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!

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

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