Elephant tramples to death minor in Narok

An elephant attacked and killed an 11-year-old girl aged 11 in a village in Narok South, Narok County.

Officials said a grade three pupil at Rekero Primary School was attacked and seriously injured by an elephant while she was going to school on February 26 in Aitong Location.

She died on the spot. The scene was visited, and documented by the police officers and Kenya Wildlife Service officers, and the body was moved to Narok County Referral Mortuary for a postmortem examination.

Such incidents of human-wildlife animal conflicts have increased in the area and places near national parks. Many wild animals stray from major parks to villages.

KWS has mounted a campaign to address the menace, which includes fencing the areas. The government and conservation groups have a compensation program for people and herders whose livestock is killed by wild animals.

But herders have become more protective after losing livestock to a drought that has been termed as the worst in decades in the East Africa region.

The government had last year commissioned a digital scheme administration system that will allow digital gathering of data on human wildlife conflict, processing of the cases and compensation as a mitigation measure to foster harmonious coexistence between the local communities and wildlife.

This is after affected communities increasingly started to attack the animals in retaliation to such deaths.

President William Ruto said, to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts, the government will erect electric fences in the hotspots across the country.

He added that, as the government invests in electric fences, efforts were also being made through community-based advocacy, and deployment of modern surveillance technology to reduce human-wildlife conflicts and promote co-existence.

“We will fast-track compensation for all victims of human- wildlife conflicts as part of our commitment to people-centric wildlife conservation. The compensation will cater for injuries, deaths, damage to crops and property,” he said.

He directed the State Department for Wildlife to prepare payment of the outstanding 7,000 claims made by victims of human- wildlife conflict.