Last night CBS showed the follow up to their 60 minutes program on the misuse of Furadan, to poison lions and other wildlife in Kenya. Click here to read about the program and watch the video.
We are very grateful to CBS for publicizing the devastating effects that Furadan poisoning has had on lions and other African wildlife. Until the 60 minutes program aired, the manufacturer of Furadan had consistently denied all the evidence of massive wildlife deaths due to its misuse. Immediately following the broadcast, they withdrew it from the Kenya market and farmers have switched to less dangerous products for legitimate pest control needs.
This was a tremendous victory for conservation, but carbofuran, the generic version of Furadan, is made by other companies and can be imported under different trade names. Carbofuran is banned in Europe, and in the process of being banned in the US.
We and other conservationists insist that the governments of Kenya and other countries must take the essential further step of banning the importation and manufacture of carbofuran under any name.
Wildlife in Africa is declining rapidly due to human population growth and lack of effective conservation measures. Banning lethal poisons is one simple step by which governments can protect their dwindling natural resources.
We have just heard the news that Furadan, the agricultural chemical and poison that is being used to kill wildlife, in particular hyenas, lions and vultures, has been withdrawn from sale in the areas of Africa where there are predators. Distributors have been asked to buy back stocks and we hope that it will no longer be on the shelves within 8 weeks! We hope we will never again have to see any beautiful lions in this state again.
This is fantastic news, and we are all looking forward to the day when we can go into a shop and ask for Furadan, and will not be able to purchase it. We are sending people out today to ask whether it is still available and see whether the shops have heard any news about its withdrawal. I’ll let you know what we find out.
Well done to everyone at Wildlife Direct and CBS 60 minutes who brought this story to the attention of the general public.
I have been very interested to read all the comments and different people’s views on Furadan, on this blog, on the CBS 60 minutes page, and on the Stop the manufacture of Furadan Facebook group. What do you think? Should we be blaming the manufacturers for producing this poison, or the Government for allowing it to be sold here in Kenya when it has been banned in other countries, (I now hear that it is now banned here but we still see it on the shop shelves) or should we be blaming the people here who are using it to kill wildlife, like this beautiful lion, that sadly died from poisoning.
Tell us what you think!
Whatever your view on Furadan, I would like to thank you very much for your donations, which will directly help the work of the Lion Guardians here in Kenya. The project is completely funded by donations and grants, and the money you donate will go towards paying the salaries of the Guardians, their equipment and training, and all the other costs of running this project here in Maasailand.
All the Guardians are extremely grateful for the support they receive from blog readers, and are so excited that they are being supported from the other side of the world! Here are Lion Guardians Kapande and Koikai.
We are currently expanding the program to two neighbouring ranches where lion killing and the use of poisons to kill wildlife is still widespread, so your donations are needed now more then ever. THANK YOU!
We hope that a lot of people watched 60 minutes last night and are eager to find out about the lions here in Maasailand, and what the Lion Guardians are doing to save them. If you missed it you can watch it here, and view the comments about whether a poison like Furadan should be still sold here in Kenya, when in other countries it has been banned because of its dangerous nature. I believe there must be other ways for crops to be treated for pests, and we do not need to use the kind of control that can also kill lions, and even people!
I have some great news for you about our Mbirikani lions. Yesterday we had a second report of the three young lion cubs that Lion Guardian Koikai reported to us a few weeks ago! The cubs are still small, probably around 3 or 4 months old, and although we don’t have a photo of them, we are told they are around the size of these cubs below.
We went to track in the area that they were spotted in, and did not pick up any signal, so it seems like we have a new female on our ranch, as well as the new cubs! I hope we can find them again soon, and bring you some photographs.Â
We are very excited that the CBS program 60 minutes featuring the Lion Guardians will be shown on TV in the US this Sunday March 29th at 7pm Eastern Time. It will also be available to watch on the internet at http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml soon after. The program is all about wildlife poisoning, and Bob Simon and his team came to the Chyulu Hills to find out about lion poisoning in our area and how we work to stop wildlife being killed.
Wildlife poisoning is an extremely urgent issue – it is very easy and cheap to buy the agricultural pesticide carbofuran (Furadan) and sadly it can easily kill any animal you would like it to. Many people in Maasailand are using it to kill carnivores, and we have even heard reports that it has been used by a man to kill his father.
Across Kenya there are more and more cases of wildlife, especially carnivores, being killed with poison. It is also destroying vulture populations, as they feast on poisoned carcasses too.
We are very glad that CBS 60 minutes visited Kenya to highlight this important issue, and we hope that the program will make people sit up and listen. Our hope is that no one will be able to buy this substance anymore, and it will be replaced in shops with a pesticide that cannot be used to kill wildlife.
Have a look at our web page on lion poisoning on the Living with Lions website: http://www.livingwithlions.org/lion-poisoning.html, and please tell all your friends to watch 60 minutes. Thank you!
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My name is Antony Kasanga, Lion Guardians Co-ordinator on Mbirikani Group Ranch. 
My name is Eric Ole Kesoi, Lion Guardians Co-ordinator on Eselenkei and Olgulului Group Ranches.
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