Lion Guardians

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 30 2009 | By: lionguardians

An article about the Lion Guardians has been published on the website Ecoworldly.com. The article explains the project and features an interview from Lion Guardians Director Leela Hazzah, who talks about the challenges and goals of the project. Click here to visit Ecoworldly.com and read the article by Rhishja Larson.

Tags: ecoworldly, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, rhishja larson

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 24 2009 | By: lionguardians

We have heard that the piece on the Lion Guardians filmed by Reuters a few weeks ago has now been shown on television across the world! Blog reader Brenton reported that it was shown on Australian TV, Pauline says it was on the BBC, and we have also heard that is was shown in Kenya. Did anyone else happen to see the piece?If not, you can view it here!

Thank you Reuters, for bringing the important work of the Lion Guardians to the attention of the world. We hope this publicity will bring in some much needed donations, to help the project!

Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, TV, youtube

3 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 04 2009 | By: lionguardians

The Mbirikani Lion Guardians had their monthly meeting at the end of September and were invited to play a game of football (soccer!) with the staff of the lodge Ol Donyo Wuas. After a long day of training the guys were all happy to get together on the plains (in fact, on the local air strip) for a match! And what a beautiful location it was for it!

Unfortunately the Lion Guardians team lost, but everyone had a great time. Too bad they are too busy conserving lions to practice their soccer skills! Here are some of the Lion Guardians team.

Everyone was pleased to get back to camp and have a delicious goat roast.

Tags: football, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, soccer

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 23 2009 | By: lionguardians

After successfully starting up the Lion Guardians program on Eselenkei Group Ranch, we are now expanding to yet another ranch in the Amboseli-Tsavo Ecosystem! The new ranch, Olgulului is on the border with Amboseli National Park, and experiences a lot of conflict with wildlife. We can’t wait to start work there! Here is one of our collared lions Nempakai, who is currently residing in Amboseli.

The interview process for possible Lion Guardians on Olgulului is now complete. The Group Ranch was divided into 8 zones, and each was represented by 9 traditional morans, eager to conserve carnivores and lions in particular, as well as serve their community. In fact, the ravaging drought did not inhibit their attendance. A total of 72 morans attended the interviews!

During the interviews, the selection panel looked at many different criteria, including poverty levels, physical fitness, leadership qualities and tracking skills, as well as general wildlife knowledge and lion killing history. A total of 16 morans were short-listed and will now start a 1 month volunteering period. During this voluntary process, the Guardians will help reinforce bomas to predator-proof levels, assist their communities in finding lost livestock, as well as tracking and monitoring lions.

What exciting news for the project!

Tags: Amboseli, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, olgulului

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 21 2009 | By: lionguardians

Yesterday we reported that Kenya’s lions may become extinct within 20 years. According to the New Scientist, Kenya’s lions could vanish within 10 years, if action is not taken very quickly.

Read the story in the New Scientist by clicking here.

Tags: Kenya, laurence frank, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, new scientist

2 responses so far

Category: Lions killed, Uncategorized | Date: Jul 27 2009 | By: lionguardians

Last night CBS showed the follow up to their 60 minutes program on the misuse of Furadan, to poison lions and other wildlife in Kenya. Click here to read about the program and watch the video.

We are very grateful to CBS for publicizing the devastating effects that Furadan poisoning has had on lions and other African wildlife. Until the 60 minutes program aired, the manufacturer of Furadan had consistently denied all the evidence of massive wildlife deaths due to its misuse. Immediately following the broadcast, they withdrew it from the Kenya market and farmers have switched to less dangerous products for legitimate pest control needs.

This was a tremendous victory for conservation, but carbofuran, the generic version of Furadan, is made by other companies and can be imported under different trade names. Carbofuran is banned in Europe, and in the process of being banned in the US.

We and other conservationists insist that the governments of Kenya and other countries must take the essential further step of banning the importation and manufacture of carbofuran under any name.

Wildlife in Africa is declining rapidly due to human population growth and lack of effective conservation measures. Banning lethal poisons is one simple step by which governments can protect their dwindling natural resources.

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

2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 15 2009 | By: lionguardians

The drought is worsening day by day. It has not rained properly for two consecutive years, and the pastoralist Maasai community who inhabit the group ranch have moved their livestock in three directions in search of greener pastures. The cows are all becoming very thin, and many are dying.

