Cattle thieves have devised new ways of stealing lucrative dairy cattle to get an edge over authorities and livestock owners.
Residents of Kandara, Murang'a County, were recently left baffled after a spate of cattle theft, with the perpetrators mainly targeting dairy cattle.
The residents, mostly from Joga, Kabati, and Nguthuru constituencies, gave detailed accounts of how they lost their cattle, with the theft mainly occurring at night.
One resident recalled an encounter with the thieves but backed away for fear of his life.
"I was walking at night and the thieves saw me and jumped into a maize plantation," he said. "I looked around and that is when I came into contact with one of the cows which they had stolen. For fear of my safety, I escaped and made calls to neighbours and we eventually found the stolen cow."
The eyewitness further recalls the thieves fleeing in a small personal car, which is believed to be the ones used by the thieves in their crimes.
The thieves have resorted to using small cars including the Toyota Wish, which has just enough space to fit livestock the size of a cow. One resident recounted seeing a Toyota Prado at the scene where a cow was reported to have been stolen.
The cumulative value of the stolen cows is estimated to be millions of shillings since dairy cows are regarded as gems in Murang'a County for the milk they produce. A number of the cows produce at least 14 litres of milk a day and their market price averages Ksh120,000.
Residents speculate the theft could be the work of someone in a higher power since the stolen cattle are bred for dairy, not beef.
Murang'a and its neighbouring counties have been notorious for incidents involving livestock theft. In November 2024, another alarming trend emerged in Nyandarua involving cows, goats, and at times, chickens.
At the time, thieves resorted to using chemicals on the animals with disastrous repercussions as a majority of the livestock ended up succumbing to the toxins.
As a result, alarm was raised by area leaders over a possible sale of contaminated meat from animals which the culprits made away with after exposing them to the chemicals.
