Kwale residents have decried an increase in snakes and marauding hyenas.
Continuous dry weather has forced the animals to move to nearby villages Lunguma and Mteza.
Kwale is among the coastal counties that were hard hit by drought. Areas of Kinango and parts of Lunga-Lunga subcounties suffered livestock loss and hunger.
A resident, Hajra Ali on Wednesday said the snakes and hyenas have been invading their homes in search of food and water.
“We are frequently attacked by wild animals who run away from the woods because of acute hunger,” she said.
According to the residents, about three people have succumbed to snake bites while several villagers narrowly escaped death.
Ali said the snakes have become the greatest threat to their lives, especially to children who play around the compound.
She said the snakes would go over the roofs or hide in dark warm corners hunting rats. Sometimes the reptiles fall on the beds from rooftops.
The most common snakes are the black and green mambas, cobras and pythons.
Ali said with scarcity of anti-venoms in remote health facilities, most victims don’t make it and die while trying to seek treatment.
Last year, a 23-year-old Masinde Muliro University student died after being bitten by a snake in Lunga-Lunga. He could not afford immediate treatment due to the long distance.
Another 27-year-old succumbed to a cobra bite in Matuga.
Suleiman Mbiti said the hyenas come from the Mwaluganje sanctuary attacking the villages when drought intensifies.
He said the hyenas have been killing and feeding on their livestock. This translates to losses as both drought and the ferocious animals consume their livelihoods.
"Our cows and goats are reducing in number because the hyenas are feasting on them," he said.
Last September, two children were killed and three adults severely injured following a hyena attack in Kinango.
The minors were mauled by hyenas which fed on their brains. Several livestock in various parts of Kinango were also reported to have been attacked.
The residents now want the Kenya Wildlife Service to intervene and control the escalating human-wildlife conflict.
However, by April last year, cases of human-wildlife conflict had dropped by 60 per cent in the region, a county KWS report said.
The cases plummeted following the introduction of effective mitigation measures to end the human-animal conflicts.
The residents urged the government to provide enough anti-venoms in rural health facilities to prevent snakebite deaths.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
