Why elephants are the pride and pain of Meru

It is also the only municipality in the country with a forest on its outskirts with large herds of elephants.

The county's tourism sites include Meru National Park, Lake Nkunga and King Muuru.

But as the world marked World Elephants Day on Saturday, Meru residents had mixed feelings as this tourist attraction also spells death, injury and destruction of property for them.

Mike Muthomi, who lives along the elephant corridor near Nkunga forest, said the village has become vulnerable to marauding jumbos.

“Early this year, all my crops, including potatoes, bananas, maize and beans, were destroyed when they invaded at night,” he said.

“We can’t chase them during the night because it is risky. They can easily turn against you and trample on you. As a farmer, I expect the KWS to take control of their animals.”

The elephants, meanwhile, are contending with a rise in poaching, habitat loss and mistreatment in captivity in both Asia and Africa.

Efforts by the government and KWS to prevent the poaching of wildlife have been thwarted by the emergence of well-organised and highly skilled poaching gangs.

This, coupled with increased hi-tech equipment, such as night vision goggles and criminal poacher lights, has made poaching harder to tame.

Poaching has been fuelled by rising demand for wildlife trophies in illicit markets and the small arms and light weapons used. 

It poses a threat to the elephant population, whose number has otherwise had a stable increase since 1989, with a national population of 36,000 living at a range of 13,000 sq km as of 2021 data tabulation.

Early this year, all my crops, including potatoes, bananas, maize and beans, were destroyed when elephants invaded at night. As a farmer, I expect KWS to take control of their animals

STRAY ELEPHANTS

Human-wildlife conflicts are escalating in Meru, especially in regions that encompass Imenti, Mbeu and Nkunga forests, which are all an extension of Mt Kenya forest.

Residents of Nthunguri, Nkunga, Maitei, Naari and Nchigi in the Imenti region often cannot sleep in peace as they border the Mt Kenya forest, where the stray elephants occasionally break in and destroy their farms.

They have held countless protests, calling on Kenya Wildlife Service rangers to protect them and be readily available to drive out the stray animals.

The residents accuse of the Kenya Wildlife Service for doing little or nothing to compensate them.

Residents who spoke to the Star said they have been left wailing and languishing in poverty after the jumbos killed their loved ones and destroyed their houses and crops.

Between April and May 2017, human-wildlife conflict led to the death of at least six people, while an unidentified number of elephants were also killed.

ELECTRIC FENCE 

Nkunga chief Anastasia Nkatha told the Star she is grateful for the frequent increased KWS patrols, but said elephants most times wittingly appear when the rangers are not around.

"The KWS officers have recently been stationed at Kwa Kaminchia in Nchigi, Ruunkuro sublocation," she said.

"I am grateful to Rhino Ark, who have come to our rescue by erecting the electric fence. They have fenced all the way from Kamutune, Ruiri, Tigania West, Kithoka, Maili Kumi and now they are finishing towards Nkunga and Naari."

Nkatha said the 54km Upper Imenti forest fence is almost complete.

"If a herd of elephants invades a shamba, be assured you will not harvest anything," she said.

"Elephants leave a trail of destruction on crops and fruit trees, cause injuries or death and ruin homesteads."

She said the KWS rangers are on alert and are efficient in driving away animals from villages when called upon.

The frequently affected constituencies are North Imenti, Buuri, Tigania West, East, Igembe South, Tharaka and South Imenti. 

Kithoka residents had invented the electrocution method of killing the jumbos and feasting on their remains.

The Lower Imenti Forest Fence, whose construction is now on grid rock fencing to lock out small animals from getting out, is nearing completion.

From 2014-15, nine elephants were killed and several human lives were lost. 

In early 2016, the Rhino Ark, led by executive director Christian Lambrechts, started constructing high-voltage electric fences to help protect farms in Meru against invasion by elephants.

The fence will stretch to 450km in length around Mt Kenya forest once completed.

In February 2017, KWS started fencing a 54km perimeter nine-strand tight-lock wire-mesh fence around Imenti forest at a cost of Sh135 million.  

Protection of the jumbos calls for collective efforts to stop habitat fragmentation, blockage of their corridors, poaching and consumer demands for ivory.

Resources should also be allocated to protect natural habitats where elephants and other wildlife can thrive. 

CALLS FOR COMPENSATION

North Imenti MP Rahim Dawood said KWS needs to wake up and compensate human-wildlife attack victims.  

He said the responsible person in KWS has slept on the job in compensating hundreds of residents who were attacked, their crops destroyed and relatives killed.

"There are so many uncompensated cases. There is a case I have followed of a victim who was killed by an elephant six or seven years ago, but the family is yet to get compensation," Dawood said. 

He said since the Compensation Law was passed by National Assembly and relevant committees formed, and victims should have been compensated.

He said he will renew the war against the entities responsible. 

A conservation lobby decried that the largest elephants with the heaviest tusks are at risk of extinction due to the high rate of poaching.

"The tusks weighing 45kg and 48kg are believed to have come from the same elephant, making it one of Africa's famed Great Tuskers," Space for Giants communications official Mike Pflanz said.

He said the international organisation monitors trials of poachers, speeds up proceedings and has prevented the collapse of trials by helping to provide witnesses and substantive evidence.

"Space for Giants has projects across Africa to help strengthen judicial systems and improve trial preparations," Pflanz said.

"This work is aimed at making sure increasingly strict laws against wildlife crimes are enforced, making the threat of legal action a real deterrent against such activities."

Wild animals whose attacks make one eligible for compensation include elephants, lions, leopards, crocodiles, cheetahs, hyenas, rhinos, buffalos, and snakes. 

The National Environment Tribunal or Environment and Land Court may award a victim heftily.

A victim may get Sh3 million due to permanent disability injuries, while their family may get Sh5 million in case of death. 

For crops, livestock and property destroyed or other injuries caused by wildlife, compensation may vary depending on the approvals of a committee.

Victims are advised to report for compensation to the nearest KWS office within 48 hours.

Compensations are, however, not paid to victims or owners of livestock, crops or property who failed to take reasonable measures to protect themselves or their property as compatible with the ecosystem management plan of the area.