WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JANUARY 15,
CONTACT: Karen de Seve
718-220-5197 [email protected]
**Press Release**
URBAN SPRAWL IN KENYA A ROADBLOCK TO WILDLIFE TRAVEL
Traffic is fierce just outside of Nairobi's city limits when the seasons change in Kenya. There, people give way to the horns of black rhinos and the rumble of wildebeest, while steering clear of cheetahs that can out-speed a Ferrari. This is the only route out of Nairobi National Park, the northernmost stop along East Africa's second greatest wildlife migration.
Acting as Nairobi's own wildlife traffic cop, Dr. Helen Gichohi of the Wildlife Conservation Society controls the flow of travelers -- both four-legged and four-wheeled. A protege of Dr. David Western, she is concerned about the urban sprawl of Nairobi's one million people that butts up against the national park. Developers continue to sell parcels of land along migration routes, leaving elephants, warthogs and gazelles little choice but to stomp through housing sub-divisions.
To minimize such human/wildlife conflicts, Dr. Gichohi coordinates aerial surveys of animal movements, and ground surveys of land use by humans. She is fundraising to buy land otherwise sold to builders, as a means to conserve the migration route along the Kitengela plain, south of Nairobi National Park. Dr. Gichohi is also conducting workshops with the Maasai Mara, the famed nomadic ranchers of the plains, to address conservation and education issues.
Dr. Gichohi will bring to life the spectacles of East Africa's plains in her talk, "Conservation Through Compromise: Learning to Live with Wildlife," on Tuesday, January 28, 1997 at the California Academy of Sciences. She will be available for interviews in San Francisco during that week. For media tickets and information, contact Karen de Seve or Stephen Sautner at the Wildlife Conservation Society. For all other details, contact the California Academy of Sciences at 415-750-7128. PHOTOS, VIDEO AVAILABLE.
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VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.WCS.ORG Wildlife Conservation Society; 185th Street and Southern Blvd., Bronx, New York 10460; 718-220-5197
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