Hundreds of Maasai in the town of Leleshwa Narok, near the Maasai-Mara National Park in southwest Kenya, protested the proposed export of 175 wild animals from Kenya to Thailand on December 16. According to a report in The East African Standard, the Maasai said "they were the gatekeepers of the wild animals [who] had lived with and protected them since time immemorial." A petition opposing the export of the animals has already been signed by 15,000 individuals in the community. "We don’t want our wild animals being kept in captivity and we don’t want to see them performing tricks in zoos or circuses," the petition read. The arrangement between the two governments was made during a November visit to Kenya by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who wants to use the animals to establish a tourism project in his hometown, Reuters News Agency reports. The animals scheduled for export include giraffes, buffalo, flamingos, and gazelles, none of them endangered species. Conservationists and community members remain strongly opposed to the arrangement, however. "We have been given a raw deal and we are ready to defend the animals with the few weapons we have," Pauline Naneu Kinyarkuo, from the Kenya Wildlife Conservation (KWC) and Management Network, told Reuters. KWC national chairman Sidney Quntai stated that the Maasai community was not consulted in this decision. Instead of exporting natural resources like wild animals, Quntai suggested encouraging tourism within the country to fight poverty instead of promoting growth in other countries, The East African Standard reports.
