Herders to pay more fines for grazing in Mara reserve

Narok County has reviewed fines for herdsmen illegally grazing livestock in the Maasai Mara game reserve in a bid to protect pasture for wild animals.

Narok County deputy senior warden Moses Kuyoni said the fines would be charged per head unlike in the past when offenders were charged Sh10,000 per herd.

Now a cow or bull will be charged Sh200 while a sheep or goat will be charged Sh50.

“Last month we arrested 10 herders and we fined them Sh10,000 per herd of cattle. This fine will cease following new ones that we plan to impose,” Mr Kuyoni said.

The rangers also arrested three suspected poachers. The trio was found in possession of hacksaws, used for cutting elephant tusks, and equipment for tracking wild animals.

Experts have attributed the 70 per cent fall in the population of the Big Five in the park to competition for pasture from domestic animals.

On Monday, Kenya Wildlife Service director William Kiprono asked the county to hand the reserve over to KWS if it can not manage it well.

READ: KWS seeks to take over Maasai Mara as game numbers fall

“There is no way we can hand over Mara to KWS. We shall put in place necessary measures to ensure that poachers don’t destroy our wildlife,” Narok chief warden James Sindiyo said.

He said that KWS was also facing poaching challenges in Tsavo and Lake Nakuru.

Mr Sindinyo discredited a report on the decline in the number of lions, elephants, buffaloes, rhinos and cheetahs in the reserve saying it was conducted as far back as 2003.

He said recent studies show that the number of elephants has increased from 600 in the 1980s to more than 3,000 this year.

The number of black rhinos, he said, had increased from 16 to 50 in the last 10 years. He said animals living out of the reserve faced danger from local people and poachers as the human-wildlife conflict escalates.