Kenya Wildlife Services has decried the spike in cases of wildlife attacks in the country with the amount used to compensate affected families also rising.
The latest data from the Department of Wildlife indicate compensation amount has risen from Sh147 million in 2014-15 to Sh569 million in the 2019-20.
Wildlife PS Fred Segor said the government will spend Sh1.77 billion in the period to compensate the victims, with death cases taking the lion's share of their budget.
“We have compensated victims up to the year 2017 and the government has allocated a further Sh524 million in this financial year to clear the arrears,” he said.
The PS noted that between 2013 and 2017, a total of 13,125 compensation claims have been presented to the Ministerial Wildlife Conservation and Compensation Committee.
Of the number, 299 human death claims have been reported and the affected families paid Sh1.48 billion for the loss of their relatives.
“Another 129 death claims worth of Sh571 million were deferred due to lack of relevant documentations and clarifications of incidence narratives,” he said.
The PS spoke at KWS Training College in Naivasha on Saturday after meeting members of the compensation committee who are working on the claims.
He said that between 2017 and 2020, 388 Kenyans died after being attacked by wild animals, while 2,080 were left nursing various wounds.
Segor decried the rising cases of human wildlife conflict noting that there was an urgent need to address the issue and save the government the losses it is incurring.
“We have seen the number of wildlife increase sharply in some areas and thus the need to control them before more lives are lost,” he said.
On hippo attacks, he noted that the cases were on the rise mainly around water bodies that have flooded in the Rift Valley in the last couple of months.
He said the attacks occur in the evening as the animals seek pastures from the shrinking land forcing them to stray into neighbouring estates.
“In the last couple of months, we have seen an increase in cases of hippo attacks mainly around Lake Naivasha and in the process several people have lost their lives,” he said.
