Head Public Service Felix Kosgey (right) and former KWS Director General Julius Kipngetich during the 2nd Wildlife Scientific Conference at Lake Naivasha Resort, on September 23, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government requires more than Sh1.2 billion to compensate families whose kin were killed by wild animals in the last two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the cases of human-wildlife conflict on the rise, the government has termed the trend worrying and blamed the incidents on climate change and increased population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This emerged during the Second Wildlife Scientific Conference in Lake Naivasha Resort, where more than 300 scientists converged to discuss the current status in the wildlife sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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During the conference, changes in land use, infrastructural development, increasing human and livestock population and habitat loss were identified as some of the major challenges facing wildlife conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Head of Public Service Felix Koskei warned that challenges facing wildlife conservation were on the rise, with climate change playing a major role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Koskei said most of the challenges could be addressed through research and challenged scientists to up their game despite low funding for the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMany of these challenges, which include loss of habitat, closure of wildlife corridors, and poaching, can be addressed through science-driven data,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addressing the press on the sidelines of the conference, the Head of Public Service admitted that funding remained a challenge in research but was quick to note that the government was working on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWildlife science is very critical in the conservation of our wild animals and game parks, and more resources are needed towards this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KWS Director General Erastus Kanga noted that in the last two years, the country recorded more than 26,000 cases of human-wildlife conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Kanga said of the cases, 255 people lost their lives while another 725 were seriously injured, with some suffering from lifetime injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor the government to compensate the 255 people who lost their lives, over Sh1.2 billion is required, and these are funds that could have gone to better use,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that in the period, more than 5,200 livestock were also killed by wild animals, and emphasized the need to engage the community in addressing the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI) Director Patrick Omondi announced that they launched the registration of all endangered and endemic wildlife species in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Omondi said that WRTI was working on a national wildlife portal, which was part of identifying and addressing the challenges in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCurrently, we are reviewing data on the recently conducted census before releasing it in the next couple of weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano, revealed that the government was working on a policy to introduce a wildlife regulator in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter engaging stakeholders, it has been decided that we require a wildlife regulator as part of protecting wildlife and improving conservation,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Head Public Service Felix Kosgey (right) and former KWS Director General Julius Kipngetich during the 2nd Wildlife Scientific Conference at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wrti.go.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wrti.go.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wrti.go.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wrti.go.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wrti.go.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wrti.go.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8073,"href":"https:\/\/wrti.go.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8071\/revisions\/8073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wrti.go.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wrti.go.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wrti.go.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wrti.go.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}