The KWS has launched a ground and air operation to move out hundreds of elephants terrorising Sagalla residents in Taita Taveta county.
KWS branch assistant director Julius Cheptei on Thursday said a contingent from the Problem Animal Control Unit hase been deployed.
He said the elephant problem has been compounded by absence of an electric fence between Tsavo West National park and Sagalla.
Farmers said the Kenya Wildlife Service ignored their appeals for help.
Cheptei said the area is a migration corridor for elephants crossing from Mkomanzi Park in Tanzania to the Tsavo National Park in Kenya.
“In the last two weeks we drove out more than 250 elephants, but since it is a migration season, we are unable to control them,” he said.
“We drive them away but they still come back.”
Cheptei said the KWS is searching for a durable solution.
“We are planning to put up an electric fence to prevent wildlife from invading the villages neighbouring the Tsavo National Park,” he said.
On Monday night, a woman —Florence Wangai — allegedly died of a heart attack when she found a group of elephants invading her farm in Mgange village, Sagalla ward.
“The marauding elephants destroy houses, water pipes, crops and anything they come across. We now fear for our lives because the animals are a security threat,” villager Cromwel Mwachai said.
Residents complained the marauding jumbos have in effect imposed a curfew.
Students are forced to stay indoors instead of going to school.
Cheptei said KWS and the community are mapping human-wildlife conflict hotspots.
Trackers will monitor the movement of elephants and report to officers for action.
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