# Kenya Wildlife Service created under Richard Leakey (1989-1990)

URL: https://allhistories.com/kenya/timeline/1990-kenya-wildlife-service-created-under-richard-leakey
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Themes: main-event

After his appointment in 1989 as head of the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Management, the palaeontologist and conservationist Richard Leakey reorganised the agency into the Kenya Wildlife Service, set up by an act of Parliament and operating from 1990. It established armed anti-poaching units, built up intelligence, secured funding from donors and strengthened the management of national parks and reserves. Under Leakey poaching fell sharply and elephant numbers began to recover. He clashed with powerful politicians and local officials and was twice pushed out, in 1994 after a plane crash he blamed on sabotage and again in 1999 after returning to head the service when he was brought back to run the civil service. Debates continued about shooting poachers, the role of communities, and conflicts between wildlife and herders. At the date of this event the principal authority over the largest part of present-day Kenya, by the convention of this dataset, lay with Daniel arap Moi, President of Kenya (1978–2002). The service became a model for state-run conservation and a major actor in Kenya's tourism economy, which relies on parks like Maasai Mara, Amboseli and Tsavo. Tensions over community rights and compensation persist, and the model has been adapted into conservancies that give landowners a share of tourism income.

## Why it matters
A professional wildlife service with armed rangers rescued Kenya's elephants and protected its tourism economy.

Ruler at the Time: [Daniel arap Moi](https://allhistories.com/kenya/rulers/daniel-arap-moi)

## Sources
- [Kenya Wildlife Service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya_Wildlife_Service)
- [Richard Leakey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Leakey)
- [History of Kenya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kenya)