Two game rangers have been shot dead in Kenya’s restive north while on a mission to recover stolen cattle.

For the last year, Laikipia, one of Kenya’s most important wildlife regions, has been the scene of vicious farm invasions and battles between private ranch owners and communities bordering them.

Tens of people have been killed or injured as a ravaging drought has driven armed nomadic herders into privately owned conservancies and farms. It is also believed the problem is driven by political tensions, in part due to the ethnic and geographic diversity of the area. Laikipia straddles counties divided by those who support the government, and those who oppose it, and tensions are particularly rife as the country prepares for its general election in August.

Land invasions have been gathering pace in the last few years, and in many cases wildlife, and those who protect it, are unfortunate victims of the violence.

In the most recent incident a group of more than 10 rangers and several other cattle owners pursued stolen heads of cattle after their land had been invaded by pastoralists. The group had reached a village on foot when they were attacked.



“They were pursuing seven heads of cattle ... The morans [traditional warriors] in the village attacked them thinking they were being attacked,” said Samuel Lekimaroro, the head of security at Northern Rangeland Trust (NRT) conservancy told Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation.

John Kisio, a survivor of the attack and owner of some of the cows that were stolen, told the Guardian that the ambush seemed to have been planned. “We told them who we were but they still shot at us,” Kisio said. He escaped with a broken arm and a gunshot wound to the leg.

“The two who died were shot from point blank range by the warriors who pursued us for more than a kilometre,” Kisio said, adding that he was saved when a villager intervened and convinced his would-be shooter not to pull the trigger.

The rangers were employees from three different ranches in Laikipia. One of the deceased was Panale Lenangoro, who has worked for West Gate conservancy since 2006. He was married and had five children.

The rangers are police reservists who have been given additional training by the ranches, effectively becoming ranch employees. Police reservists are community members given the mandate by government to act like law enforcement officers in areas that are hard to patrol. They can be employed by any other organisation but when need arises, perform police duties.

“This is an indication of how wildlife rangers’ roles are evolving in northern Kenya,” said Ian Craig, director of conservation for NRT, which supports the training and the deployment of rangers when required.

“The rangers were historically recruited and trained to protect wildlife, but given the proliferation of arms, and the drought, and the massive movement of livestock across the landscape, they are now finding themselves drawn into issues that are unconnected to wildlife,” Craig added.

On 9 December last year, a car in Kifuku ranch, also within Laikipia, with policemen on board was attacked by two armed bandits. More than 20 bullets hit the vehicle.

On the previous day, Agget ranch was attacked and 10 bulls stolen. Nearby Loisaba ranch had 17 steers stolen and 10 cows from Suiyan ranch and another 32 steers from Ol Maisor ranch were taken.

Estimates of the number of people killed in the violence so far range from 25 to 50, among them Tristan Voorspuy, a British army officer turned safari operator, shot dead on his horse while inspecting the damage caused by armed herders who had driven tens of thousands of cattle on his ranch.

In March, a senior Kenya Wildlife Service officer was shot dead and a ranger injured by suspected poachers at Galana Kulalu near the Tsavo East national park during a shootout with rangers. The death of the officer was the second in less than a month in one of Kenya’s most ecologically diverse parks troubled for decades by poachers.

“They are Kenya police reservists and as such they have a responsibility to help enforce law and order. Yes, that’s stopping poaching, but increasingly here it means dealing with stock theft, road banditry, and helping the regular police deal with general criminality,” Craig said.

More than 100 wildlife rangers die each year while carrying out their duties. They are often the victims of poachers or others seeking to exploit the resources and animals they protect.

This piece is part of a year-long series on Elephant Conservation – email us at elephant.conservation@theguardian.com