Horrific footage shows cattle rotting in the sun as Kenya battles drought

The climate crisis is hitting the poorest nations the hardest.

This video shows dead cattle rotting in a field – the latest victims of Kenya’s ongoing drought.

Rain has failed for two seasons in the east African country, leaving families without enough food and water. It also has snuffed out pasture for livestock, crippling herder communities throughout the nation.

In September, Nairobi and aid agencies estimated that 2.1 million people in 10 counties were affected by the drought. The numbers are expected to rise to 2.4 million by this month, relief agencies reported.

The harrowing footage was taken by Kevin Mtai, a climate campaigner from Pokot in Kenya.

He said: “In Kenya we have contributed less carbon emissions, but we are the ones paying the highest price.

“Animals are dying and people are suffering because of the climate crisis.”

Experts warn that such climate shocks will become more common across Africa, which contributes the least to global warming, but will suffer from it the most.

Mohamed Mohamud, a ranger from the Sabuli Wildlife Conservancy, looks at the carcass of a giraffe that died from hunger (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

“We do not have a spare planet in which we will seek refuge once we have succeeded in destroying this one,” the executive director of East Africa’s Intergovernmental Authority on Development, Workneh Gebeyehu, said last month.

Gabriel Ekaale, a policy officer for the World Food Programme based in Lodwar told Sky News: "It’s estimated about 600,000 members of the population in Turkana County are in need of food or cash assistance.”

Kenya’s Catholic Bishops met in Nairobi this week to ask the country’s Catholic faithful to donate food to regions affected by severe drought, the Vatican News reports.

They released an open letter stating: “It is becoming clear that the frequent droughts that we are experiencing in many parts of our country are as a result of global climate change and environmental degradation.

“Here in Kenya, it seems our model of development has led to a culture of degradation of our environment and the depletion of our natural resources.”