|
Ogiek never had a problem with
elephants or other wildlife
While the Ogiek never had a problem
with elephants or other wildlife species, but since times
immemoriable were the guardians of the magnificent forest
biodiversity of the Mau and Elgon forests, the invading
agriculturalists not only cut the forests, but also soon
encountered problems with the elephants.
Dr. Joyce Poole, the former Kenya
Wildlife Service coordinator of elephant conservation and
management wrote *):
Our Elephant Program surveys had
always included an investigation into human-elephant conflict
around the forests and other protected areas, and we were well
aware of the problem areas and their underlying causes. The
pressure for land in Kenya was intense, and sensible land-use
policy was often abandoned in favour of poor land-use practice. In
many places there was simply no land-use planning at all or, if
there was any, it wasn't followed. Corruption in high places
exacerbated the problem. State land in some elephant habitats was
being handed out in return for political favors to individuals who
then sold it for settlement. Refugees were being resettled along a
section of the Mau forest that we knew from our surveys to have
the highest elephant density. And large tracts of protected
national forest were being degazetted and given over for
settlement, creating "island farms" within forests and
"forest peninsulas" extending into prime agricultural
land. As a result maize fields pressed up against the forest
boundaries, tempting the elephants to make nighttime raids. The
pattern was clear along the forest boundaries ....
I personally find the culling of
elephants ethically unacceptable, ....
-----------
*) Poole, Joyce - Coming of Age
with Elephants - ISBN 0-7868-6095-2
|
