Lion Guardians

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Carnivore attacks prevented as lost livestock are brought home

Category: Community work | Date: Jul 26 2008 | By: lionguardians

Lion Guardian Mokoi was out in the bush tracking lions late yesterday, when he came across more than 18 calves on their own without a herder. He recognized the owner of the calves by their ear notches (every livestock owner has a different one to identify which cows belong to whom), so he managed to round them up and took them back to the owner.

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One of the roles of the Lion Guardians is to help prevent conflict between people and wildlife in their communities, and one way they do this is to find lost livestock, left out in the bush. Lost livestock is often attacked by predators, which could lead to retaliatory attacks against the carnivores.

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It is to be expected that more livestock will get lost around this time of year, due to lack of rains. This means that grazing pastures become scarcer and animals must wander further to find food.

However, the communities also have a role to play by making sure that their animals are safe. If this number of livestock were left out in the bush overnight, the owner might have found nothing left in the morning.

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4 Responses to “Carnivore attacks prevented as lost livestock are brought home”

TheTeach, Seattle, on 26 Jul 2008

Well done, Men! I’m sure the herders are very appreciative of this. This should help them to understand that you have their best interests at heart in addition to the well being of the lions. Keeping the peace with the communities will show that everyone is on the same side and encourages understanding and cooperation for similar goals. I know you need funds. Increased food, housing, and petrol prices here are impacting our ability to donate to the blogs. We will send what we can as soon as we are able. When the students return to school in September, I will introduce them to lion guardians and we will collect for a one-time donation. They will be fascinated to see the profiles of each lion guardian. Best Wishes.

lionguardians, on 27 Jul 2008

We’re glad our work is appreciated by you, and the communities. We understand that it is difficult to donate money, but we are grateful for anything you can spare. That is a great idea to introduce your school to Lion Guardians! Did you see that another school had a fundraising event for us? Here is the link: http://lionguardians.wildlifedirect.org/2008/06/09/school-raises-400-for-lion-guardians/
It was very successful and I hear all the children loved reading about the project (and also about their cake sale when we posted the blog!) Let us know what you are planning, and send some photos, and we can post a blog about it too! Thank you!

Annie, on 27 Jul 2008

Yes! Thanks for helping this herd and protecting them so farmers don’t lash out at the lions! I think you guys do a wonderful job……..I am also a teacher and work at a very poor school but maybe I can think of something to help raise money or try to donate when I can! God bless!

lionguardians, on 27 Jul 2008

Thanks Annie,
I think getting children involved in conservation is the key to helping conservation in the future, and holding a fundraising event is a great way to get them interested and involved. I understand this might not be possible in your school, but at least the kids might like to read the blog and learn about the program.

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