Wildlife poachers in Kenya 'to face death penalty'

Kenya is known for its magnificent grassy plains, beautiful bush, Masai people and unbelievable wildlife. If you’ve lucky enough to go on safari in Kenya you will see huge herds of elephant, prides of lion, leopard, cheetah, buffalo and all the plains game. But all is not as magical as it appears. Because poaching in Kenya is an enormous problem.

If you look closely, you will find one too many a rhinos’ graveyard. And many have encountered scenes of elephant slaughter. Poachers in Kenya are ruthless. They often work for a pittance, while the people who employing them are making a small fortune.

Kenyan authorities have had enough. They have tried to stop poaching through education, but that does not work. Mostly because the people at the top of the poaching syndicates are not Kenyan and nobody is educating them. The syndicates operate in Asia, mainly Hong Kong and Vietnam, and are pretty powerful.


Up until now, poachers found operating in Kenya have received heavy fines, sometimes up to USD 200 thousand. A local poacher could never pay this amount of money, but poaching kingpins can. The Kenyan government has had to change their tactics though, because fining poachers is not enough.

Poachers can now get the death sentence. This has made the relationship between Kenya and the United Nations fragile, as the UN opposes the death penalty. The UN have called for the death penalty to be abolished worldwide. Yet Kenya are seeing one rhino after another being killed, and still finding herds of elephant who have been shot. If fines don't deter poachers, maybe the death penalty will.


The death penalty has not yet been made law in Kenya but the Government are working towards it. Remember, it’s not just elephant and rhino in danger. Lion, Leopard, buffalo, antelope and the beautiful pangolin are in trouble too. The Kenyans have waged are on poaching and it’s probably about time too.