More lions attack cows, but livestock owner is lenient
Category: Community work | Date: Nov 17 2008 | By: lionguardians
Barely a week after the last livestock were killed by lions, two more have been attacked, one of them sustaining deep head injuries. The culprits of these two cases are our collared lions Mbalueni and Mbeuti, who have come over from the neighbouring ranch Kuku. Here is the injured cow.
We showed the owner of the injured cow how we track collared lions, and with him we found out which lions were responsible. He was very interested, and said that he would not kill the lions if they came back, but would just chase them away. Here he is using the telemetry equipment to see which lion attacked his cow, and where they have gone now.
These two lions have crossed hundreds of kilometers to end up at our twin hills. The area is beautiful and green now the rains have come, and there is plenty of water for wildlife and livestock. Cows are slowly getting healthy again and soon lots of milk will be available. We hope the lions that seem to be now moving into this area will stop killing cows. Not all livestock owners are as tolerant as this man we met. Look at how the rain has transformed the landscape!
Tags: attack, cows, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Livestock, Maasai, masai
More areas demand Lion Guardians!
Category: Community work | Date: Nov 13 2008 | By: lionguardians
On a recent trip to neighbouring ranch Olgulului, where we are planning on starting the Lion Guardians, we also made a visit to our other neighbours - Eselenkei Group Ranch. We spoke to the committee, who had heard of our success at stopping lions being killed on Mbirikani, and they were very eager to start the Lion Guardians program on their ranch too. The meeting was so fruitful that the committee was even ready to donate some money to help us start a new camp there, to encourage us to bring the program to their area! Here is Lion Guardian Olubi.
The committee are concerned by the number of lions that are still getting killed on their ranch, and they want the Guardians to come and intervene. So, we are hoping to start our work on both ranches; Eselenkei and Olgulului. Here are some of the lions we sre protecting with our work here.
It is very good news that our program has been praised in the communities, and that our neighbours want us to help them too. We are very proud of the success of our project - but our only problem now is funding! In order to start up the program on these two new ranches we will need to find a lot more money. If anyone has any fundraising ideas, please let us know!
Tags: community, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai
Water crisis hits our neighbours
Category: Community work | Date: Oct 23 2008 | By: lionguardians
Earlier this week I travelled to Olgulului, our neighbouring ranch, where we will be starting up Lion Guardians soon. The first thing that people asked was whether we have rain yet on Mbirikani. And the answer was still no. The area was so dry that only dust could be seen from a distance. Donkeys are the only means of water transport in the area. Look how many donkeys we came across! You can see how it is just like a desert there.
The community told me that they think more livestock will get attacked by predators, as they are becoming weak and they cannot run away from carnivores. Everyone is so eager to have Lion Guardians on this ranch. As we reported back in June, lions are still being killed here, so it is urgent that we start the Lion Guardians as soon as we can.
Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, water
Animals still desperate for water
Category: Community work | Date: Oct 22 2008 | By: lionguardians
The rains still have not come to the Chyulus. This means that both livestock and wildlife are still very thirsty, and are becoming weak. This is a dangerous time for animals here.
The wildlife on this ranch had two ways to get water. They could walk to a river way off in the southern part of the ranch, or get water from breaks in the water pipeline. Recently though all the broken pipes were repaired, so this means of getting water has been removed. Instead they resort to drinking from private water troughs, sometimes breaking them. The community cannot afford to pay for water for wildlife too, since it will mean additional costs to their monthly water bills. So conflict is high, and we are all left in a difficult situation, as the rains still do not come.
The idea of tagging elephants with SIM cards and creating an artificial geofence (mentioned by Hashi Hanta) sounds great, but would not work here. The elephants here do not have collars, and we are not inside a protected area - this is wild Maasailand, and animals may roam where they please. It would also be very expensive, and we do not have enough money for the Lion Guardians - there is certainly not enough for this kind of measure, however successful it may be.
Let’s hope the rains come soon. In the meantime the Lion Guardians are working with their communities to reduce any conflicts that arise from the water shortage. Please help them and their communities by making a donation to, if you can. Thank you.
Tags: elephant, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, water
Young child goes missing in the bush
Category: Community work | Date: Oct 05 2008 | By: lionguardians
We had a great end of month meeting with our director Leela. All the Guardians shared their reports from the zones that they live and work in. The most shocking news came from Lion Guardian Mokoi, who reported that a child had gone missing out in the bush for 2 days. Here are the Lion Guardians at the meeting listening to the news.
