Poaching in Kenya.

05 Jun, 2008

Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) recovered more then 1,200 illegal hunting trophies including skins, ivory, rhino horns and live animals and arrested 2,134 people in 2007 in connection with wildlife-related offences in 2007 according to its annual report published at the end of May.

However paradoxically despite poaching activities in Kenya it seems the animal population is on the rise. There are now 560 black rhinos in the country against 234 a few years ago, although the numbers still fall way short of the 20,000 recorded in 1970. Likewise elephant numbers have risen from 16,000 at the peak of poaching in the 1980s to 33,000.

Instead three types of antelope are at risk from habitat loss and poaching: Sable antelopes in Shimba Hills, Hirola antelopes in Garissa and Roan antelopes in Suba.

All hunting is banned in Kenya but despite the restrictions poachers continue to operate in all of the country