Tourism CS Najib Balala has suspended six officials of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) after death of 10 black rhinos.
The endangered rhinos were translocated from Nairobi and Lake Nakuru National Parks to Tsavo East National Park Rhino Sanctuary.
In a statement, Balala termed the grounds for the suspension as “unacceptable professional negligence,”.
He added that disciplinary action would be taken against the officials by the KWS board.
The suspended officials are: Dr. Samuel Kasiki (Deputy Director Biodiversity, Research & Monitoring), Dr. Francis Gakuya (Head of Veterinary and Capture Services), Dr. Isaac Leekolol (Head of Capture Services) who was accused of improper care of the animals at the holding BOMA with total disregard of the welfare of the animals.
Also suspended was Mr. Felix Mwangangi (Senior Warden Tsavo East) who was accused of showing total disconnect on the exercise between Tsavo East National Park management and the capture operation team at the sanctuary.
Head of ecological Monitoring Dr. Mohammed Omar was accused of failing to provide the salinity level monitoring to the translocation planning team.