Kenya’s Wildlife Flee To Somalia Amid Al-Shabab Conflict

Wild elephants, lions, leopards, giraffe, buffalo and ostriches have been spotted in Somalia’s Lower Jubba area in the first sightings of the animals in the east African country in decades. Aljazeera reports:

The animals are believed to have been displaced from Kenya’s Boni forest by ongoing security operations against the armed group al-Shabab that operates in the area.
Boni forest, which is a national reserve for conservation, borders Somalia.
“The animals are coming back in large numbers. Inside the town we have ostriches walking around. Leopards and elephants are just outside the town,” Farah Haybe, Badaade district commissioner, told Al Jazeera.
The densely forested area used to be home to herds of wild animals and birds until the start of the Somali war in 1991 which led to unabated poaching.
The animals which escaped the poachers, migrated across the border in to Kenya. But with sense of normalcy now returning to Somalia the animals’ fortunes seems to be changing.