The Kenyan Wildlife Service reports that hundreds of wild animals including elephants and endangered Grevy's zebra have died on eastern Kenyan preserves due to prolonged drought. Officials have counted the bodies of 205 elephants, 512 wildebeest, 381 common zebras, 51 buffalos, 49 Grevy's zebras and 12 giraffes in the past nine months. The preserves affected include well-known national parks--Amboseli, Tsavo and Laikipia-Samburu. The actual number of deaths is undoubtably much higher, Kenya has gone four seasons without adequate rainfall with dire effects for humans andd their livestock. Experts have urged the provision of water and salt licks in the affected regions. Kenya's drought is part of a much wider region covering the horn of Africa that has dried up due to the lack of precipitation.
In Mississippi,USA state officals approved the city of Jackson's request for $35.6 million of federal funds to repair a crumbling water system disrupted by flooding this summer that left 150,000 residents without water for days. A boiied water decree ligered before the flooding event after the city's drinking water tested unsafe to drink. EPA says it is now safe to drink, but is testing to see if there is too much copper and lead in the city's water to meet federal standards.
The federal funds will be matched by the state under an infrastructure repair program. The $71.3 will be spent on seven water and sewer projects, including repair of a raw sewage pump at the beleaguered O.B. Curtis water treatment plant. EPA is investigating whether the state discriminated against Jackson by refusing to fund water system improvements in a city that is 80% black and a quarter of its residents live in poverty