KWS deploys rangers to tackle wildlife menace in Taita Taveta

KWS rangers during the 2014 Mashujaa Day celebrations at Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi. /FILE
KWS rangers during the 2014 Mashujaa Day celebrations at Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi. /FILE

Kenya Wildlife Service has deployed additional personnel and resources to stamp out wildlife menace bedevilling Taita Taveta residents.

The service has deployed 17 additional rangers from its Problem Animal Management Unit (PAMU) to boost the team covering the area.

KWS said in a statement on Wednesday that the rangers have been deployed in four teams - two operating during the day and two at night.

"In addition, traps have put set up in diverse strategic points to nab predators with a view to moving them to places where they don’t pose a threat," KWS said.

All the PAMU outposts in the county have received additional rangers to comb and flush out predators posing threat to both people and domestic animals.

The ground teams have been backed by an aerial surveillance team that arrived in the affected areas on July 19.

The team is using a chopper to identify predators in human settlements.

On Monday, some Taita Taveta residents held demonstrations in Mwatate

to call for the resignation of Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala.

The lot complained they have grown tired of

living in fear due to a pack of stray lions.

The residents said that in June and July, they lost more than 128

cows, sheep, goats, donkeys and dogs, all worth over Sh1.2 million, as a result of wildlife attacks.

They claimed that four lions from the Tsavo National Park have been on the prawl causing most of the destruction.

Read:

WATCH: The latest videos from the Star