5,000 Chinese Workers In Kenya A Threat To Wildlife

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013 file photo, a member of the veterinary team from the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) shouts to others to clear the area as they prepare to revive a tranquilized wild elephant during an anti-poaching elephant-collaring operation near Kajiado, in southern Kenya. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

A Kenyan consumer lobby group says that 5,000 Chinese nationals who are coming to Kenya for the construction of a railway line pose a threat to the country's elephants.

Consumer Federation of Kenya official Steven Mutoro said Thursday that conservationists have seen a rise in elephant poaching deaths in Kenya as the number of Chinese nationals in the country have risen.

Kenya recently signed an agreement with China to construct a standard-gauge railway from Nairobi to Mombasa. The line will cost US$3.6 billion and China will provide 90 percent of the funding. Construction is to begin October 1, 2014.