Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The reports compiled by the predator conservation group Living with Lions (LWL) come from
a variety of sources in Laikipia and Kajiado Districts. Some were direct observation of radio col-
lared lions that LWL fi eld personnel have discovered after receiving a mortality signal, some were
reported by local people and investigated by LWL, others were reports received from individuals or
conservation groups that we consider reliable.
3.4.4 Results
LWL has records of 53 lions poisoned in our 7 000 km
2
Laikipia study area since 2002, and 68 in
the 5 000 km
2
Amboseli region since 2001. All Laikipia incidents occurred on communal land, but
as few lions survive in these areas, most probably originated on commercial ranches. All Kajiado
incidents were on communally owned group ranches. The largest single recorded incident killed a
pride of seven adults and subadults. Additionally, the Kenya Wildlife Service has many poisoning
records from the Masai Mara region. In most other parts of Kenya, dead carnivores are unlikely to
be reported due to lack of conservation activity, so these records represent an unknown fraction of
the actual number of lions poisoned in Kenya.
Hyenas have also suffered heavy poisoning mortality and have become rare in most areas.
However, they are less likely to be found than lions as they tend to move away from an unfi nished
carcass, and low public interest in hyenas means that dead ones are not usually reported unless they
are found in conjunction with dead lions. In a typical example, fi ve dead hyenas and two dead
vultures were found by a LWL scout in the Amboseli region in November 2010, next to a cow car-
cass sprinkled with blue granules. Although wild prey was abundant in this region until the drought
of 2009 (African Conservation Centre 2010; KWS and TAWIRI 2010) and livestock carcasses and
human refuse are ubiquitous, hyenas have become notably uncommon in this region (LWL, unpub-
lished data), the apparent result of years of intensive poisoning.
The most recent incidents were reported by scouts from the African Wildlife Foundation and
followed up by a scout from the Masailand Preservation Trust and one from LWL's Lion Guardians
group (i.e., Masai warriors employed in lion monitoring and conservation, see www.livingwithlions.
org). On 2 January 2011, just on the Tanzania side of the Tanzania-Kenya border, a livestock owner
freely admitted to sprinkling carbofuran on the carcass of a cow killed by lions. A female lion, four
spotted hyenas and a vulture were poisoned. On 19 January, the same man poisoned another cow car-
cass, which was fed upon by one male and three female lions; the male died (Figure 3.14) and after
being partially skinned (skins, teeth and claws are illegally sold to tourists) and more blue granules
were sprinkled on the lion, apparently in an effort to kill additional hyenas (Figure 3.15). The lions
are thought to have originated in Amboseli National Park, on the Kenya side of the border.
In a similar incident in April 2010, a pride of fi ve lions from Amboseli National Park was poi-
soned in Kenya, along with one striped hyena (
Hyaena hyaena
). The perpetrator admitted to buying
Furadan in Tanzania, and the Kenya Government Chemist's analysis of lions' stomach contents
reported carbofuran in all samples. Thus, although Furadan is now more diffi cult to buy in Kenya,
carbofuran remains freely available in Tanzania and can be easily brought into Kenya. In Tanzania,
it has also been documented as being used to poison crocodiles and vultures in the Selous Game
Reserve (R. Bonham, personal communication). Furadan is also apparently still widely available in
Uganda (E. Okot Omoya, personal communication). At least 11 lions were poisoned with Furadan
in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park in 2007, (http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/577946),
and populations of all large predators plummeted after pastoralists invaded the Park in 2006. '“Over
80% of the hyenas have been killed and all leopards along the Nyamusagani River have been poi-
soned,” said Dr. Ludwig Siefert, a veterinarian and lecturer at Makerere University.' In typical cases,
however, the dead lions, hyenas, or vultures are only found and reported days after death, and due
to decomposition and scavenging, little evidence is left. It is rare for someone to arrive on the scene
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