A man from Makueni County who had survived a hyena attack three years ago was killed by a rogue elephant.
According to witnesses, Mzee Musili Musembi was walking home in Ilikoni village in Kibwezi East Constituency on Wednesday night when he was attacked by a lone jumbo.
Despite the alarm being raised, the elephant continued to trample Musembi, killing him on the spot.
His death highlights the bad situation of human-wildlife conflict in the county, which has been exacerbated by the destruction of crops, grain stores, and plastic water tanks, as well as disrupting learning in local schools.
Following Musembi’s death, local residents have demanded that the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) take action against the rogue elephant.
Angry residents draped the victim’s body in the national flag and blocked police from collecting it for hours, protesting KWS’s “lacklustre” response to the wild animal threat in the Tsavo East National Park region.
“The officers arrived at the scene four hours after we reported the incident. We need faster response when such cases are reported. We feel neglected because I think the officers may have taken a shorter time to arrive at the scene had it been the elephant which had died,” said one of the residents who withheld his identity.
To disperse the villagers, the police later collected the body, fired tear gas, and opened fire.
Despite efforts by the county government and Tsavo Trust, a local conservancy, to seal off the park with an electric fence, elephants have destroyed crops and properties in the region in recent months.
KWS has been shooting or relocating rogue elephants in the region, but this has not stopped the animals from infiltrating farmlands.
The ongoing electric fence project must be completed, and the jumbo population in the parks must be reduced.
Penina Malonza, Cabinet Secretary for Wildlife, has pledged the government’s commitment to halting the rampant attacks by elephants through increased patrols by KWS rangers and expediting compensation for those attacked by wild animals in the region.
