Well this story is horrendous, I don’t pretend to know all of the ins and outs of it all and I certainly don’t agree with what’s happening in Kenya, but here’s the scoop, a handful of Kenyan farmers are using insecticide to kill off lions and other predators such as African Hunting Dogs.
The insecticide in question is Carbofuran and all though it trades under a few different names it is a very powerful and toxic insecticide.
The use of Carbofuran has been banned in Europe and more recently in the United States by the Environmental Protection Agency due to the risk to non target species.
It is single handily responsible for the death of millions of birds throughout the USA and Canada.
Carbofuran is a systemic insecticide which means that it is sprayed onto the ground and the plant then absorbs it through its roots. Then the plant distributes it throughout its organs where the insecticide attains the correct concentration to kill off the pest insect it was designed for.
The problem is that it has an LD50 rate of 19mg/kg (in layman’s terms this means it requires 19 milligrams of insecticide per each kilogram of animal to kill it), so to put this in perspective a large male lion weighing 250kg will only take 4.75grams of insecticide to kill it (about the weight of 5 paperclips).
The way these farmers are poisoning the predators in Kenya is by grinding down carbofuran in its granular form and making small incisions in a carcass and inserting the powder.
In November 2008 a dead camel laced with the insecticide near Lewa Wildlife Conservancy was responsible for the death of at least two lions, 7 African Hunting Dogs and 15 vultures which feasted on the carcass. A world renowned expert on Vultures, Simon Thomsett reported ‘I literally saw Vultures dropping out of the sky’.
There are no records for the number of predators killed in Kenya by deliberate poisoning but many naturalists believe the death toll from Carbofuran to reach in to the thousands and not just of big cats but all types of carrion eaters.
Detailed information is elusive, affected animals will often disappear into the bush to die and then the evidence is then eaten by other carnivores.
I don’t even know how to end this, as a professional user of insecticide and governed by strict laws I just cannot fathom how such a powerful poison, which is what it is now being used as, can be so easily purchased and miss used.
I get that Essex and Kenya are worlds apart but this story just makes me angry.
I have included the link here for lion aid, a charity which help protect these critically endangered animals, feel free to donate if you wish.
Have a great week, see you in the next article!
Dan James
Killer Instinct
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