2 elephants die of starvation in Imenti forest
An emaciated elephant at Nchoroiboro in Imenti forest on October 31, 2022. KWS says about 3 elephants have succumbed to famine in the Imenti forest while many others including grevy's zebras and warthogs have died in Isiolo.
Two elephants have died of famine in the Imenti forest as the drought in Kenya continues.
The impact of the drought on wild animals in the region started being felt as early as July this year, said Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) eastern conservation area assistant director Robert O'brien.
The jumbo deaths in the Imenti forest, once a refuge during droughts, illustrates the dire situation.
The KWS says more than 2,000 elephants reside in the ecosystem covering the Imenti, Ngarendare and Mt Kenya forests.
Mr O’brien said one elephant was still alive but emaciated and too weak to walk, lying in the Nchoroiboro area of the Imenti forest.
“It is true we have lost elephants in the Imenti forest as well as Isiolo due to the drought,” Mr O’brien said.
“The situation is very bad because Grevy’s zebras and warthogs are also succumbing. We have dispatched a veterinary doctor to try to resuscitate the elephant with glucose because it is still kicking.”
Young and old elephants, he added, were the first to be affected but middle-aged jumbos are now overwhelmed.
He urged residents to bear with the elephants that may stray into residential areas in search of feed.
“Elephants need so much food in a day. They have been felling trees but the barks are too dry to be fed on,” he said.
The situation has been worsened by competition for pasture with livestock in the forests.
The Grevy’s Zebra Trust has been providing hay for wild animals in the Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba national reserves to reduce the impact of the famine.
Drought victims
Meanwhile, in Kirinyaga County, at least 80,000 residents from the expansive semi-arid Mwea constituency are starving following a prolonged drought.
Area MP Mary Maingi said the drought victims, including schoolchildren urgently need relief food to save their lives.
Speaking on Monday afternoon when she launched a school feeding programme at Gold Primary School in the constituency, Ms Maingi said the situation was serious and urged the government and people of goodwill to help residents.
Ms Maingi said she was touched when she learnt that scores of families were going without food.
She said she would start donating food to primary schools to ensure that all Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination candidates sit the tests.
"I want the more than 8,000 KCPE candidates to be well fed during the examination so that they can do well," she said.
In the last two years, she said, residents did not harvest anything because their maize and beans, their staple foods, were wiped out by the scorching sun.
Relief food
"Like many other places in the country, Mwea has also been hard hit by drought and it should be considered during distribution of relief food by the State," she said.
Ms Maingi promised to work with other entities to ensure that hungry residents get something to eat.
"I have gone round the area and I have seen for myself how residents are struggling to feed themselves. They have no food and they are crying out for help," she said.
At the Gold Primary School event, the MP and local Red Cross officials donated beans, rice and cooking oil to children from 10 schools in South Ngariama.
