Residents of Kabuswo and Oldebes in Kisanana division of Mogotio Sub County are living in fear following invasion by marauding elephants.
The area Deputy County Commissioner (DCC), Albert Mwaringa said a herd of over 40 elephants suspected to come from Marmarnet and Mochongoi forests in Laikipia landed into the area where they have descended on farms destroying acres of crops.
Speaking during a county service delivery meeting on Tuesday chaired by the County Commissioner (CC), Henry Wafula in Kabarnet, Mwaringa lamented that the elephants have scattered all over the place overwhelming the only two available rangers.
He said that the movement of the jumbos had seriously affected the ongoing national population and housing census since they curtailed the movement of the enumerators who feared for their safety.
Mwaringa informed the meeting that the wild elephants were causing despondency among the locals in the affected areas as they could not move freely both during the day and night.
He said there were only two Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers in the region who could not control the big herd.
Two weeks ago, a single rogue male elephant trampled a teacher to death at Kaptiony village in Barwessa.
The forest elephant suspected to have come all the way from Mochongoi on its way killed a dairy cow at Tanyilel village in Baringo, injuring one person, destroyed maize and beans plantations before descending into the Kerio Valley where it met the teacher. In his attempt to safeguard his family during a midnight raid, he was grabbed using trunk and tossed over before being trampled upon.
The teacher was rushed to Baringo county referral hospital at Kabarnet for treatment before being transferred to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), Eldoret where he succumbed to his injuries.
The deceased was buried on Friday last week and irate villagers demanded for compensation for all the people killed and food crops destroyed.
By Joshua Kibet
