© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000
August 2, 2000
By Naftali Mungai

NAIROBI, Kenya, August 2, 2000 (ENS) - Kenya is to allow bird hunting in its national parks.

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) announced last week that it will licence anyone interested in shooting birds but only on land leased by the KWS from landowners living adjacent to national parks and game reserves.

Speaking at the official launch of a new computer based ticketing system at the Lake Nakuru National Park, KWS director Nehemiah Rotich said that surveys will be carried out to determine the population and breeding capacity of bird species prior to licensing.

Licenses will be issued outside of breeding seasons and hunters will be instructed on the type and number of species they can shoot. "We do not want people to go firing at birds during their breeding season as this will interfere with their breeding capacity," said Rotich.

Money from the licenses will go to landowners who lease land to the KWS as an extension of the national parks.

Rotich also announced that more than 2,000 impalas and 1,000 buffaloes would be moved from Lake Nakuru National Park because of over population. The decision to move the buffaloes is on hold because of an outbreak of pleuropneumonia, a contagious disease that could infect most animals including livestock.

Rotich said that current populations of about 4,000 impala and 3,000 buffaloes were more than the park, famous for its flamingoes, could sustain.

The impala will be moved to Meru National Park in an effort to revive its popularity as a tourist destination. Tourism to Meru died in the 1980s when it was hit by poaching and lawlessness.

"Meru used to be very popular," said Rotich. "Most tourists interested in game would visit it as a priority, but its fame died when it was overrun by a spate of insecurity and banditry."

KWS has upgraded more than 6,000 kilometers (3,720 miles) of roads and rehabilitated nine airstrips within Meru. It has also started a scheme to lease land located next to national parks to provide more room for grazing for the ever increasing number of game animals within Kenya's parks.

Rotich said the scheme works particularly well in the relatively smaller Amboseli and Maasai Mara national parks. Landowners accommodating the new animal sanctuaries have received 24 million Kenyan shillings (US$320,000) in concessionary fees.

Beneficiaries include local county councils and group ranches, said the director, adding that the fees are based on the size of the land leased. Error: Unable to read footer file.