THE Kenya Wildlife Service will spend Sh10 million to construct pans and boreholes at the Tsavo National Park. The park covers 62 percent of the total land in Taita Taveta County with a population of 12,572 elephants.
Human-wildlife conflicts have recently increased because the animals roam about looking for water. Speaking in Mwatate, KWS assistant director in charge of the Tsavo ecosystem, Julius Kimani, said scarcity of water is the main source of human-wildlife conflict.
He said elephants are the most affected as they cannot stay without water. "Our biggest challenge now is water since most rivers in the Tsavo have dried up.The Voi River which most wildlife depend on has dried up," Kimani said.
He said the money will also be used to desilt the existing water pans in the area and also pump water from Kanderi borehole to supply the Voi River where the wildlife drink from. "We shall be pumping water from Kanderi bore hole to Voi River 10 hours a day to ensure the animals get enough water so that they cannot move out of the park," said the director. He said residents adjacent to the park will also benefit from the water.
Last month two people were killed by stray elephants in search of water while hundreds of acres of maize crops were destroyed in Sagalla location.
Statistics from KWS show that Taita Taveta County leads in reporting cases of death caused by wildlife attacks in the Country.
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201102230826.html