Two killed in separate wildlife attacks in Kenya

International

TWO wildlife attacks—one involving a lioness and the other an elephant—claimed the lives of a teenage girl and an elderly man in separate incidents occurring in a span of two days in Kenya.

On Saturday night, a lioness killed a 14-year old girl outside Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, fter being snatched inside her house in a residential compound near Nairobi National Park, where the animal had jumped over alternative barricades, a report by CNN said.

According to Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) Senior Corporate Communications Manager Paul Udoto, there were no indications of provocation made by the victim.

After following a bloodtrail, responders located the girl’s dead body who had acquired lower back injuries within Mbagathi River.

Currently, search operations are directed to ensnare the apex predator.

On Friday, a separate wildlife attack occurred in Kenya’s Nyeri County, when a 54-year-old man who was tending to his livestock in the nearby forest was fatally attacked by an elephant.

The man was declared dead on arrival with severe injuries in the body.

These simultaneous deadly attacks are presently probed by the authorities, suggesting initial findings to be “linked to broader ecological pressures and human encroachment on wildlife habitats,” Udoto said in the same CNN report.

Udoto added that the lioness likely ventured into human settlements due to a lack of prey in its natural environment, while the elephant attacked after its territory was encroached upon.

With the intensity of wildlife attacks, KWS is considering the incorporation of technology-based security measures including installation of electric fences and AI-powered warning systems as prevention to future human and wildlife conflicts.(MyTVCebu)