ol Kalou villagers to contain killer leopards has borne fruit.
The wild animals have been terrorising farmers in Kirima-ini village, Mawingu, for two years. They have killed many sheep, geese, dogs and donkeys.
Efforts by the Kenya Wildlife Service to capture them had failed. On Wednesday, residents came up with a solution — a trap. The following day, they captured one leopard and handed it over to the KWS.
The villagers built a partitioned wooden cage with two doors. They locked a sheep in one compartment as bait.
The heavy sliding door to the other part was left open and attached to a string lever that would release it to lock the cage at the slightest touch. On Thursday night, the leopard came for the sheep but was instead trapped.
Samuel Ng’ang’a said the animals strike even during the day.
“Initially, we thought stray dogs were killing our animals but later discovered it was leopards. We informed our chief to notify the KWS, but since they did not respond, we had no choice but to invent an idea," he said.
It took four men to build the trap cage in three days. They used eight kilogrammes of 4-inch nails and six litres of petrol to power the saw used to cut wood and shape heavy blocks of wood.
Before government and KWS officials arrived at the scene, they had a difficult time controlling hundreds of people who bayed for the animal's blood.
KWS officers tranquillised it before taking it away.
“We could not allow them to kill it because it would be a crime. That didn't constitute our original plan. We wanted to hand it safe to the government as a gift given that we outsmarted the KWS officials whose traps don't work," Ng'ang'a said.
The men who built the trap want the government to reward them. They said they protected the leopard, despite calls by residents to have it killed.
They also want the government to look for more leopards still remaining in Ol Kalou bushes, or compensate residents whenever they trap and hand them over.
“The government should consider rewarding us for keeping their property safe. Otherwise, we shall kill them next time we catch them," Richard Gathaiya said.
Joyce Waithira, an elderly woman whose 13 sheep were killed, said they deserve to be compensated.
“Our trap caught the leopard but we did not kill it. The government should reward us," she said.
She said most victims did not report after their animals were killed because “KWS officers live away from us and we didn't know where to start.”
Leopards have also been killing sheep in other parts of Ol Kalou such as Passenga and Vatican.
(Edited by F'Orieny)
