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On a visit to the Olbili community

Category: Community work | Date: Jan 20 2008 | By: admin

While we were travelling around the ranch, we met an old man at Olbili, one of the zones on our Group Ranch bordering Oltiasika; the two communities actually share the watering hole where the poisoned cow was laid out. We had a chat with the old man about lions and the days gone by. He was telling us that lions have reduced in population compared to the past.

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He says that in the past lions used to kill cows almost on a daily basis. In the day, they would attack cows in the bush and at night, they would break into homesteads and make away with cows. In response, the people would go out and hunt them down.

The old man told of how in the past, they did not have lights. So when a lion broke into a homestead and it was pitch dark, you could not just throw your spear in the general direction of the lion as you could spear one of your own stampeding cows in the process. In such cases, one had to practically get a hold of the lion, pry it off the cow, and then face it with the spear when there is no more risk of harming your cow. He said that the Maasai love for cows exceeds anything else as cows are their sole livelihood.

This may help bring out the community perspective in conservation. These elders are the ones who determine the dynamics of the wildlife, our ranch and our future.


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9 Responses to “On a visit to the Olbili community”

sheryl, washington dc, on 20 Jan 2008

Every time I read a post or a newspaper story about how wildlife is disappearing for the sake of animals raised as food, I’m more convinced that veganism can save this planet.

s.

Pam/Shell Beach, CA, on 21 Jan 2008

I read in ODE magazine the animal production is responsible for more greenhouse gases than every form of transportation combined
http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/49/meat-is-methane

Fiona, on 21 Jan 2008

Thanks for your post Antony. I can understand the elders’ thoughts on the cattle. And that raises concerns as to when the next poisoning will occur, because it’s one thing to limit the spearing, it’s another altogether to change the mentality of the elders of the tribes.

That being said, I’d like to see what it is exactly that is used to protect the cows from lions. If the lions continue to attack the cows, then is the protection adequate?

sheryl, washington dc, on 21 Jan 2008

Pam, I’ve been blogging about this for a while now. The U.N. released a report in 2006 titled “Livestock’s Long Shadow” and it clearly states that greenhouse gases from factory farming and other livestock farming is the main source of global warming pollution. ““The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” It turns out that raising animals for food is a primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming.”

There’s also a report from the University of Chicago that states: “Producing a calorie of meat protein means burning more than 10 times as much fossil fuels–and spewing more than 10 times as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide–as does a calorie of plant protein.” You can find all these posts and the reports by clicking my name and searching on “veganism.”

s.

THERESA SISKIND, on 21 Jan 2008

Pam and Cheryl, I simply couln’t agree with you more. The health benefits of a vegan diet can’t be overlooked also. Unfortunately, the sad reality is what else can these people do to sustain themselves and their families? Benefits of eco tourism don’t seem to trickle down to those who desperately need it. Fiona, guard dogs would serve as an earlier warning system and yes, lighting of some sort would definetly help. I’ve heard of portable fences they could use. The elder’s sentiments must be addressed, so the locals feel empowered to protect both the livestock and these precious lions.and other wildlife. Seamus, thanks for keeping the dialogue going with these proud people. If there is anything we can do to help them protect their livestock, let us know ie dogs, lighting, fencing, whatever!The Cheetah Conservation Fund ha a wonderful program with training Anatolian Shepard Dogs, supporters fund their training, care, and education of the ranchers in Namibia, the program works quite well.

Mary, on 21 Jan 2008

Hello Sheryl,
You have shed light on some things that I was not even aware of pertaining to raising animals for food. Thank you for this information. I am not a vegetarian, not a big meat eater, but certainly not a vegetarian. Does it help to decrease pollution by eating organic or does it not make a difference?
As to this posting of the elder man and his stories… I love it. Not because I want to hear of lions being speared, but because I enjoy hearing stories passed along by elders in the community, and the true perspective of the community. I understand the dynamics of needing the cows for livelihood, but there has to be a better way. The use of dogs does sound like something that could work. Eco-tourism could also play a large part in the growth of the economy through out all of Africa. The question is how do we get the money where it needs to be without it being stolen by people in power or by providing a fair share to the people of the local communities who in the end are the real protectors of the wildlife?
~Mary

Antony, on 22 Jan 2008

Hello everyone,
We have an interesting discussion going on here. We agree that all cows contribute global warming gases. I don’t know how much Maasai pastoralism fits into the whole global warming picture. Look at it this way, Maasai cows depend on huge open tracts of savanna. Savanna plants take large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and act as major carbon sinks. Here, our cow densities are quite low, an average of 40cows/km2.

Shedding light on ways Maasai use to protect their livestock, a herder is always expected to go herding carrying a well sharpened spear. This is even done by 10 year old boys who are trained by older boys. This is what sometimes results in spearing. Culture looks down upon a person who while herding, allows harm of whatever kind to befall livestock.

At night livestock are kept in a boma (thorn bush enclosure) to keep carnivores away. Bomas that are properly fenced reduce attacks. If there are dogs present, attacks are even further reduced as they alert people of approaching predators. People then wake up and chase the carnivores.

Sheryl, Washington, DC, on 22 Jan 2008

Hi Mary,

As far as the factory-farming of animals for food is concerned, organic doesn’t make a damn bit of difference. It’s the waste from the animals themselves - methane, nitrous oxide, etc. - that is creating the global warming pollution. This doesn’t even get into the issues of enormous animal cruelty. You can learn more at http://www.factoryfarming.org - a site presented by Farm Sanctuary.

Organic produce, however, does help reduce pollution from pesticides and helps the insects that pollenate most of the crops we raise to feed the 10 billion land animals slaughtered in the U.S. every year for food.

It’s true that because the Maasai are not practicing factory farming that there livestock may not contribute much, overall, to global warming pollution. But if they were not raising cattle at all, the carnivores native to their land wouldn’t face scarce resources and predation from humans. I doubt lions would attack a field of soybeans. Perhaps this is oversimplification, but I firmly believe that if we’re going to save this planet and everything living on it, all of our cultures must change.

s.

Fiona, on 22 Jan 2008

Personally, I doubt that Maasai livestock is significantly contributing enough to emissions to be concerned. Those of us living in the US should be lobbying the goverment to ratify the Kyoto treaty. It’s embarrassing that the United States has not yet done so.

Anyway, to what Theresa said about guard dogs. It seems that the CCF has had success with Anatolians guarding livestock and I’m wondering if that couldn’t be employed here. It seems that the dogs, in addition to the guardians, could really bring about some positive changes. Just a thought :)

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