Dik-dik numbers in Taita Hills pushed to near extinction

The startling drop in number of the small antelope in Kenya raises deep concern

By Janet Murikira, for Baraka FM

Dik-dik antelope numbers at the 28,000 acre Taita Hills Sanctuary, located about 136 miles from Kenya's coastal town of Mombasa, have been decreasing steadily leaving conservationists worried that they could be pushed to extinction.

There are four species of Dik-dik; Gunthers, which are found mostly in parts of Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya; the Kirks, which is endemic to Namibia and parts of Southern Kenya; the Silver found in parts of Somalia; and the Salts dik-dik found in the Horn of Africa and South Sudan.

Dik-diks are one of the smallest types antelopes that have been listed as “least concern” by the International Union of Conservation for Nature (IUCN), a sharp contradiction to the situation at the Taita hills sanctuary.

According to Donart Mwakio, the Sanctuary's assistant warden, habitat loss and poaching are major factors that have contributed to the decrease in Dik-dik numbers.

“We used to have wooded bushland and thicket but currently the ecosystem is turning into a grassland,” says Mwakio.

Dik-dik antelopes are normally found in areas with some bushland. The current vegetation change and degradation of major rivers in the region has left the small mammals vulnerable to predators like Jackals.

But these predators aren't the only threat, hunting has also been a big problem in the area.

“Dik-diks play a whistle like sound to alert others whenever they feel threatened and hunters whistle to smoke them out from their hiding places” Mwakio adds.

Conservation organisation, Wildlife Direct last year released the report ‘Eyes in the courtroom’ in October 2018, detailing the 428 arrests directly involving wildlife species that were made in the years of 2016 and 2017 in Kenya. Out of these cases, 59 were related to possession of Dik-dik meat and body part. 1,958 arrests made in the same period with 776 being in the Taita Taveta County where the Sanctuary is located.

However, the current population of Dik-diks at the sanctuary is not known, a phenomenon Mwakio attributes to the proximity of the sanctuary to Tsavo East and the Tsavo West national parks.

This article is reproduced here as part of the Giants Club African Conservation Journalism Fellowships, a programme of the charity Space for Giants and supported by the owner of ESI Media, which includes independent.co.uk. It aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate. Read the original story here