Last week, Wildlife Direct conducted a meeting in Kenya to engage stakeholders in ending the poisoning of wildlife in Kenya, particularly by the poison carbofuran, sold as Furadan. The meeting was attended by nearly 50 people, “including representatives of many government agencies, conservationists, and members of the Agrochemical Association of Kenya, and three people from the company that imports Furadan, Juanco SPS.”
The importers of Furadan were, as expected, skeptical of all evidence presented of wildlife poisoning by carbofuran, including photos and a video of a poisoned lion who ate the carcass of a hippo who’d died of of poisoning. It is painful to see one of nature’s greatest creatures suffering a debilitating illness caused by human acts.
The poisoning of these lions and was investigated by the Kenya Wildlife Service, of which Dr. Leakey was once head, the Mara Conservancy, and Dr. Asuka Takita, who prepared the final report on her findings from tissue and blood samples taken from the lions, among others.
One of the outcomes of the meeting is a call for the outright banning by Dr. Leakey of carbofuran from Kenya. Here’s the press release:
LEAKEY CALLS FOR BAN ON CARBOFURAN AS WILDLIFE POISONING REACHES ALARMING LEVELS IN KENYA
The Mara Conservancy has alerted authorities after finding five hippos dead and observing paralysis in four lions which fed on one of the hippo carcasses. Toxicology reports on one of the hippo carcasses and a lion both tested positive for carbofuran, an extremely toxic agricultural pesticide. Further investigations have revealed that traces of carbofuran were found in areas where the hippos were known to graze.
The sick lions were first reported on the Mara Conservancy Blog on April 15th and followed carefully by the rangers. Brian Heath, CEO of the Mara Conservancy later stated: “The first report came in three days post-ingestion where a lion was found to be weak, staggering and sitting under a thicket. Another young male from the same pride began showing similar but more severe paralysis and quickly became recumbent by the afternoon. This was followed by a lesser degree of paralysis of two more males during the next five days. Tissue samples together with stomach content from the euthanized lion were submitted to the Government Toxicology Lab. The results showed that the stomach contents of the hippo and lion tested positive for Carbofuran.”
Incidences of poisoning represent a critical threat against Kenya’s wildlife particularly through the use of Carbofuran. The chemical is extremely toxic, cheap and easily available. Dr. Richard Leakey, Chairman of WildlifeDirect.org is urging the government to ban the use of Carbofuran: “We are appealing to the Kenya government, the importer, Juanco SPs, the agrochemical association of Kenya, and the Pest Control Products Board to go the way of Europe and USA and ban the importation, sale, distribution and use of this deadly chemical in Kenya. We believe that there are significant human health concerns and environmental risks associated with using this chemical which is widely abused because it is easily available over the counter from any Agrovet.”
The U.K.’s Telegraph posted an excellent story about the rise of wildlife poisoning in Africa, focusing on the poisoning of four lions (only two recovered) and the problems facing the Maasai Mara because of the lack of tourism.
Sadly, this is not just an African problem, as Wildlife Direct’s Dipesh Pabari pointed out by posting this story from Scotland about the increase in wildlife poisonings. Carbofuran granules are banned here in the U.S. but the liquid version is still used in agriculture on crops such as corn, cotton, potatoes, rice, artichokes, chili peppers, cucumbers, spinach for seed, sunflowers, and pine seedlings. BUY ORGANIC.
What can you do? You can send the information found on the links I’ve provided to your local news outlets and ask them to cover the story. Press contacts for Wildlife Direct can be found at the bottom of this post on the Baraza blog. You can blog about the threats posed by carbofuran to all non-human animals and human animals; you can buy organic, write to your legislators in Congress and ask them to ban carbofuran in all its forms in the U.S., and you can support with your dollars the work of the Mara Conservancy.
Stop sitting on your ass and save your planet.
s.
Filed under: endangered species, environment, wildlife conservation
This chemical has not been banned in the US. It will still be available for three years. In fact, the USDA is currently requesting that the EPA reconsider it’s decision to ban it. This chemical is one of the reasons bees are disappearing.
This is what I wrote: “Carbofuran granules are banned here in the U.S. but the liquid version is still used in agriculture on crops such as corn, cotton, potatoes, rice, artichokes, chili peppers, cucumbers, spinach for seed, sunflowers, and pine seedlings.”
Honestly, I get more comments from people who apparently don’t READ what I write. GAH.
s.
I had NO idea this was going on! Thanks for writing about it!
I’m both disgusted and sad about this situation. I saw the report from the BBC and for 2 weeks have been completely frustrated as to what I can do to make this go away. Sad for the animals and that humans have been responsible, disgusted (yet not suprised) that it is produced and still used in the US. I have contacted my legislator – but that is also where disgust comes into play- and I will contribute monetarily,I am a Vegitarian- but what more can be done to make an impact?