Lion Guardians

Category: Lion Guardian reports, Lions killed | Date: Nov 24 2008 | By: lionguardians

This week the Lion Guardians have been busy with another film crew. CBS and their presenter Bob Simon are here to film a piece for their program ‘60 minutes’. They want to find out more about the poisoning of lions and other carnivores. They came at the right time - just after an attempted poisoning case. We took them to the market in Kimana, south of our ranch and close to Amboseli National Park. CBS wanted to film people selling the poison Furadan, an agricultural chemical, which people say is increasingly being used to bait carcasses and kill carnivores.

As usual there were many women trying to sell Maasai ornaments to tourists, and my group was not spared. I was acting as a go between, negotiating between the two parties because of the language barrier. At one point a woman approached me, and held out her hand with something inside for me to look at. I couldn’t believe it when I saw lion claws! I was even more shocked when I examined them closely and found that they were new, fresh claws.

I asked how much we would have to pay for them and she said 60 US dollars. I told her that if she reduced the price I would take more, to find out how many she had. It was then that I discovered she didn’t just have claws, but lion teeth too! She offered the claws and teeth to me at 15 US dollars less the original price. We asked her where she got them from, and she said that someone dropped them.

It is clear that lions are now facing a new threat that never used to exist: their body parts are being traded. It is so hard to believe that tourists in Kenya that come to see the beautiful animals here would buy the claws and teeth of lions. But we have seen with our own eyes that it is happening, and if nothing is done to stop it, the few prides of lions we have here will disappear forever.

We need Lion Guardians to start working in other places, especially Olgulului ranch, near to Amboseli, where the last lion killing happened. Something needs to be done and we are calling out loud for help!

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Tags: 60 minutes, Bob Simon, cbs, claws, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, teeth, vultures

5 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Nov 20 2008 | By: lionguardians

We are sad to report that an attempted poisoning has been committed, and two of our collared lions, who usually reside on the neighbouring ranch Kuku were the intended victims. These two lionesses have been killing a lot of cows recently, and attacked and killed 3 cows, all owned by the same old man. These were the only cows he owned. It seems that somebody put poison down in the carcasses of the cows, hoping that the lions would return to their kills and feed on the poison.

Luckily for the lions, and thanks to the brave work of the verification officer and game scouts from the Maasailand Preservation Trust who had been called to the scene to verify the kill, the poisoned carcasses were removed and burnt before the lions came back to them, and their lives were saved. Here is one of our local lions.

Although we are very pleased that the lions were saved, it is sad news that anyone would put poison down to kill lions, especially here on our ranch, where we are all working so hard to save them. Let us all be happy that no harm came to them.

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Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, poison, poisoning

10 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Nov 10 2008 | By: lionguardians

Lion Guardian Kapande has reported that a cow has been killed by a lion just a few kilometers north of our camp. He had been tracking on foot, and was sure it was one of our collared lions Nemasi, the female with three cubs. Here is Kapande with the cow.

And here you can see the scratches made by the lion…

We went to investigate and take Kapande some radio collar tracking gear. Of course his own tracking skills were correct - and he picked up Nemasi’s signal not far away. Just last week Nemasi killed another cow in the same area. Although Kapande has not been well for the last week (he has been suffering from malaria) he carried on his duties, making sure that the community does not take any action against Nemasi and her cubs. Here he is tracking.

Two days later Lion Guardian Masarie reported that another cow was killed by three lions still further north.

Masarie was sure that the offender was another one of our collared lions - this time it was a male called Kasayio with two of his friends. Kasayio had been missing for a while and we are glad that he has finally come back to the area, but were not pleased that he has returned to kill livestock. Here is Masarie tracking to confirm that it was Kasayio that killed the cow.

There have been even more reports of lions killing cows recently. Most of the animals being killed are lost livestock that are left out in the bush at night. As it has been so dry the cows are wandering far to find grass and are not coming back to their bomas at night. We hope that the rains that are here now will bring grass soon, and this spate of cow killing will stop.

