Stray elephant kills 2 farmers in Baringo


By Alex Kiprotich


Two people were on Wednesday morning killed by a stray elephant in Kapluk centre, Baringo District.

The elephant, which is believed to be from Lake Kamnarok Game Reserve, wreaked havoc in the villages around Kapluk and caused panic among the residents. Baringo police boss, Peter Njenga, who led a security team to comb the area, confirmed the dead as David Sumukwo, 40, and David Samoei.

He said the elephant attacked Sumukwo at around 7am, killing him on the spot before attacking Samoei 30 minutes later at a separate location.

"In both incidents, the victims died instantly," Njenga said.

He added that the terrain in the area delayed rescue efforts as the victims were attacked in thickets as they headed for their farms. It took police officers about seven hours to recover the badly mutilated bodies.

By 6pm on Wednesday, the 10 Kenya Wildlife Service wardens sent to track down the animal had not found it.

"The KWS team will continue combing the area until they get the animal and drive it back to the game reserve," said Njenga.

The two bodies were taken to Kabarnet District Hospital mortuary.

Last month, four elephants got stuck in mud in the area for three days before KWS wardens rescued them. One of the elephants that was pregnant, died hours after the rescue operation.

Somebody please tell me how four elephants getting stuck in the mud for three days and a pregnant one dying has anything to do with this killer rogue ele squishing a couple of natives?(I can see a story line coming. . . . )

My thoughts exactly, Use Enough Gun! Looks to me like the writer of this article might be creative enough to work for some of the liberal myopic press in this country. It's not enough to tell the story of these poor fellas getting killed, there has to be some political statement justifying what the ele's did.