The Lion Guardians team was out on Eselenkei Group Ranch looking for the Tara pride when we received information that the wandering group of 4 male lions that we had been monitoring for the last week had visited several bomas the previous night and left death and destruction in their wake. They had killed 5 donkeys, and critically injured 2 and killed (but left intact) 4 goats that had got lost in the bush. What a disaster! Here is one of the young male lions that had carried out the attacks.
We mobilized several Lion Guardians and together with some game scouts from nearby Amboseli Porini camp (Selenkay Conservancy), they were thankfully able to prevent the agitated community members from any revengeful attacks against the lions. After successfully calming the community, the Lion Guardians team proceeded to get things ready for a potential collaring later in the evening, and started the process by doing a ‘call-in’ near to the place where the attacks had happened. This involves playing the sounds of lions roaring, or other noises that might attract lions, such as a dying prey, through loud speakers. Out of the darkness came the lions. They strolled past the car and disappeared again; this marked the start of a long game of ‘hide and seek’!
After a search that lasted more than 3 hours, one of the lions was finally collared, and the Lion Guardians that were present named the male lion ‘Sikiria’, a Maasai name meaning ‘He of the donkey’. This is the first male to be collared on Eselenkei Group Ranch. Young, big and very strong, Sikiria comes from a group of 4 lions that seem to be moving far and wide searching for everything from prey and territory to females. Here I am with Sikiria, at his collaring.
Now that the Lion Guardians can keep close eye on their locations, we hope that they will be able to prevent any more disasters from happening, by alerting community members of their whereabouts as a way of preventing human-wildlife conflicts. We will keep you posted on the activities of these rambunctious male lions!
Thank you so much for protecting these lions! Do you have any compensation schemes going for covering the losses to the local communities?
what a disaster these four boys have made for themselves. they were really in the killing mood then. poor donkeys and goats. and they didn’t even eat any of them? are they lucky or what? hope they will find their own pride and territory so that no more killing of any livestock. and how did the goats gotten lost?
Wow…mischievious they are! So sorry to hear about the farm animals …thanks for trying to prevent anymore tragic deaths!
Thanks for your comments. Yes there is a compensation scheme running in the area, one is run by Selenkay Conservancy (Porini Camp) for lion kills, and there is also a compensation scheme on the neighbouring ranch Olgulului run by the Maasailand Preservation Trust, which covers other carnivore kills too.
Unfortunately the goats must have got lost while being herded. Lost livestock being left out at night is a common cause of carnivore attacks, and may be due to having young children herding during the day and not taking enough care. Part of the Lion Guardians’ work is to advise people on better herding so that livestock don’t get lost, and also to help herders find lost livestock, so they don’t get attacked.
Young males of any species seems to get in to trouble, they’ve got a lot to learn and a huge amount of hormones running through their bodies… All the best in trying to calm the locals and hopefully these guys will have the chance to grow and mature in to the magnificent creature they all are and find themselves in their rightful place amongst their own pride..(and by then less likely to find themselves in such a mess) !
I am so sorry to hear about this. Those 4 naughty boys sound just like some young human men. Since they didn’t eat the goats, they obviously just wanted to have an exciting night out, and show everyone how tough they are!
Were the bomas not in good enough shape, that they could get in to the donkeys?
They sound like a little gang running around without any supervision or guidance. What a mess! I’d hate for them to run into a human…
Hi Hashi, Unfortunately donkeys are often not kept inside bomas at night, so often end up getting attacked by carnivores.
[…] What a long list of wonderful people who are all helping to pay the wages of the Lion Guardians, and keep this project running. The Lion Guardians on all 3 ranches are phoning in their lion reports daily, and helping their communities by finding lost livestock (Mokoi found over 40 lost goats recently!) and calming angry herders whose animals have been attacked by predators. […]