Chairman Ronald Mwasi told KWS director William Kiprono that they are capable of using traditional ways to arrest armed poachers by making them fall asleep using magic.
“Our people are not poachers. Those killing our elephants using guns are people from outside. Involve us and we shall help catch them. We are capable of making them sleep and arrest them with their guns when we only have a walking stick.”
He said KWS ignores the elders.
Speaking in Voi during the celebration of the World Elephant Day on Tuesday, Mwasi blamed KWS for barring the elders from accessing their shrines in the park.
He said poachers are hiding in the old holes left behind by miners who were extracting gemstones some years back.
“Even when you move around the areas with choppers you cannot spot them,” he said.
Mwasi said that the Taita community members used to co-exist peacefully with wildlife since the colonial times and were never involved in poaching.