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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Peter Muiruri

Poison, persecution and people: why Kenya’s raptors are disappearing

A white-backed vulture prepares to land on wildebeest carcasses floating in the Masai Mara River, Kenya.
A white-backed vulture prepares to land on wildebeest carcasses floating in the Masai Mara River, Kenya. Photograph: Andre Marais/Alamy

Darcy Ogada rarely spots raptors​ from her home in central Kenya any more. ​The birds were once ​a ​common​ ​​sight in the industrial town of Thika, 25 miles (40km) north of Nairobi, but the ​region’s ​forests are rapidly declining, and the few remaining raptor populations face the added threats of poison and persecution.

“It is a disaster,” says Ogada, “Every day I go out of the house and look into the sky, I am disappointed. I might see the extinction of these birds in my lifetime.”

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