Crops

The cagey beast sucks blood from the sheep leaving them to die a slow painful death.

Farmers in Kenya’s bread basket of Uasin Gishu County are counting losses over a spate of attacks on their livestock especially sheep by a mysterious animal. The cagey beast sucks blood from the sheep leaving them to die a slow painful death.

More than 50 sheep in different homesteads within Kesses constituency have so far been attacked and killed by the beast in a span of two weeks. Local farmers are now in a panic mode as the beast unleashes terror at night when everybody is fast asleep.

The cost of one sheep in Eldoret town is approximately Ksh. 6500 but the price varies depending on seasons. The farmers have thus incurred losses of more than 325,000 shillings.

The farmers from Asururiet village are threatening to take the law into their hands as the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) have not responded to their grievances despite repeated pleas to take action.

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“We are calling on all relevant agencies to act before we lose all our animals” says Philip Kemboi, one of the affected farmers who lost eighteen (18) sheep.

The Kenya Wildlife Service has however distributed compensation forms to the farmers to avert the losses incurred by the farmers.

Veterinary officers in the area have warned farmers to avoid consuming the meat of the affected animals as consuming it would endanger their lives.

Uasin Gishu County Veterinary services director Joseph Njuguna said the county government would dispose the carcasses by burning them to prevent the possibility of disease transmission.