Note: Kenya pays families of someone killed by wildlife Sh200,000, or US$2,397 at today's exchange rate. Survivors are paid Sh50,000 or $599. -- BQ


Kenya: Boys Savaged by Crocodile Broke the Law -KWS

Musembi Nzengu29 April 2011

Two Mwingi boys gored by a killer crocodile at Ikime area on the Tana River three weeks ago will not be compensated after all. Kenya Wildlife Services officers in Mwingi ruled out compensation for the boys because they were attacked within the Mwingi North National Game Reserve -a protected area.

"It is true that the boy's father has launched a claim with us, but there is no way the injured boys will be compensated because they were attacked at Ikime area which is way deep into the Mwingi North nationals reserve," said the incoming KWS officer in-charge of Mwingi Jackson Lelelit.

Lelelit and his deputy Fredrick Owino said that the law was clear that those who venture into restricted game park areas without permission are never compensated in the event they are attacked or killed by wild animals.

Owino, who was previously in charge of the KWS sub-station at Tseikuru where the attack happened, said that denying compensation for people who encroached in the game reserve illegally was not new as in 2009 a man who was killed by a jumbo was not paid.

"The poor young boys face the same fate because they were attacked as they watered their goats in crocodile infested Ikime area inside a no-go area. In fact, by law the boys are regarded as the ones who broke the law," pointed Owino.

Fifteen-year-old Mwangangi Mutunga and his younger brother, Mutia, 6, mysteriously fought and disentangle themselves from the fatal jaws of a ferocious crocodile on April 9.

The two lucky boys - initially admitted with serious injuries at the Mwingi district hospital following the narrow escaped - have since been discharged and gone back the Kamuthanga village home in Kaningo location of Tseikuru district.

Mutunga, is a standard two pupil while Mutia is in nursery school. Both attend classes at Kisiuni Primary School.

Their mother Rose Mutunga, 35, said she thanked God for her sons. She said she shudders at the thought she could have lost two of her five children in one day.

She vowed never to let her children close to Tana River. "The attack was an ominous pointer that the Ikime water point is a death trap that we should be extra careful about," she said.