Doing what nobody else will to ensure that helpless animals don’t perish at the hands of a severe drought this is Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua, also known as the water man who when not busy farming in his local village uses the little free time he has each day to drive around and fill up animal watering holes with life-saving water.
Due to the severe droughts in Kenya’s Tsavo West National Park likely bought on by climate change Mwalua has seen first hand the effect that it’s having on Kenya’s land, but rather than turn a blind eye to the consequences he instead uses his truck to deliver thousands of gallons of fresh water to the elephants, antelope, zebras and buffalo that flock to the dry watering holes.
“We aren’t really receiving rain the way we used to,” he says. “So I started giving animals water because I thought, ‘If I don’t do that, they will die,” Mwalua tells The Dodo. Understanding that if he doesn’t help many of the animals will likely die Mwalua continues to deliver them fresh water and after hearing about his story someone has set him up his own GoFundMe project that aims to buy more trucks to help deliver the water that’s needed. You can also find out more on Facebook.
This Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua, also known as the water man, who delivers water to animals in Kenya
As a local pea farmer he’s witnessed first hand what effect global warming has had on its wildlife
Because it’s stopped receiving regular rain the area is experiencing a major drought
And if Mwalua hadn’t stepped in many of the animals would likely have died already
Every day the farmer spends up to two hours driving to fetch 3,000 gallons of fresh water for the animals
He then delivers it to the watering holes where the animals are patiently waiting
Mwalua says that there’s no water at the watering holes, so without human intervention the animals wouldn’t survive
Elephants, buffalo, antelope and zebras are just some of the animals that show up
Mwalua’s selflessness and passion for wildlife has now inspired a GoFundMe page to help raise money for his cause
So that he can continue to help the animals that need it the most.
h/t thedodo
