At least 225 wildlife attack victims in Tana River County have received Sh172 million from Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) as monetary compensation.
The compensation scheme administered by the KWS covers death, injury and property damage as a result of human-wildlife conflict.
In Tana River, human-wildlife conflict is a recurrent phenomenon where the animals have become a menace as they stray into villages in search of water and forage, where they destroy farmlands.
The money processed between 2024 and 2026 was handed over to the beneficiaries in Hola town by John Chumo, the Conservation Secretary at the State Department for Wildlife in the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife.
Chumo revealed that the Sh172 million to the 225 beneficiaries were claims dating back 10 years, with more cases still pending.
The monetary compensation for the loss of human life, injury, crop and property damage by wild animals is a strategy for mitigating the human wildlife conflict. KWS compensates victims of human-wildlife conflict for injuries, death or property damage with Sh950 million released early this year for ongoing claims across the country.
The Compensation claims offer up to Sh5 million for death and Sh3 million for injury with new digital systems set to be launched to speed up payments with victims required to report incidents to KWS within 24 hours to initiate the process.
“The new digital system has already been piloted in six hotspot counties and would soon be rolled out nationally in a bid to scale up efforts to compensate victims in a fair and timely manner,” he said.
He said the new digital system will cut down bureaucratic bottlenecks and enable settlement of compensation claims within three months. Dr Chumo said the compensation is designed to alleviate the financial burden on families especially in rural areas often impacted by wild animals.
He said encroachment by wildlife into human settlements and humans into animal sanctuaries were the major causes of human-wildlife conflict across the country. “Communities also need to open up wildlife migratory corridors to minimise human wildlife interactions,” he said.
He said climate-change is acting as a significant threat driving increasing human-wildlife conflicts besides destroying habitats and pushing both wildlife and communities into closer contact causing competition over scarce resources.
Chumo said the compensation programme underscores the government’s continued commitment to supporting affected communities while fostering coexistence between people and wildlife. The Conservation Secretary says the National Government has set aside more than Sh1 billion to compensate victims of human-wildlife conflicts.
Chumo said compensation for human losses is essential to foster positive community attitudes toward wildlife conservation. He said the compensation initiative is a crucial step towards fostering a harmonious coexistence between people and wildlife besides ensuring sustainable conservation practices.
“The compensation scheme with compassion and empathy seeks to alleviate the cost of coexistence between communities and wildlife,” he said, adding that KWS is shifting towards a digital platform to process these cases more efficiently.
Chumo said while it’s painful to lose human lives due to human-wildlife conflict, he nonetheless urged those receiving money to invest it well to turn around their economic fortunes. “We want the beneficiaries to use the compensation funds prudently so as to rebuild their lives,” he said.
Chumo reaffirmed the government’s commitment to reducing cases of human-wildlife conflict through various interventions, including the installation of electric fences in hotspot areas such as Garsen, Kipini, and Bura in Tana River county that borders Tsavo East national park.
Other strategies he said are strengthening and equipping KWS rapid response units, promoting community conservancies, and enhancing public education and awareness programmes.
He further encouraged devolved governments to align land use planning with conservation priorities and urged communities to embrace conservation initiatives as a sustainable approach to protecting both livelihoods and wildlife.
Tana River Senator, Danson Mungatana, who accompanied Chumo decried delays in processing payments and underscored the need for more effective and faster payment.
Mungatana said the government needs to take steps to expedite compensation payments for victims of human-wildlife conflict.
“It’s not fair to delay the compensation process because as it is now it takes up to 10 years for victims of wildlife conflict to be compensated,” he said.
The senator noted that many people impacted by human-wildlife conflict often suffer in silence due to persistent delays in processing monetary compensations.
