• Attack on Saturday evening, is estimated to cost the family more than Sh500,000. Animals ate the udders of sheep, goats.
• Kajiado KWS boss Vincent Ongwae on Sunday morning said his officers could not respond in good time because of duties elsewhere.
A family has lost more than 50 goats and sheep to five marauding leopards in the Olobelibel area of Kajiado Central.
The attack on Saturday evening is estimated to have cost the family more than Sh500,000. Leopards also ate the udders of some sheep and goats.
The owner, retired principal chief Joshua Kasaro, told the Star soon after the attack, he called Kenya Wildlife Service scouts but was told they lacked fuel for their vehicles.
Kasaro said his sheep and goats were attacked as they grazed near his home in the evening by five leopards, one of them with cubs.
“This is the biggest loss that has struck this family. I have seven children in high school and two in the university, and my livestock is the only source of their school and college fees,” Kasaro said.
He went on, “The worst part is that, after the incident happened, those charged with the responsibility to guard our livestock cannot come to assess the damage for purposes of accountability and compensation.”
Most of those killed are Dorper sheep, which sell for Sh10,000 to Sh15,000 locally, and produce milk and mutton for commercial purposes.
Kajiado KWS boss Vincent Ongwae on Sunday morning said his officers could not respond "in good time" because they were engaged in other duties elsewhere.
“They were busy driving elephants away from other farms in the region and could not act immediately. I have just ordered some of our scouts to go and assess the damage before we make a statement,” Ongwae said.
He did not want to comment on claims some of his officers demanded transport money for fuel when they were called to attend to the leopards’ attack.
He said his officers from the Maparasha area could not reach the chief’s home for lack of access road. They were to go there on Sunday morning.
“As we speak now, our scouts and rangers are on their way to former chief Kaaka’s home to assess the losses, and we will brief you,” Ongwae said.
Kasaro, a decorated former administrator, has been in the forefront educating the Maasai community against killing wild animals.
While in the service, he even arrested some of his people found to be violating KWS regulations.
The former chief on Sunday said, “It is now my turn to feel the heat that my people have felt all along. This is not fair. I also need justice like any other person.”.
Ongwae said most parts of Kajiado Central in the Maparasha area, which extends to the Amboseli ecosystem, have been invaded by elephants because of the drought.
During drought in Kajiado, most wild animals in the parks move out to graze, and in the process cause human/wildlife conflicts that can be devastating.
Shortage of water and pasture has forced wild animals to follow the humans, and many farmers have complained of jumbos damaging their water dams.
It is claimed leopard attacks on livestock are common in Olemurkat area, and in Oloomunyi village in particular. All those places are in the Dalalekutuk ward of Kajiado Central.
(Edited by V. Graham)
