Kenyan game wardens kill three stray elephants
Date: 27-Mar-03
Country: KENYA
Wildlife official Daniel Onsembe said a three-year old child burnt to death in a blazing house because villagers were too frightened of the elephants to fight the flames.
Two people were injured when they were trampled underfoot by crowds running for safety from the huge animals, and six schools had to be evacuated.
"It is very sad that they had to be shot," Assistant Environment Minister Wangari Maathai told Reuters.
"In such a case, the warders must have had to make a quick decision to kill the elephants to prevent people from being killed. But I would much rather if they had been able to sedate the animals for relocation."
Onsembe said trying to drive the pachyderms back to their protected home in Mount Kenya National Park would have been too dangerous.
"It would have been risky for the people living in these areas to try to herd the animals through," he said.
Elephants are a valuable tourist attraction in the east African country but have an uneasy relationship with communities living next to game reserves, sometimes causing death or injury and destroying crops.
