A stray elephant that injured two elderly people at Thigaa in Maara, Tharaka Nithi County on Sunday has been shot dead by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers.
The two victims, a 95-year-old, Ms Joyce Mugai Kanampiu and Mr. Duncan Njagi, 61, from Majira village are recuperating at the PCEA Chogoria Mission Hospital where they were rushed after being gored and trampled upon by the jumbo.
According to villagers, the elephant that had strayed from the Mt. Kenya Forest and destroyed crops and other property on nearby farms could not be chased away forcing locals to call the KWS personnel.
After the officers shot dead the animal, hundreds of residents among them bodaboda operators flocked the farm and began descending on it with crude weapons, each trying to get a piece of the meat.
Women later joined men and helped them ferry the meat to their homes to avoid it being stolen.
Ms. Sarah Kageni told media that the animal that terrorized them the whole of yesterday had destroyed all her maize and asked the KWS to compensate her for the loss.
“My farm was yesterday razed down and all my maize crops destroyed,” said Ms Kageni.
By Kenneth Marangu
