Cattle owners in Nzoia and Kongoni locations in Likuyani Sub County are troubled by rampant cases of animal theft in the area. Speaking to West Media, the residents said they are spending sleepless nights in fear of losing their livestock which are stolen and slaughtered at night. They said in the last one month they have lost about eight cows to thieves who are raiding their homes regularly.
In a Tuesday night incident Mr. Patrick Wamukota’s lactating dairy cow worth over Kshs 80,000 was stolen from his Furfural home in Kongoni location before its carcasses were found in a neighbor’s farm. According to Mr. Wamukota, he discovered his cow missing from the shed at about 11pm and raised an alarm that attracted the attention of neighbors who came out to help him search for it.
He said after about an hour of searching, the found people skinning it inside his neighbor’s farm but the suspects managed to escape leaving the carcass behind. Wamukota regretted the incident saying his cow had just delivered two weeks ago and he really depended on its milk to support his family.
The incident comes less than a month after another resident, Mr. Edward Brown, lost his heifer calf a few meters from Wamukota’s compound. After searching, they only found the head and an unborn calf abandoned in a nearby thicket.
Similar incidents have been reported in Soy Sambu and and Lwanda area in the neighboring Nzoia location where six cows have been stolen and slaughtered. Residents are now calling for patrols to be beefed up in the area to assured them their security and that of their property. They said it was surprising that despite the ongoing dusk to dawn curfew they continued to lose their animals at night.