Browsing: Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS)

Investing in Wildlife Conservation in Kenya
  • The human-wildlife conflict has cost the Kenyan government KSh1.2 billion ($120 million) in the last five years alone and the figure is set to shoot upwards
  • While the headlines have raised the status of Kenya as a conservation hub, there has been a crisis brewing in the sector
  • In the period under review, KSh569 million ($5.69 million) was used to pay off 163 families whose kin were killed by wildlife in various parts of the country

Kenya has always been at the centre of wildlife conservation due to its world-renowned national parks and an active conservation movement. Drawn by the large economic benefits brought about by tourism, wildlife conservation is however increasingly becoming a strained trade.

Three events have happened to cement Kenya as the centre for conservation. First, a project to maintain the legacy of the last white rhino in the world received a boost after the country announced

Investing in Wildlife Conservation in Kenya

Kenya has always been at the center of wildlife conservation due to its world-renowned national parks and an active conservation movement. Drawn by the large economic benefits brought about by tourism, wildlife conservation is however increasingly becoming a strained trade.

Three events happened in the last two months that have cemented Kenya as the center for conservation. First, a project to maintain the legacy of the last white rhino in the world received a boost after the country announced the successful fertilization and creation of new embryos from the original bull.

This research was conducted by Kenya Wildlife Services, OlPajeta Conservancy both based in Kenya, Berlin-based Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), Italian institute Avantea, and DvůrKrálové Zoo based in the Czech Republic.

The scientists and conservationists predict to have more embryos ready for eventual breeding and repopulation in the near future. This was a series of cutting-edge

Carrying on the heritage of Sudan, the world’s last male white rhino

He was the world’s most eligible bachelor with tons of efforts being made to ensure his safety.  As fate would have it, Sudan, the last northern white rhino male died in March 2018 at his home in Ol Pajeta Conservatory in Kenya.

Semen was collected in 2014 when Sudan was over 40 years old.

What followed have been efforts by scientists to ensure there is a continuation of the white rhino generation. So far, two embryos have been passed on to females and a third one has just been released.

In August 2019 a team of scientists and conservationists broke new ground in saving the northern white rhinoceros from extinction when they harvested eggs from the two remaining females, artificially inseminated those using frozen sperm from deceased males and created two viable northern white rhino embryos.

With great support from the Kenyan Government and in the presence of Hon Najib…

The Kenyan government has announced it will set aside over 750 acres of land within Mount Kenya forest to aide in the conservation of the critically endangered Mountain Bongo. The land will help protect the Mountain Bongo whose numbers have dropped to below 100 animals in the wild. The Mountain Bongo has been classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a critically endangered species. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy undertook and presented an Environmental and Social Impact assessment to NEMA ahead of the conservation programme.

The Kenyan government, through the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, has announced it will set aside over 750 acres of land within Mount Kenya forest aide in the conservation of the critically endangered Mountain Bongo.

According to Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala, the land will help protect the Mountain Bongo, whose numbers have dropped to below 100 animals in the wild.

With fewer than 100 Bongos left in the Wild, the Mountain Bongo has been classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as a critically endangered species.

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“The land set aside by the Kenya Forest Service will enable us to increase the number of Mountain Bongos to a sustainable population. We currently have 96 Mountain Bongos in the wild and 77 in captivity being used for breeding by the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy,” …