Sniffer dogs keep the wicked out of Laikipia villages

By WAINAINA NDUNG’U

Laikipia, Kenya: In the course of his administrative career, the chief of Ilpolei Location in Laikipia North, Stephen Putunoi, has never seen security so tight thanks to sniffer dogs owned by a neighbouring rancher.

He says the reality of a more secure area had not sunk into his mind until one morning in 2011, when a village shop was broken into and packets of maize flour, crates of soda, a stack of cigarette packs and money were stolen.

A furious Putunoi called a village baraza to address the issue and in the meeting, he says, he made remarks whose consequences worked miracles: he announced to villagers that he would call in sniffer dogs owned by a private rancher to help trace the lost items and the culprit.

“It was then that a fidgety youth confessed to having broken into the shop. He apologised and promised to make amends to the victim and the issue ended there,” says the chief.

Volunteer services

This illuminates how three sniffer dogs imported from America and Europe by Ol Jogi Limited, a wildlife conservancy, have changed things in the cattle rustling and poaching hotspot that is Laikipia North.

Ol Jogi General Manager John Weller says they first brought the sniffer bloodhounds for rhino protection in 1989; additional Belgian Malinois attack dogs were ordered from Europe last year.

Jamie Gaymer, the Wildlife Security Manager at Ol Jogi, calls the dogs “just another conservation tool”. He says while the dogs were initially brought in at a cost of Sh210,000 strictly for wildlife security, the need for excellent community liaison has seen them volunteer the canines to help settle nasty village cases.

“All that is needed is non-interfered evidence at the scene, such as a footprint or a piece of the suspect’s clothes or personal effects that the dogs can use to launch a trail,” says Gaymer.

Dol Dol OCS Bernard Ateba says the dogs are only used to solve communal crimes with the approval of local security and administration officials, even though Gaymer and 24 other Ol Jogi game wardens are officers in the National Police Reserve.

According to Mr Putunoi, the canines have given them a breakthrough in various criminal cases in the area and several suspects currently have cases at the Nanyuki law courts after the dogs sniffed them out.

These include two fatal highway hold-ups on the Dol Dol-Oldo Nyiro Highway in 2011 and 2012, and cattle rustling incidents at a ranch in Mukogondo owned by a Mohamed Ismail in 2011.

“In total, we have asked for the help of the tracking dogs 13 times in the last three years and none has been a disappointment,” says the chief.

According to the chief, after the 2011 highway hold-up between Ol Jogi and Oldo Nyiro in which one person was killed, tribal warfare between two communities in the area almost broke out.

“A matatu was travelling from Laikipia towards Isiolo and the occupants were mostly from Isiolo, including a child who was shot dead,” says the chief, adding that the community in Isiolo at first thought their Laikipia neighbours had waylaid their kinsmen until the dogs were called in and led them into a homestead in Isiolo implicating relatives of the deceased.

Laikipia North, which is largely inhabited by pastoral communities, is usually a melting point for deadly cattle rustling and the two raids at the Mukogondo Farm left one herder dead. However, five suspected rustlers were arrested after the dogs were deployed and two G3 and one AK 47 rifles recovered.

Beneficiary’s testimony

The chief says their biggest breakthrough against runaway crime in the area was on March 4, when rustlers stole 13 sheep from a manyatta near Naibor. Three of them were shot dead and two G3 rifles recovered after a quick deployment of the dogs. The rustlers had cut across Ol Jogi Ranch to get to the other side.

Carpenter Francis Meshame, 31, is one of the beneficiaries of the canines’ ingenuity after he was waylaid by three gun-wielding gangsters and violently robbed of a torch and his mobile phone in an evening.

“The next day, the chief asked for the sniffer dogs and we easily traced one of the suspects to a sand harvesting site in Mumonyot Location,” said Meshame. “The suspect was initially sentenced to hang for violent robbery but his charge was reduced to simple robbery on appeal and he is currently serving seven years’ imprisonment.”

Munichoi Village elder Soroko Koisikir, 56, says he was happy when the dogs helped trace food aid stolen from Ilpolei Primary School to a businessman’s house. He agreed to return the food and pay a fine.

Ol Jogi Community Development Manager Kimani Kuria says the help the dogs have given the community has enabled them preempt poaching through crucial intelligence at a time when attacks against prized wildlife such as elephants and rhinos have risen alarmingly.

“Although the dogs were initially brought in for wildlife security, they mostly work for the community,” says Kuria.

Gaymer says the community has come to see the canines as saviours but advises: “Dogs don’t talk so we have to combine their help with credible intelligence and other techniques to get impenetrable evidence.”