Lion Guardians

Category: Community work, Lion Guardians work, ways you can help | Date: Aug 20 2009 | By: lionguardians

A report in the Telegraph on Tuesday suggested that within 20 years lions may become extinct in Kenya. This follows a press release from KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) which says that Kenya is losing an average of 100 of its 2,000 lions every year due to growing human settlements, increasing farming, climate change and disease.

According to KWS figures, there were 2,749 lions in Kenya in 2002 and their population dropped to 2,280 by 2004 and to roughly 2,000 today. They say that if the current decline rate continues, there won’t be a single lion surviving in Kenya in the next 20 years.

There is no doubt that the numbers are in freefall. I’d be surprised if they even last as long as 20 years, said Dr Laurence Frank, project director of Living with Lions, the umbrella organisation of the Lion Guardians.

Laurence said: When I first came here 30 years ago, you would always hear lions roaring across the rangelands at night and see their tracks in the morning. Now that is very rare. The reason is simple; lions eat cattle, and as the numbers of people grow, the numbers of cows increase. Alongside that there are ever more efficient ways, including poisoning, to kill lions. Click here to read the full story.

Living with Lions and the Lion Guardians are working to reduce the conflicts between lions and livestock, so that there is less incentive for people to kill them. By doing things like warning herders to avoid areas where lions are present, finding lost livestock and helping communities to make their livestock enclosures predator proof (as in the photo below) the Lion Guardians are helping put a stop to lion killing in the Amboseli-Tsavo region where they work.

Please help us with this important work before it is too late. You can support the Lion Guardians by making a donation through this blog. Any amount you can give will help the work of the Lion Guardians, as they reduce human-wildlife conflict in Kenya.

Tags: extinct, Kenya, kws, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, living with lions, Maasai, masai

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Category: life in camp | Date: May 07 2009 | By: lionguardians

Yesterday we were called to the scene of an injured elephant, which had been spotted limping badly close to our camp in Ol Donyo Wuas. The elephant had been speared in the foot because he had been raiding farms in search of food and water.

KWS/Sheldrick Trust vets from Tsavo West National Park were called to the scene, and eventually he was in a good position to dart. Everything went well, and the vets treated the spear wound on his leg.

Game scouts from the Maasailand Preservation Trust were on hand to make sure he was kept cool with water.

When the vets were happy that the wound was treated fully, they made some final checks before rousing him from the anaesthesia.

Here he is, waking up, and moving off into the bush. We are told he will be just fine! Thank goodness for a successful outcome to this potentially tragic story!

We’ll keep you posted if we hear any developments about how he is doing.

Sorry for the slight hiccup on posts for the last few days. I think it is what is called a technical fault, which has now been rectified! It does mean that any comments you made about Antony’s new home in England have been lost though. Sorry about that!

Tags: elephant, injured, Kenya, kws, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Maasai, masai, sheldrick, speared, vet

6 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 05 2009 | By: lionguardians

Yesterday we heard the news that an elephant had been speared four times near the edge of our ranch. We also heard that the scouts that had found the elephant had lost it in the bush, and the pressure was on to find it again. A plane was sent to search for the injured elephant so that it could be treated by Kenya Wildlife Service. Luckily the elephant was found, and we all hope that KWS will be able to treat it, and it will survive its injuries.

We don’t know the circumstances that surround the spearing but water is still in short supply here, so it is possible that the elephant was causing trouble with the communities while in search of water.

I will update you with more news about this when I receive it.

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

2 responses so far