“Kenya Wildlife Service Rangers, Community Scouts and Research Teams have counted the deaths of 205 elephants, 512 wildebeests, 381 common zebras, 51 buffaloes, 49 Grevy’s zebras and 12 giraffes in the past nine months.” announced the country’s Ministry of Tourism.
“The drought has negatively affected populations of herbivores, especially wildebeest and zebra.”
Prolonged drought in the Horn of Africa over the past four consecutive rainy seasons has left an estimated 18 million people affected by food shortages in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, according to reports from the World Food Programme.
The UN’s World Meteorological Organization said the drought is the region’s worst in four decades.
In Kenya, consecutive seasons of below-average rainfall have caused rivers to dry up and grasslands in game reserves to be destroyed, according to the tourism ministry.
“The most affected ecosystems are home to some of Kenya’s most popular national parks, reserves and game reserves, including the Amboseli, Tsavo and Laikipia-Samburu regions,” her report said.
Launching the report, Kenya’s Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage Peninah Malonza said measures are being taken to save animal lives — including drilling boreholes and transferring water in dried-up reservoirs and dams.
“The drought has caused mortality in wildlife, mainly herbivorous species,” Malonza said.
“The deaths occurred due to depletion of food resources as well as lack of water,” he added. According to the ministry, Kenya had just 36,000 elephants last year.
In an interview with the BBC in July, Kenya’s former wildlife and tourism secretary, Najib Balala, said climate change was now killing 20 times more elephants than poaching.
