Five herders in Kajiado county have been injured by the stray leopard.
County Senior warden Muteru Njauni has confirmed the incident noting the KWS will compensate the affected families.
” KWS will assess all the costs that the victim will have incurred and make a report to the County Wildlife Conservation and Compensation committee to verify the claims for the victims to be compensated,” she said.
James Sisika, 25 a victim said that he was attacked while grazing early in the morning.
“It was before 5 pm when I was looking after my livestock when a leopard attacked the flock,” he said adding that the leopard pounced his hand when he tried to scare it away.
Nicholas Pitet who sustained bruises on his hands and on the rib said the villagers were now living in fear of attacks from the leopard and cannot move around freely.
“Nowadays we can’t move around freely during the day or at night especially at this time when our children are at home for holidays they can’t go to graze the animals due to fear of being attacked by the carnivore .We have to accompany our wives to fetch water at the river because that’s where the leopard awaits its prey,” Pitet said.
Among the five, two have already been discharged while the three are still recuperating at the Kajiado County referral hospital.
Cases of human-animal conflict have always been a common occurrence in Kajiado County as the county is surrounded by three national parks; Nairobi, Amboseli, and Tsavo.