Last month, the Kenya Wildlife Service announced that 15 elephants had died in the Amboseli ecosystem in a span of a month. Preliminary laboratory tests detected cyanide, while postmortem examinations found tomatoes in the animals\u2019 stomachs.<\/p>\n
The head of veterinary services at Kenya\u2019s wildlife agency, Dr. Isaac Lekolool, said the elephants had shown signs of \u201cparalysis and difficulty breathing\u201d before they died. Initial tests pointed to cyanide poisoning, although further laboratory tests are being done to determine the concentration of cyanide.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are yet to find out where this cyanide came from,\u201d Lekolool said, adding that the elephants had also consumed watermelons. He urged caution over the handling and use of pesticides on farms.<\/p>\n
Kimana, which borders Amboseli, is one of Kenya\u2019s most productive agricultural areas, growing tomatoes, onions and French beans that are transported to markets to the capital, Nairobi.<\/p>\n
The samples tested for toxic chemicals were obtained from the elephants\u2019 stomach contents and the analysis of blood samples is ongoing, Dr. Lekolool said. He disputed earlier claims that cyanide, which is regulated by the government for use in mining, may have been present in the park due to illegal mining.<\/p>\n
Farms have expanded near the park and conflict between people and elephants remains the second leading cause of deaths after poaching, according to Kenya\u2019s National Elephant Plan. Between 2000 and 2020, at least 1,160 elephants died in incidents linked to self-defense or retaliatory killings as communities sought to protect their crops, property and lives, the Plan notes.<\/p>\n
But Duncan Juma, communications director of Kenya\u2019s wildlife service, ruled out human-wildlife conflict in the death of the elephants, saying \u201cthe community loves these animals.\u201d<\/p>\n
The International Fund for Animal Welfare, or IFAW, said the recent suspected cyanide poisoning highlights the urgent need to tackle the underlying causes of human-wildlife conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs people and elephants increasingly share space, protecting wildlife and safeguarding communities\u2019 livelihoods must go hand in hand,\u201d IFAW wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n
IFAW\u2019S East Africa Director Ben Wandago said the reported cyanide poisoning must be \u201curgently and thoroughly investigated\u201d and recommended that coexistence solutions to protect communities living near the park be implemented.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis tragedy also underscores the urgent need for the strict control and responsible handling of highly toxic substances to prevent them from entering the natural environment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Farmers are doubtful that the cyanide could have originated from commonly used agricultural inputs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last month, the Kenya Wildlife Service announced that 15 elephants had died in the Amboseli ecosystem in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[85,46,141,386],"class_list":["post-577692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}