A 10-year-old boy was trampled to death by an elephant within Letoire location, Kajiando Central sub-county. According to area chief, Jonathan ole Munke, the victim and two other boys were herding livestock, when they were attacked by the jumbo. The other two escaped unhurt. Munke said the boy died on the spot. Police and Kenya Wildlife Service rangers moved the body to Kajiado referral Hospital morgue. Following the sad incident, irate residents pursued the animal and killed it. Kajiado Senior Warden, Daniel Kipkosgey said KWS immediately initiated dialogue with the community after the incident, urging them not to take matters into their own hands. ‘We maintained patrols and aerial surveys in partnership with the Big Life Foundation in the area in a bid to keep the jumbos away from the residential areas, but it is unfortunate that the over 200 residents managed to trail the 35-year-old jumbo and killed it with spears 18 kilometers from the scene of death,’ said Kipkosgey. Kipkosgey revealed that the compensation process has begun and the postmortem has already been done at the Kajiado Referral Hospital. The deceased will be buried tomorrow, with KWS funding the entire process. The senior warden urged Kajiado residents to be cautious as elephants were roaming all over given due to the ongoing rains. ‘Residents should avoid taking evening walks and children should be accompanied by adults all the time,’ he said. He has also cautioned residents against killing the wildlife saying that all human/wildlife conflicts should be reported to their offices. ‘We have enhanced our patrols to avert further human wildlife conflict cases, even as we discourage retaliation from members of the community. We encourage them to report any cases rather than take law into their own hands,’ said Kipkosgey. The angry residents however lamented that the loss of lives and destruction of property due to human /wildlife conflicts have become rampant in the area, yet compensation takes very long.
Source: Kenya News Agency