KWS Officers Kill man as they Engage Stray Elephants in Timboroa.

The elephants crossing the busy Eldoret, Nakuru highway at Timboroa. Photo/COURTESY

It was grief and sorrows in Timboroa area, border of Baringo and Uasin Gishu counties after the Kenya Wildlife Service Officers accidentally shot dead a 65-year-old man when engaging a group of 5 stray elephants who are said to have escaped from a Laikipia conservancy.

Confirming the incident, Tomboroa Location chief, Jacob Njehia, said the victim, Julius Mwenda Kihara, a potato trader, had died on the spot after getting struck by a stray bullet.

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A group of five Elephants currently roaming through Timboroa Forest towards Ainabkoi in Eldoret. PHOTO/COURTESY

The incident comes at a time when the herd comprising five male elephants injured a 19-year-old man, Emmanuel Kipchumba, who was said to be herding his cattle in Timboroa Forest at the time of the attack.

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The boy from Sigowet village in Timboroa was injured after he allegedly tried to massage one of the five Elephants on a rampage passing through the area. Kipchumba was rushed to Eldama Ravine Sub-County Referral Hospital.

The victim’s father, Simion Chepyegon, has appealed to KWS to foot his son’s medical bill. On Thursday morning, panic gripped residents of Timboroa after the elephants were seen wandering around Timboroa Forest dam.

Reports that the elephants escaped from a Laikipia conservancy have been refuted by Laikipia West game warden, Joel Kanda, who says he suspects that the animals could have escaped from game reserves in either Rimoi or Kapnarok in Baringo and Elgeyo-Marakwet counties.

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Motorists using the Timboroa-Eldoret Road and residents of Timboroa Town have been urged to exercise caution. The incident comes at a time when the KWS announced that it had managed to have successfully captured and returned to the park a lion believed to have strayed from Lake Nakuru National Park.

Image may contain: sky, grass, outdoor and nature

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