Rongai Sub-County Commissioner David Motari has warned residents of Solai against the wanton killing of wild animals in the area.
The sub-county boss cautioned the residents against the illegal hunting of python snakes that inhabit the slopes of Menengai crater in the area saying that his office had received reports that some villagers were deliberately baiting the huge snakes before killing them for traditional medicine purposes.
The commissioner, while addressing residents at Solai market centre on Monday afternoon after attending a security meeting in the area told area police, chief and sub-chief to be on the lookout and arrest people who were poaching pythons.
He said the law was clear on how people should handle wild animals but not in the careless manner some residents were doing.
“Although there is a problem of human-wildlife conflicts in various parts of the country, some of you I have reports, are deliberately hunting down pythons for medicine. This is illegal and must stop before the law catches up,” he warned.
Motari said that some local indigenous people believe that python meat can cure some ailments and that was why they were killing the animals in pretext that they were posing a danger to their lives.
He said local traditionalists were the prime suspects in the illegal activity that is threatening to wipe out the wild animals.