Lying on the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust, the elephant slowly exhausted himself in futile attempts to stand, the latest victim of a mysterious ailment in southern Kenya.<\/p>\n
Distressed vets administered a glucose injection — the only option, given that the cause of the ailment remains unknown — to the 11-year-old male, known as Genghis Khan, who was struggling to breathe and died on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The mystery affliction has killed at least 20 pachyderms, mostly females or young males, since June in Kenya. All of the animals have identical symptoms, including partial paralysis.<\/p>\n
Elephant herds have made Amboseli — overlooked by Africa’s highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania — a lucrative tourist hotspot and the mysterious deaths in the region are a sensitive issue in a country where tourism is a huge source of revenue.<\/p>\n
“You would find one struggling for a day, struggling for two or even three days. Until they completely die,” said Patrick Papatiti, head of operations for Olgulului communal lands, which includes the Kitenden B reserve where Genghis Khan was found.<\/p>\n
In late July, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said toxicology reports found high concentrations of cyanide in the animals’ carcasses, suggesting possible pesticide poisoning from nearby farms’ crops.<\/p>\n
While observers still question the possible cause of death, several specialists interviewed by AFP dismiss poisoning.<\/p>\n
“It’s a disease,” said Papatiti, who was born and raised in the local Maasai community, insisting there was “no way” cyanide was involved.<\/p>\n
He is one of the very few local voices publicly rejecting the KWS preliminary findings, pointing out that no other animals have died.<\/p>\n
Notably, neither scavengers nor flies that fed on the supposedly poisoned carcasses have perished — creatures that typically succumb after consuming poisoned animals.<\/p>\n
“If another animal feeds on that carcass and it is not dying, then definitely it is not a chemical,” Joel Nyika, the Amboseli ecosystem manager for the Kajiado County authorities, told AFP.<\/p>\n
He dismisses the theory, also put forward by the KWS, that the cyanide might have come from a type of foliage, noting local livestock would have died as well.<\/p>\n
“As wildlife managers, we believe it could be a disease that is only affecting these elephants.”<\/p>\n
On August 7, the KWS said their “findings to date do not indicate an infectious or transmissible disease”, assuring tourists that they could continue to visit.<\/p>\n
But in the Kimana reserve, AFP journalists saw six carcasses on one day — some fresh, others older — with rangers also observing partial paralysis, preventing the animals from standing.<\/p>\n
Maasai farmers, like 52-year-old Noah Saatia, rejected the possibility of poison — pointing out to AFP they eat the same things — and expressed anger over the animals’ deaths.<\/p>\n
“When they die, it hurts us,” he told AFP, standing in his crop of maize, protected from animals by fences.<\/p>\n
“We don’t know the cause of the elephant deaths… But they are not dying because of food — that’s for sure.”<\/p>\n
Some of the deaths occurred only days earlier.<\/p>\n
The carcass of a four-month-old calf, swarming with flies, lay half-devoured by hyenas.<\/p>\n
About a dozen vultures were feeding on the remains of a pregnant female elephant, who had died near full term, and her unborn calf.<\/p>\n
Paula Kahumbu, conservationist and head of Wildlife Direct, highlighted the “lack of evidence” supporting the pesticide theory.<\/p>\n
In an interview with AFP, she noted that few adult male elephants had died, even though they are the ones most likely to raid crops.<\/p>\n
Olgulului’s Papatiti also dismissed the theory of deliberate poisoning. He said the emphasis should not be on pinning blame on individuals but finding the cause: “We need to know what is killing our elephants.”<\/p>\n
The sensitivity of the deaths has spooked the wildlife community, with several environmental organizations declining to comment to AFP beyond calling for a full investigation, while rangers at the Kimana reserve said they were not authorized to speak.<\/p>\n
Papatiti fears that the death toll is being underestimated and that the affliction may also be affecting elephants in neighboring Tanzania.<\/p>\n
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