Migratory birds poisoned for food in drought-hit Uganda

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Desperate Ugandans are using poison to kill thousands of migrating white storks and other protected birds because they have so few sources of food.

In Ayoreri, a village in Kween district on the Kenyan border, Sam Chekwoi, 42, said unpredictable rains and droughts have made it increasingly hard to feed his two wives and 11 children.

Sam Chekwoi, 42, holds the rats caught in a field, which will be used as bait to capture migratory birds in Ayoreri village, Kween District, on April 16, 2025. (Photo by Badru Katumba / AFP)

"I used to farm but the sun would destroy my food crops. That is when I decided to start catching those birds to provide food for my children and myself," he said.

He showed AFP how locals hunt their prey.

First, they catch a mouse and kill it, then pour a mixture of alcohol and rat poison into its mouth and leave it in the field for a bird to spot.

Bird hunters pluck feathers from a migratory bird before roasting it for food in Ayoreri village, Kween District, on April 17, 2025. (Photo by Badru Katumba / AFP)

The birds swoop down and quickly feel the impact of the poison. They try to fly away but cannot get very far, and the villagers chase them down to finish the kill.

"When the birds eat the trap, they get weak, we catch them, kill them, and then eat them," said Chekwoi.

He estimates he has eaten upwards of 300 storks since moving to the area in 2016.

Bird hunters roast captured migratory birds over a fire for a meal in Ayoreri village, Kween District, on April 17, 2025. (Photo by Badru Katumba / AFP)

"If there was an alternative, I would do it," said Chekwoi.

The activity risks heavy fines, but locals feel they have no choice.

'Only source of protein'

Joel Cherop, 45, a farmer and conservationist, grew up in the area and is trying to discourage the practice.

He estimates that some 3,000 white storks have been eaten by villagers since the start of the year when the migrating season began.

Conservationist Joel Cherop (CL), 45, speaks with local bird hunters to stress the importance of bird conservation in Ayoreri village, Kween District, on April 17, 2025. (Photo by Badru Katumba / AFP)

Cherop described the birds as the "only source of protein" for many in the area. They can sell a stork for around 2,000 shillings or less than a dollar, he said.

He has monitored the birds over the years and knows from tagging that some came from Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Tags from some migratory birds originating from Poland and Budapest are seen in the feathers of birds killed in Ayoreri village, Kween District, on April 17, 2025. (Photo by Badru Katumba / AFP)

Although the nomadic communities in the region have degraded the land by cutting down too many trees for charcoal, Cherop empathises with their difficulties, especially the worsening droughts.

"There is no doubt that crop failure tops the agenda in this community for the last 10 years," he told AFP.

It feels particularly unfair, he said, to think that climate change is the result of industrial practices elsewhere in the world -- "the Americas, the Russias and the Chinas who are emitting billions of (tonnes of) carbon."

A bird hunter plants a tree seedling during a tree-planting exercise organized by conservationist Joel Cherop highlighting the role of trees in bird conservation in Ayoreri village, Kween District, on April 16, 2025. (Photo by Badru Katumba / AFP)

Cherop has started planting thousands of fruit trees around his farm in a bid to regenerate the land and is employing as many locals as he can with his limited means.

He says the local villagers are simply trying to survive.

"These are hungry young people who have no food, so they found an alternative in the migratory birds," he said.