The 5 year old had been fighting with her sister and when her mother got angry she ran away crying, and ended up getting lost. Mokoi worked for over 24 hours using his great tracking skills and eventually found the child late in the afternoon on the second day, after she had wandered for miles. The community was so pleased that she had not come to any harm and they thanked Mokoi for his assistance.
Lion Guardians help in any way they can to reduce conflict between people and wildlife, and this is a situation which could have been potentially life-threatening for the child. We are so glad he found her safe and well.
Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lost child, Maasai, masai
Good news - elephant no longer a threat
Category: Community work | Date: Sep 12 2008 | By: lionguardians
We have some good news for you about the elephant that was worrying the community in Lion Guardian Olubi’s area of work. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers from Amboseli have now visited the area and met with Olubi and were able to track the elephant. We are pleased to say that they confirmed he was well, and is now in a new location where there are no people. Olubi will continue to monitor the situation and I will update you if I have any more news.
The community is so happy that this situation has been resolved without any conflict or injury to themselves or to the elephant. Thank you all so much for your advice and suggestions. I hope you are also pleased that this problem has been solved.
Tags: elephant, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai
Dangerous elephant still at large
Category: Community work | Date: Aug 21 2008 | By: lionguardians
The elephant we reported a few days ago is still in the area. I gave the details to the game scouts but so far no action has been taken by them. It is a dangerous situation, particularly as Lion Guardian Olubi thinks the elephant may be sick. When he saw it today it was not feeding and the area is very dry.
The community is worried, mostly for the herders who graze their livestock around the area since most of them are women or young boys. Olubi has been working tirelessly to make sure that herders or women collecting firewood will not bump into this elephant. Pepper is indeed a good prevention method but there are no farms near the area so we have no way of getting it.
Sadly a brother of Lion Guardian Koikai was killed by an elephant a few weeks ago. We are pleased to say that despite this the community have not retaliated and attacked the elephant that is roaming near their community. Even Koikai, whose brother was killed says he doesn’t feel anger towards elephants. Here he tells us that even though this sad thing happened it doesn’t make him feel like he wants to go out and kill the elephant. As a Lion Guardian he feels he must protect all animals.
Tags: elephant, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai
More good news for lions
Category: Community work | Date: Aug 20 2008 | By: lionguardians
For the second time in a week lion conservation has received a major boost. Yesterday we reported that the murrans who killed a lion on Olgulului Group Ranch, neighboring ours were sentenced. Today we report that a predator consolation scheme has been launched on this same ranch, with funding from National Geographic.
The scheme means that when livestock is killed by a carnivore the owner of the livestock will receive some money in return. In order to receive this benefit the community must agree to not kill any carnivores. We have a similar scheme running on our group ranch.
The launch ceremony for the scheme was attended in large numbers by the community and the Kenya Wildlife Service warden was also present. The community agreed to welcome the new ‘baby’ as it was termed by the murran leader of the Laitayiok clan. We really hope that this will mean an end to carnivore killings there.
Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai, national geographic, predator consolations scheme
Elephant causing problems in the community
Category: Community work | Date: Aug 18 2008 | By: lionguardians
Lion Guardian Olubi has reported to us that there is an elephant worrying the people that live in the community of Olngosua. The single elephant has been in the area for the last three days and the community is asking for help to chase away the animal.
Elephants can be very dangerous, and it is not safe for the people that live there. This comes barely a month after a man was attacked and killed by an elephant at Ilchalai south of Olngosua. It is encouraging to see that the people are not trying to kill the animal as one might expect so soon after a fatal interaction in the area.
I have passed on the information to the game scouts who will assist the community.
Tags: elephant, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai
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.
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.
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.
Tags: attacks, carnivore, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Livestock, lost, Maasai, masai
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Donations Received
- Nov 29th Richard V. USD80.00
- Nov 27th Hashi H. USD10.00
- Nov 26th Sauwah T. USD44.00
- Nov 26th Pauline H. USD20.00
- Nov 25th Jia L. USD80.00
- Nov 24th Irene O. USD110.00
- Nov 24th Pirjo I. USD55.00
- Nov 21st Pirjo I. USD40.00
- Nov 17th Jessica F. USD16.50
- Nov 17th Nina T. USD130.00
- Nov 12th Pirjo I. USD44.00
- Nov 9th Malcolm F. USD27.50
- Nov 9th Loki Q. USD45.00
- Nov 5th Hashi H. USD33.00
- Nov 4th Sauwah T. USD33.00
- Nov 1st Black C. USD5.00
- Oct 29th Richard V. USD80.00
- Oct 28th Richard G. USD44.00
- Oct 26th Hashi H. USD16.50
- Oct 26th Lois B. USD11.00
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