Lion Guardians

Category: Community work, Lion Guardians work | Date: Aug 13 2009 | By: lionguardians

The one month voluntary period by the new Lion Guardians on Eselenkei Group Ranch is now over. During this period the volunteering Lion Guardians have helped reinforce more than ten community bomas (livestock enclosures) to predator proof levels, found lost livestock herds in the bush and been tracking lions across the length & breadth of the ranch. Here one of our new Guardians takes a photo of a collared female from the Tara pride.

Because of our funding constraints we have had to pick only the four best Lion Guardians from our 10 volunteers. The four Lion Guardians that have been selected are Kamunu, Kutata, Melita and Lopono. Here they are receiving training from our new Lion Guardians Coordinator in Eselenkei, Eric.

We chose the warriors that were the most honest and hard working, and who had shown dedication and skill at lion tracking and community work, particularly in helping to upgrade local livestock enclosures. The constant flow of gratitude and appreciation, the positive facial expressions of community members and the instant embracing of boma reinforcement as a way of reducing human-wildlife conflicts means that this kind of community assistance will be a strong component of the Lion Guardian project here on our new ranch.

Keep reading the blog for more news of these four hard working warriors who have successfully gained employment with the Lion Guardians project.

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

5 responses so far

Category: Community work | Date: Jul 10 2009 | By: lionguardians

At the workshops we held recently with the new potential Guardians, we asked them to each pick the weakest boma  (livestock enclosure) in their area - one that had been recently targeted by predators or that they thought needed the most urgent re-building.

We wanted them to find bomas that would benefit most from being given the Lion Guardians predator proofing treatment! A boma wall like this for example, would certainly not stop a lion or a hyena attacking the livestock inside!

Yesterday we set out to verify that each Lion Guardian had chosen the weakest boma and to give them the go-ahead to start improving it. With three zones to cover, we set out early to check the ten bomas. In the first zone we found three well chosen bomas all needing to be re-built, and were honoured to have the presence of the local area chief.

At the second zone we found that the three Lion Guardians here were so eager to start helping their local community that they had already started work on re-building a weak boma! The owner was very thankful for the hard work of the warriors. It might have taken him a week to complete this work himself. We left zone two knowing that the Guardians here had already made a great impact on the life of one family in the community.

The four Guardians in zone 3 had all chosen wisely, with one of the warriors selecting a boma which had recently experienced an incident where a hyena broke in and bit two people as well as killing two goats. 

We were very pleased with all the work we had seen and made our way back to camp satisfied that the new Guardians were beginning to make an impact in their communities. We’ll continue checking on their progress in the upcoming weeks and let you know how they all progress!

Tags: boma, Community work, conflict, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, lions, Livestock, Maasai, masai

2 responses so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Feb 23 2009 | By: lionguardians

Our Lion Guardian in Ol Donyo Wuas area, Solonka, has reported that a cow has been killed by lions, just 10 kms south of our camp. Solonka went to the site to verify the claim and try to find out which lion was responsible for the kill.

Although our male lion Lentim’s signal was not very close we suspect he could be the one who killed the cow. There was just one lion track from the cow carcass, and we know that this area is Lentim’s territory and he is usually on his own.

 

We are lucky that Lentim has a GPS collar, so if you want to have a look at his movements and see where he has been you can do! Just click here! Here you can see a map of where he has been. We think he must be the culprit - don’t you?

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

One response so far

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Feb 16 2009 | By: lionguardians

One of our collared male lions Lentim has killed three cows up in the hills. This report was confirmed by our Lion Guardian Solonka today, who came to our camp to ask for a receiver and aerial to verify that it was Lentim that had made the kills. Here are some cows grazing up in the Chyulu hills. People have been forced to move their cows up into the hills, as this is the only place which still has green grass for them to feed on.

Solonka went to the area and found Lentim’s signal not far away from people’s settlements. Solonka will have to keep on monitoring Lentim closely and must stay very alert, so he can warn herders and the local people about his whereabouts so as to avoid any more conflicts.

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

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 10 2008 | By: lionguardians

Today I was sent a link by one of my friends about bull fighting, which is to be started in Nairobi. This is one of the saddest things to do to animals that I have ever seen, especially when some people use drugs to charge bulls to fight each other.

