Farmers in Limo area of Kapsoya Location, Eldoret are a worried lot after a strange animal attacked and killed their livestock.

One farmer, Alicen Koech, lost three sheep on Tuesday night, to the animal believed to be a leopard. It is also suspected that the same animal is responsible for the loss of more than 20 animals reported in the area.

“The animal just killed the sheep, sucked their blood and left. It appeared uninterested in the meat,” said Koech, who appealed to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to help arrest it.

Leopards are stealthy and solitary hunters that prefer to pounce rather than chase their prey. While they generally do not pose danger to humans, they will kill most other animals, including dogs.

Damage everywhere

Livestock losses to predators has been the cause of clashes between Kenyan farmers and wild animals in various parts of the country.  

Recently, the , CS of the Ministry of Environment Natural Resources, Prof Judi Wakhungu, promised to work with the County Governments to deal with human-wildlife conflict.

Wakhungu’s pledge was prompted by the closure of the Taita Taveta KWS office following rampant attacks on area residents by elephants.

The community office was shut down by County Governor John Mruttu over what was termed as laxity on the part of rangers in preventing wild animals from wandering into residential areas.

The Ministry conducted a background check and confirmed that the conflict was real and advised farmers to adopt some traditional strategies such as bee-keeping to scare off the jumbos.