The first group moved their livestock all the way to Manyara in Tanzania. Others decided to take their cattle to Tsavo West National Park, but they have been experiencing serious clashes with the park authorities, who are trying to prevent the pastures of the national park from being overgrazed by cattle, leaving the ground bare.

Following some unexpected rain in the north towards Nairobi a few weeks ago, almost all the remaining livestock has been moved that way, including some who had already gone to Tanzania, meaning they had travelled for over 400km with their herds to find grass. We are now almost resigned to the fact that it may not rain until the end of October.

This devastating drought spares nobody. Livestock and wildlife are affected in equal measures. Elders in the group ranch are describing this drought as the worst ever, and with price of consumer goods sky-rocketing while the price of selling livestock and other domestic products are falling, the situation is triggering a catastrophic food crisis.

Tags: drought, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, rain

19 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 19 2009 | By: lionguardians

On Saturday, I had to go to London to take an English exam at Acton College. After my exam, I had some time to walk around London, the oldest city I have ever seen!

It was a great experience to see this old city that I had only ever seen in movies before. I got the chance to visit the British Museum and learned a lot about Greek and Egyptian history. Here I am in front of the British Museum…

And inside the museum with a very ancient lion!

I went to Trafalgar Square and saw another lion! I am so proud that there are many statues of the amazing animals we are trying to protect all over London, and I hope this means that the people of England love these animals and want to help protect them. If that is true - please help us with a donation! The Lion Guardians still need your support! And a big thank you to those of you who have donated recently.

I also went to the River Thames and saw St Paul’s Cathedral (you can see it in the distance below).

I also saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

It was such an amazing place, and I only had one afternoon to look at it all, so I plan to visit with my class mates. I’d really like to visit Buckingham Palace and the London Eye too.

After all is said and done, I am crossing my fingers that I will pass the English exam, which will determine my stay here at Oxford University.

Tags: Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, london, Maasai, masai, Oxford University

8 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 15 2009 | By: lionguardians

On April 28^th nearly 300 guests gathered at the Tribeca Rooftop in New York City to honour five women and present them with WINGS WorldQuest Women of Discovery Awards, which celebrate and support the ground-breaking work of current women explorers and scientists. And one of these women was our Lion Guardians’ Director, Leela Hazzah!

Leela won the Field Research Award for her work in Kenya’s Maasailand, where she started the Lion Guardians program. Here are the winning women, who were awarded in the following categories: Earth, Sea, Air & Space, Humanity, Courage, Field Research and Lifetime Achievement.

The evening was led by Bertha Coombs of CNBC and Leela’s award was presented to her by actor Anthony Edwards.

The other winners were Aparajita Datta who has discovered new mammal species and monitors threatened wildlife with local communities in northeast India, Rosaly Lopes who has led the NASA teams exploring Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io, where she discovered 71 new active volcanoes, Bolortsetseg Minjin, a Mongolian paleontologists who has been credited with spectacular finds of dinosaur fossils in the Gobi Desert and Maya Tolstoy, a marine geophysicist who researches mid-ocean ridge earthquakes and their impacts on life forms. 

Congratulations to all of you!

Tags: anthony edwards, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, wings worldquest

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 04 2009 | By: lionguardians

This is my first week since leaving Kenya. People are really taking good care of the new “Panthers” as they are known here in Tubney House in Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU). The other students are from Nepal, Zimbabwe, South Africa Bolivia, Madagascar and Bhutan.

The weather is not that good although the people here think that it is the best time of the year for them! Contrary to the weather, the people are extremely nice to us! Lucy Tallents and Murray are helping us to get used to the life in Tubney and navigate around Oxford. Here is our new home!

Yesterday, I was taken out punting by my new “parents” here in England. A punt is a kind of boat that is used on the rivers here in Oxford. We also visited the Codrington Library. It had very beautiful sculptures done many years ago. My new papa and mama took good care of me on Saturday, showing me great places in my new city.

We also got a chance to be welcomed by Professor David Macdonald. His words were those of a father welcoming a son to a new home; he told us that Tubney is just like our homes we left behind. True to his words, this is actually like my place in the Chyulus.

Tags: International Wildlife Conservation Practice, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, oxford, Oxford University, WildCRU

2 responses so far