New law to allow killing of wildlife

Kenya’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife has published a new Bill that legalises the killing of “excess” wildlife — besides allowing individuals to sell animals on their ranches.

The Wildlife (Conservation and Management) Bill, 2009, set to be tabled before the cabinet soon, splits the role of managing the country’s wildlife between the Kenya Wildlife Service, a Wildlife Department and the Kenya Wildlife Authority.

It also provides for the establishment of two funds — a Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund and a Kenya Wildlife Service Endowment Fund — to cater for the maintenance of national parks and to finance security operations as well as funding KWS.

The Bill proposes that the Wildlife Authority be similar to the Wildlife Division of Tanzania, which is said to subsist on revenues earned from issuing permits for different forms of wildlife use.

To raise its own income, the Wildlife Division of Tanzania has been increasing hunting quotas arbitrarily and sometimes in disregard of the state of wildlife population in the country.

Although it retains the ban on sport hunting, the Bill provides for culling and “cropping” or killing of excess wildlife for their products and trophies.

“Subject to the rules and regulations made under this section, the Minister may grant cropping to be undertaken in game farming and ranching operations,” it states.

It assigns the Wildlife Authority the role of keeping records of trophies obtained from cropping and culling operations and gives the relevant minister powers to “authorise local processing and sale of wildlife trophies from the cropping activities.”

It also allows individuals to sell wild animals, which they host in their farms.

“The Minister may, on recommendation of the Authority, grant sale of live animals… in game farming operations which shall be done under the supervision of the Kenya Wildlife Service and in consultation with the respective regional wildlife conservation committee.”

The Bill also establishes an air wing within KWS to be managed by a board, that can be authorised by the KWS director to operate commercial services.

And in a departure from past laws, the Bill provides for bioprospecting or research and exploration of wild biological resources for commercial purposes.

It prevents individuals and companies (both local and foreign) from exporting such material from the country or from engaging in bioprospecting schemes without due permits from the Wildlife Authority.

“No person may, without a permit from the Authority, engage in bioprospecting involving any wildlife resources; or export from Kenya any wildlife resources for the purpose of bioprospecting or any other kind of research, valuable genetic and biochemical resources.”

This is designed to stem the plunder of Kenya’s natural resources that has been going on without any action being taken by the relevant authorities.