Lion Guardians

Category: Lions killed | Date: Nov 12 2009 | By: lionguardians

We were all shocked and saddened to read that a child recently died in Kenya from eating Furadan. We, along with Wildlife Direct and many many others have been trying to raise awareness about the poisonous affects of Furadan for a long time now.

Visit the Baraza blog to watch their video about the poisoning of lions in Kenya, and our Living with Lions poisoning crisis website page, which has more information.

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

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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: lion killings, ways you can help | Date: Apr 02 2009 | By: lionguardians

We have just heard the news that Furadan, the agricultural chemical and poison that is being used to kill wildlife, in particular hyenas, lions and vultures, has been withdrawn from sale in the areas of Africa where there are predators. Distributors have been asked to buy back stocks and we hope that it will no longer be on the shelves within 8 weeks! We hope we will never again have to see any beautiful lions in this state again.

This is fantastic news, and we are all looking forward to the day when we can go into a shop and ask for Furadan, and will not be able to purchase it. We are sending people out today to ask whether it is still available and see whether the shops have heard any news about its withdrawal. I’ll let you know what we find out.

Well done to everyone at Wildlife Direct and CBS 60 minutes who brought this story to the attention of the general public.

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

9 responses so far

Category: Lions killed, ways you can help | Date: Mar 31 2009 | By: lionguardians

I have been very interested to read all the comments and different people’s views on Furadan, on this blog, on the CBS 60 minutes page, and on the Stop the manufacture of Furadan Facebook group. What do you think? Should we be blaming the manufacturers for producing this poison, or the Government for allowing it to be sold here in Kenya when it has been banned in other countries, (I now hear that it is now banned here but we still see it on the shop shelves) or should we be blaming the people here who are using it to kill wildlife, like this beautiful lion, that sadly died from poisoning.

Tell us what you think!

Whatever your view on Furadan, I would like to thank you very much for your donations, which will directly help the work of the Lion Guardians here in Kenya. The project is completely funded by donations and grants, and the money you donate will go towards paying the salaries of the Guardians, their equipment and training, and all the other costs of running this project here in Maasailand.

All the Guardians are extremely grateful for the support they receive from blog readers, and are so excited that they are being supported from the other side of the world! Here are Lion Guardians Kapande and Koikai.

We are currently expanding the program to two neighbouring ranches where lion killing and the use of poisons to kill wildlife is still widespread, so your donations are needed now more then ever. THANK YOU!

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

6 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 27 2009 | By: lionguardians

We are very excited that the CBS program 60 minutes featuring the Lion Guardians will be shown on TV in the US this Sunday March 29th at 7pm Eastern Time. It will also be available to watch on the internet at http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml soon after. The program is all about wildlife poisoning, and Bob Simon and his team came to the Chyulu Hills to find out about lion poisoning in our area and how we work to stop wildlife being killed.

Wildlife poisoning is an extremely urgent issue - it is very easy and cheap to buy the agricultural pesticide carbofuran (Furadan) and sadly it can easily kill any animal you would like it to. Many people in Maasailand are using it to kill carnivores, and we have even heard reports that it has been used by a man to kill his father.

Across Kenya there are more and more cases of wildlife, especially carnivores, being killed with poison. It is also destroying vulture populations, as they feast on poisoned carcasses too.

We are very glad that CBS 60 minutes visited Kenya to highlight this important issue, and we hope that the program will make people sit up and listen. Our hope is that no one will be able to buy this substance anymore, and it will be replaced in shops with a pesticide that cannot be used to kill wildlife.

Have a look at our web page on lion poisoning on the Living with Lions website: http://www.livingwithlions.org/lion-poisoning.html, and please tell all your friends to watch 60 minutes. Thank you!

Tags: 60 minutes, Bob Simon, cbs, furadan, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lion poisoning, lions, Maasai, masai, poison

10 responses so far