I asked everyone around the camp what they thought of bull fighting. Almost all of the guys I talked to were totally against it, and were unhappy to hear that it would soon be happening in our capital city. I will tell you more about the Maasai’s reaction to this story as I talk to more local livestock owners and my elders. I would like to know what you think about it too. I think it could even drive Maasai to become vegetarian if they watched this “sport”.

Tags: bull fighting, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Livestock, Maasai, masai, Nairobi

9 responses so far

Category: Community work | Date: Nov 17 2008 | By: lionguardians

Barely a week after the last livestock were killed by lions, two more have been attacked, one of them sustaining deep head injuries. The culprits of these two cases are our collared lions Mbalueni and Mbeuti, who have come over from the neighbouring ranch Kuku. Here is the injured cow.

We showed the owner of the injured cow how we track collared lions, and with him we found out which lions were responsible. He was very interested, and said that he would not kill the lions if they came back, but would just chase them away. Here he is using the telemetry equipment to see which lion attacked his cow, and where they have gone now.

These two lions have crossed hundreds of kilometers to end up at our twin hills. The area is beautiful and green now the rains have come, and there is plenty of water for wildlife and livestock. Cows are slowly getting healthy again and soon lots of milk will be available. We hope the lions that seem to be now moving into this area will stop killing cows. Not all livestock owners are as tolerant as this man we met. Look at how the rain has transformed the landscape!

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

2 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.  

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

5 responses so far

Category: Donations received, Lion Guardians work | Date: Aug 14 2008 | By: lionguardians

Lion Guardian Koikai has reported two lions close to Olbili, where he lives and works. When he passed on this information to the office, he said he thought they were a new pride. Our collared male Lentim is at Olosira, a hill close to Olbili, but Koikai think the ones he came across are probably new lions. Wouldn’t it be great if new lions like this had moved into the area?

I will deliver a receiver to Koikai soon so that he can track these lions, and find out if they are collared, or new individuals as he suspects. The good news is they have not caused any trouble to livestock owners. We really hope this continues, but as ever Koikai and the other Lion Guardians will be ready to try to dissolve any conflict that may arise between livestock owners and carnivores.

It would be great if we had the funds to buy each of our Guardians a receiver. This would make the program much more efficient as they would know for certain which lions they were tracking. As always, your donations are really appreciated, and are vital in order for us to continue the program.

Thank you to everyone who has made donations recently - Edward M, Dave B, Black C, Wanda H, Peter P, Caroline T, and Loki Q. We would not be able to continue our work without your support.

Tags: collar, conflict, donations, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Livestock, Maasai, masai

5 responses so far

Category: Meet the Lion Guardians | Date: Aug 11 2008 | By: lionguardians

I’m going to answer some questions from Jeff Spindel, who I met while I was visiting America. He asks me to talk about my feelings about the differences between the way Maasai treat their cattle and what I saw of how Americans treat their cattle.

Jeff also asked me two other questions: when am I coming back to America and another funny question which I have tried to answer here!

Tags: America, cattle, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Livestock, Maasai, masai, popular, treatment, women

No responses yet

Category: Lion Guardian reports | Date: Jul 31 2008 | By: lionguardians

Lion Guardian Olubi spent the whole of the day yesterday and most of the evening looking for six lost animals - three calves and their mothers. The livestock belonged to one of his neighbors, who left them outside the boma in the bush overnight. Here is Olubi looking for tracks.

Unfortunately for the owner of the livestock, this lead to the calves being killed and their mothers being injured by hyenas. This illustrates very well the reason the Lion Guardians advise all herders to bring their animals into bomas overnight, like the ones below. Calves especially are easy prey for a hyena.

The owner was extremely unhappy about this incident, but he has no one to blame but himself and his herder, since it was him that left them out overnight.

I would like to thank blog readers for their recent donations - Hashi, Kit, Sporting T, Jessica, Pirjo, Ellen, Kim, Loki, Peter and Alison have all donated to the Lion Guardians in July. Thank you!

We would also like to send our special thanks to Jia and Richard for their sponsorship of Lion Guardians. If anyone feels they would like to donate a smaller monthly amount and join another reader or two to sponsor a Guardian please get in touch below!

Thank you!

Tags: attacks, carnivore, Kenya, lion, lion conservation, Lion Guardians, Livestock, lost, Maasai, masai

2 responses so far