The British High Commission in Kenya has admitted that a fire that tore through a wildlife reserve broke out “during a UK led exercise in Loldaiga Conservancy.”
“We can confirm that there has been a fire during a UK led exercise in Kenya and that investigations are ongoing,” a spokesperson for the British army said in a statement.
The fire broke out on Wednesday evening British soldiers who were cooking their food. The food caught fire before spreading rapidly through the nearby woods. Families were forced to evacuate their homes around Nyati barracks at Laikipia Airbase East, about 150 miles north of Nairobi.
A spokesman from the Kenya Wildlife Service told Reuters that it had joined the effort to extinguish the fire.
“All personnel have been accounted for, and our priority now is to urgently assist the local community if they have been impacted. We are putting all our resources into containing the fire and are working closely with the Kenyan authorities to manage the situation,” read the statement.
Wildlife reserves protecting plant and animal species and their habitats, working to restore balance and stability to nature’s processes. Many of Africa’s native animals are categorized as endangered species primarily due to illegal poaching and habitat loss.
“Reports of dead elephants are being looked into as a matter of urgency by the British Army, Kenyan Authorities and our Loldaiga Conservancy partners,” a statement said.
Five elephants, including a calf, were killed in the blaze.
According to a ‘red list’ of at-risk animals by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, both species of the African elephant were classed as endangered for the first time this week.
The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is now listed as Critically Endangered and the African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