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Tags: attack, cows, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

9 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Oct 15 2008 | By: lionguardians

Elephants are becoming a problem in Olngosua once more. Previously this area was troubled by a lone elephant that was scaring the local community. Now, the two Lion Guardians that live in this area, Mokoi and Olubi have reported that elephants have broken and dismantled water pipes from three different water troughs.

The community need this water desperately, and have asked for help from the game scouts. Representatives have been sent to the area to scare the animals with thunder flashes, and to help the community to repair the broken pipes and water troughs. This time of year, just before the rains it is extremely dry, and water is in short supply. This situation could become very dangerous for the local people if they cannot get water for themselves and their animals.

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Tags: elephant, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai

7 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Oct 09 2008 | By: lionguardians

Lion Guardian Kapande has reported that a carnivore has been killing livestock at his place of work Lenkiloriti. According to the community that lives there, the carnivore tracks resemble those of a lion but are smaller.

Kapande has not seen the tracks himself, but when he told us the community’s description we all agreed that it sounds like the tracks of a leopard. Kapande will update us with more news on this as he investigates further.

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Tags: Kenya, leopard, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai

5 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Oct 02 2008 | By: lionguardians

It is a sad day for Lion Guardian Solonka’s community. Over 10 shoats (sheep and goats) were killed in his area of work with another 10 missing. Solonka was called in to help find the animals, and discovered carcasses all over the area. He found tracks from lions, hyenas and cheetahs around them.

In cases like this where different carnivores were involved it sometimes doesn’t matter which carnivore made the kill - the lions will be blamed and hunted in revenge. We hope the community will follow the advice of Solonka and resist taking out their anger on the lions after he worked so hard to help find the rest of the herd that had gone missing.

Solonka was exhausted after walking for over 24 hours searching for the lost animals. He can’t understand how the herder lost so many during the day.  

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Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Livestock, Maasai, masai, massacre

5 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Sep 19 2008 | By: lionguardians

Thanks so much everyone for your attempts to identify the carnivore in our last post. I think you are right about it being a wild dog, as the description that the livestock owner gave me also seems to fit with this. This is a very rare animal to find in this area. In fact, when I asked my friends from the same age group as me to help identify it, none of them were able to. We thought the species had been completely wiped out of the area in the last few years. Here are some photos of wild dogs taken in a different part of Kenya, for those of you who are not familiar with them.

The livestock owner is very angry, and says he will not tolerate another attack on his livestock. I am extremely excited that these wild dogs have been seen - I hope you are too! If you want to find out more about these amazing animals, why don’t you have a look at the Zimbabwe wild dogs project blog.

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Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai, wild dogs

3 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Sep 16 2008 | By: lionguardians

I have been travelling over the weekend to a neighboring ranch called Eselenkei. On my journey I came across a livestock owner who was very angry because two of his animals had been killed by a carnivore that he claims to be very rare.

He told me that the attack had happened at around 5.30 in the early evening and that his young herder had seen the carnivores. As well as the two killed, four young calves were left with injuries, but luckily they will survive. So, what do you think these rare carnivores were? Here are some of the tracks that I saw. Can you help identify them?

Apologies for the slightly strange look of the blog at the moment - Wildlife Direct are currently working on the layout of the site!

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Tags: attack, carnivore, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai

5 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Sep 04 2008 | By: lionguardians

During our end of month meeting, Lion Guardian Olubi reported that the single elephant that has been in his area is still there, two weeks after he reported that it is posing danger to herders and women that go out to collect firewood.

I followed your suggestions and have contacted a number of people about the issue, but we are still waiting for somebody to help by removing the animal from the area.

If something is not done soon, the community will surely spear this animal, so as to avert human death.

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Tags: elephant, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai

7 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Sep 03 2008 | By: lionguardians

A cow has been reported to have been killed by a lion in Olbili. These reports came from Lion Guardian Koikai when he got back to his area from the our end of month meeting.

One of the community members, Ole Sambu Oltaika reported this to him on hearing that he was back come home. We will update you more on this once we have a full report of the incident. One thing is clear: it is not our female with cubs Nemasi, as we know she is not near that area.

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Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Maasai, masai

3 responses so far