Last week in Amboseli Wildlife Park, Kenya’s second largest national park, eleven lions were killed by shepherds, six on Saturday alone. According to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the state agency that manages the country’s parks, it’s “unusual” that so many lions are killed in such a short time. However, this can be explained considering that Kenya is going through a very serious drought, which started at the end of 2020 and is considered the worst of the last forty years according to FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Lions are very important animals for Kenya, as together with the other large wild animals that live in the savannah they are a major tourist attraction. But when they struggle to find prey among wild herbivores, they can become a threat to livestock. Due to the prolonged drought, many animals have already died and for this reason some lions have begun to attack flocks and herds: the shepherds, who have already lost many animals due to lack of water, try to defend them by killing the lions. The six killed on Saturday had attacked eleven goats and a dog the previous night.
After the lion deaths, the KWS organized a public meeting with pastoralist communities to discuss the problems of living with wild predators and how to minimize the risk of conflict. KWS officials have proposed the use of systems to warn shepherds in advance of the presence of one or more lions or other carnivores.
to address the escalating Human-Wildlife Conflict experienced in the area in the past two days that has resulted in the loss of 11 livestock & retaliatory killing of 11 lions.
The meeting centred around peaceful and harmonious coexistence between the community and wildlife. (3/3) pic.twitter.com/NH3XfLaBlV— Kenya Wildlife Service (@Kwskenya) May 14, 2023
Among the lions killed last week was also Loonkito, known for his age: he was 19 years old and it is possible that he was the oldest lion in all of Africa, among those living in the wild. The average age of free lions is 13 years. Loonkito was speared after he entered a farm animal enclosure outside the Amboseli borders. According to the Lion Guardians organization, which takes care of protecting the park’s lions by collaborating with the local human population, and in particular with the Masaai communities, the lion was “starving” before being killed.
In the Amboseli park, which is more than 39,000 hectares, i.e. more than 390 square kilometers, live elephants, giraffes, buffaloes and cheetahs, among others. There are an estimated 2,500 lions across Kenya, according to a 2021 census, the first of its kind in the country.
– Read also: The project to bring together shepherds, wolves and bears in the Italian mountains