The Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) has promised to review its infrastructure in all wildlife parks across the country as part of efforts to promote safety of wild animals.
The company swang into action on Monday after three Rothschild giraffes were electrocuted at Soysambu Conservancy in Nakuru County over the weekend.
The endangered species of giraffes were electrocuted while moving along a low-hanging local power transmission line within the vast conservancy.
The incident caused an uproar especially after conservationists revealed that close to 11 endangered giraffes have so far been electrocuted since 2019, forcing Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) to promise action.
In a statement, KPLC Managing Director Bernard Ngugi said the company “regrets the incident”.
Read: KWS Promises Action After Electrocution of Rothschild Giraffes in Soysambu Conservancy
“We regret this incident because we recognize that wildlife forms an integral part of our natural and cultural psyche and, we appreciate the feedback shared by various stakeholders on this matter,” said Ngugi.
“Ensuring that we adhere to the highest forms of safety in all our undertakings, is a prerequisite for us. We thus take any electricity-related accidents seriously and we will use the lessons gleaned to avoid a recurrence of the same.”
Ngugi confirmed that a Kenya Power team, led by the Nakuru County Business Manager and the County Operations and Maintenance Engineer, had commenced the process of enhancing the clearance of the electricity distribution infrastructure at Soysambu Conservancy so as to forestall a recurrence of the unfortunate incident.
Read Also: Poachers Kill The Only Female White Giraffe, Calf In Kenya – Conservancy Manager
“The Company is undertaking this exercise in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Soysambu Conservancy’s management and other stakeholders which will also involve an audit of the entire infrastructure within the Conservancy to make any other rectifications that may be required, ” the statement reads.
To avert such incidents in other parks, the company announced that the auditing exercise will be conducted across the country “to ensure that its infrastructure does not pose further danger”.
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