Residents of Kilimambogo, Thika East have threatened to storm the area National Park and take the dead Hippo which was killed on Tuesday by the area police in partnership with Kenya Wildlife Service officers.
According to the residents, they have hustled and tussled to make their ends meet which proved to be impossible since the area is invaded with drought and is considered a semi-arid area.
Led by Assistant Chief Justus Kiura, the irate residents have threatened to forcefully enter the park if the KWS will not give the meat for them to make a meal out of it.
Kiura said that the residents have been starving and the food which the area Member of Parliament Alice Ng’ang’a gave them a few weeks ago was not plenty and they cannot seat back and watch their families die out of hanger yet there is meal in the game park.
“We have been starving and we appeal to the KWS officers to expedite the post-mortem so that we could get meat from the hippo,” said Kiura.
He added that the officials in the KWS should expedite the post-mortem which they promised to undertake and give the residents the feedback to ease the tension within the people of Kilimambogo.
However, Chief Warden KWS officer Thomas Kiong’i has thwarted the effort of the residents and urged them to remain calm since the hippo’s meet is yet to have an approval from a veterinary officer before they could release it to the villagers.
Kiong’i who was speaking on Tuesday at Kilimambogo said that the laws guarding the KWS is very vigilant and he would not like to lose his job just to benefit hungry villagers who risk their lives.
He has promised to give them the meat once it is proven by the doctor that it is healthy for human consumption.
The hippo survived five bullets before the reinforcement of the police finally managed to put it down today (Tuesday) morning.