By Edward Qorro
A video that has now gone viral showing a lion marauding freely near houses at a suburb in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, captured the worsening conflict between humans and wildlife.
The CCTV footage captured the animal scaling the perimeter wall of a private residence and making off with a family's pet dog clutched in its teeth in the wee hours of morning.
Such scenes of deadly wildlife venturing into human settlements have increasingly become commonplace across East Africa, where retaliatory attacks by human has led to killings of wild animals.
The most affected wildlife have been elephants, lions and crocodiles. Most of incidents have been blamed on loss of habitat for wild animals.
Measures not working
Wildlife experts have warned that short term measures taken to curb human-wildlife conflicts may not be a remedy after all.
“We need long term solutions such as securing elephant corridors and sustainable land use plans,” Professor Noah Sitati of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) told TRT Afrika.
According to the expert, elephants will easily invade a maize plantation to devour crops because they are rich in nutrients.
“This wouldn’t have been happening if we secured such corridors,” he offers.
Sitati discloses that Tanzania had rolled out a National Corridor Action Plan which allows the designation and special management of wildlife corridors, dispersal areas, buffer zones and migratory routes.
“Human-wildlife conflicts (HWCs) is still a huge problem and I’m hoping that the introduction of such a plan will yield positive results,” he says.
Mapping and beacons
While Tanzania has formalized such a plan, its East African neighbors have not gazetted theirs. Tanzania has achieved that through mapping and erecting of beacons, an ecological undertaking done by the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI)
According to the WWF expert, Tanzania has made significant strides in introducing guidelines for links between different animal populations and habitats through migration routes.
He however roots for the review of such guidelines to capture the actual demands on the ground.
“There’s also a need of fencing some of these areas,” he says.
While Kenya has erected fences on some of its national parks, Tanzania hasn’t. Estimates show that there are about 62 wildlife corridors and migratory routes in Tanzania.
Not a viable option
When Shimba Hills National Reserve in Kenya got overwhelmed by the number of jumbos, wildlife authorities in the country saw it wise to start relocating them to Tsavo East National Park.
At least 150 elephants were moved during the process.
“This proved to be a costly undertaking as it involved the use of helicopters and darting; but this wasn’t enough because some of the elephants got lost, while others got disoriented,” he says.
A similar scenario was also witnessed in Maasai Mara Game Reserve.
A real threat
Crocodiles and hippos are responsible for the most human deaths in Africa, according to an expert. John Noronha of USAID’s Tuhifadhi mali asili organistion says the two wild animals were behind most human-wildlife conflicts in Tanzania.
They have inflicted 642 temporary and permanent injuries, according to records.
“Coexistence between people and wildlife is a national priority for sustainable development and wildlife conservation in Tanzania, nonetheless it has come with its fair share of price to humankind,” he says.
A National Human - Wildlife Conflict Management Strategy (2020 - 2024), attributes the conflicts to insufficient land use planning.
It argues that historically, land use planning has been lacking or, where it has been employed, land use plans have not been enforced or were undertaken without considering the risk of HWCs.
Over the past few decades, Tanzania is reported to have lost at least one-third of its ecosystems and the number of threatened species has tripled.
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