King of the jungle threatened

2003-06-20 13:00

Nairobi - The Nairobi national park offers visitors one of the world's most unique wildlife experiences: the chance to watch lions roaming the savannah with urban skyscrapers as a backdrop - all just a 15-minute drive from downtown.

But this "safari beside the city" is being threatened by a recent spate of killings targeting the king of the jungle.

Nine lions have been found dead in the past four weeks around the southern edges of the national park, all speared to death and all with their claws and tails removed as trophies. According to the most recent count, fewer than 10 lions remained in the 100-square- kilometre park.

Conservationists described the killings as a systematic attempt by a group of young Maasai pastoralists to rid the park of its lions.

"They have publicly sworn to kill all the remaining lions in the park," said Ian Cowie, a Nairobi activist pushing national wildlife authorities to take action.

One Maasai involved in the killings said they would do just that if the lions aren't stopped from endangering the Maasais' livelihood.

"We will not sit down and watch as the lions impoverish us," Godfrey Ntapaiya told the Daily Nation newspaper. "If the government is unable to control the lions, we will permanently control them through death."

The cattle-rearing Maasai have for generations co-existed with wildlife on the grasslands south of Nairobi and typically kill lions only to protect themselves or their livestock from attack or as part of a coming-of-age ritual.

The Maasai are frustrated they aren't benefiting from the revenue generated by the park and aren't receiving compensation when their livestock are killed. Foreign visitors - of which there are thousands annually - pay a US$20 fee to enter the park.

While Maasai leaders at Kitengela, a community about 20 kilometres southeast of Nairobi, said they neither condone nor condemn the young men's actions, the vigilantes have the sympathy of the larger community.

"Cattle are our food, and when they are attacked by lions, we have no other options," said Munyaka ole Nkaka, 63, on whose land two lions were killed recently. "These young men are just trying to protect our livelihood."

Lion killed three goats

Nkamanili Nanapu took a break from gardening in her plot a few kilometres from the park boundary to describe how a lion killed three of her son's goats last week.

"When cows are attacked and you are not paid compensation, it's a total loss," Nanapu said. "That's why the young men are attacking the lions."

The uproar over the killings has reached the desk of Kenya's environment minister, Newton Kulundu. He said at a news conference that game wardens are to more closely monitor the remaining lions.

The chairperson of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) board, Colin Church, said he has also asked management to work on a proposal for fencing the park's southern border, formed by the Mbagathi River.

He added in a statement that the lion killings require further investigation, describing them as "most disturbing".

All sides in the controversy welcome the idea of fencing.

"If the park were fenced, this wouldn't have happened," Cowie said.

"That's the only sustainable solution," added Jackson ole Kaasha, a Maasai community conservationist.

He said the conflict between wildlife and livestock on the southern edge of the Nairobi national park has increased of late because of the spread of development, with new rock quarries, houses and fences erected by landowners. The urban sprawl disrupts the migration patterns of wildlife such as wildebeest and gazelles - a lion's usual diet - sending the carnivores elsewhere in search of food.

"It's easier for a lion to go into a manyatta (cattle pen) and get a cow," Kaasha said. - Sapa-DPA

- SAPA