Jan 05 2008
more Images of poisoned lions in southern Maasailand
Dear readers,
After consultation with other conservationists in Kenya, and the Wildlifedirect team, we felt you should see first-hand what has transpired here. The text in this morning’s post is only part of the story.
This is the female lion that was poisoned. Her skin is peeling and blackened because her carcass had been rotting in the hot sun for two days before we got to the body. Her name was “Birdie” and she was the second lion of this project to be collared (back in 2004). The lower jaw is mangled because someone tried to remove all her teeth after she died. All the claws of both lions were also removed, presumably to try to sell to tourists.
We worked till late in the night to fetch the carcasses and bring them back to base camp. Most of the next day was taken up with dissection of the bodies. In the fore-ground of the photo below you can see 4 of the 5 foetuses that Birdie was carrying when she died.
The foetuses were quite well-developed. Here you can see a tiny paw in the palm of my hand.
This is the male, complete with his radio-collar still on.
The carcasses were in an advanced state of decomposition, but we were able to establish beyond doubt poisoning as the cause of death.
Here is a picture of the two cow ears we extracted from the stomach of the female, complete with owner-identification notches. The cow’s tail was recovered from the stomach of the male.
Here is a photograph of the remains of a black cow, found 422metres away from the carcass of the female lion.
Near the cow carcass were piles of flies that had died after feeding on the poisoned meat.
After the dissections we had to burn the carcasses as they would pose a threat to local wildlife. Its not and easy thing to dissect and incinerate an animal that one has known personally for several years. I sincerely hope that with continued support of the guardians we can prevent this from happening again.
regards
Seamus
Technorati : dead lions, lion guardians
8 responses so far
Facebook Cause: Lion Guardians 
My name is Antony Kasanga, Assistant Director of the Lion Guardians program. 
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Hambe Kahle Singale
Hambe Kahle Birdie
Aluta continua
Ewe. Enkosi kakulu mamma m-canary.
I’m crying as I write, the tears are stinging my eyes, my heart is breaking into many pieces…I will donate later this week.
Seamus, please email me at siskind8@msn.com, as I want to help now. I’m going to the bank tommorow and can wire funds, if you like. I would have given my life to save these lions…Theresa
[…] Two more lions have been killed in south-western Kenya after feeding on an intentionally posioned carcass. The killings represent a growing threat against Africa’s 29,000 lions as well as other carnivores and birdlife. Incidences like this are becoming far too common.The use of poisons to kill predators is spreading like bush fire in East Africa and if it remains unchecked, it could reach catastrophic levels. Moreover, we could easily wipe out our predator and scavenger population in a very short time. […]
[…] Two more lions have been killed in south-western Kenya after feeding on an intentionally posioned carcass. The killings represent a growing threat against Africa’s 29,000 lions as well as other carnivores and birdlife. Incidences like this are becoming far too common. […]
[…] have also been reported to the Kenya Wildlife Authorities. Earlier this year, conservation group, the Lion Guardians reported a case of two lions intentionally poisoned in Kajiado, Kenya. Poisoning is not only […]
[…] case I have new readers to this blog, you can look at the Lion Guardian site for a description of a lion poisoning incident in southern maasailand in January this year. As much as the post received mixed reviews from local […]