15 Elephants? Think Of The Trophy Fees They Would Have Brought In...

Not to mention the meat they wouls have provided local villages.But white Western liberal squamishness over hunting condemned them to a lingering death instead.

But Duncan Juma, communications director of Kenya's wildlife service, ruled out human-wildlife conflict in the death of the elephants, saying 'the community loves these animals.'

Really? Even the ones who risk being trampled by them when they go to harvest what crops the marauding herds have left to them? Of course, Juma lives and works in air-conditioned comfort in a city, so he would say that, wouldn’t he? 

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, or IFAW, said the recent suspected cyanide poisoning highlights the urgent need to tackle the underlying causes of human-wildlife conflict. 'As people and elephants increasingly share space, protecting wildlife and safeguarding communities' livelihoods must go hand in hand,' IFAW wrote in a statement.

They are incompatible. The elephant has no value to the rural African, if he cannot benefit from the trophy fees or the meat from a licensed hunt.

Last season alone, Muchai said elephants destroyed about half an acre of his tomato crop, costing him an estimated 500,000 Kenya shillings (£2,867). 'We have lived with these animals for years. They eat our crops, and many of us have never received compensation,' he said. 

Surprising? Not at all. 

Another farmer, Rymondy Mrosso, also questioned whether pesticides used by local farmers could explain the deaths and wondered why only elephants appeared to have been affected.

They have to eat a huge quantity of food per day. That would account for it.