Problem Lion
Two new lions have been spotted patrolling Amboseli National Park. Whenever these two brothers, Amboga and Companion, move into a new area, the resident male lions there move out. Amboga and Companion are now the new kids on the block in the park. They have made the northwestern side of the park their home and have managed to chase Kip, one of the resident lions known to Lion Guardians, out of the area and into the communal land along the Kenyan-Tanzania border. As a result, Kip has been terrorizing Maasai bomas and killing livestock frequently. He now resides in Kitirwa conservancy and makes occasional forays into Tanzania.
Recently, he killed several shoats (goats and sheep) and cows in Tanzania and then crossed over to Kenya. On another occasion, he killed a cow and subsequently injured a Maasai warrior (murran) who was part of a group hunting him. Kip was able to escape. Several times the Maasai have hunted for him unsuccessfully. A few days ago, he was shot at with guns along the border in Tanzania, he luckily escaped again and crossed over to Kenya where he terrorized more bomas (Maasai livestock enclosure) along the boundary. He is currently a wanted lion in this area.
Clearly, even though he is alive for now, he is under the spot light and could be living his last days. What is hard to understand is why Kip, whom is not very old, doesn’t hunt the abundant wildlife that resides in and around the park. Why he has developed a soft spot for livestock meat is only known by him. If he consigns himself to Kenya he stands a better chance of surviving because there people are more tolerant to predators compared to their Tanzanian counterparts.
This is very worrying as the same destructive cycle of poison baits will probably end up killing other innocent lions. Maybe this individual needs to be be culled for the sake of other predators as its clear he will never have a pride of his own again!!
Saw Amboga and the other male lion in his company when we were in Amboseli last year. They are fearsome looking strong lions who killed a buffalo close to Ol Tukai Lodge. Amboga walked pass our car very close.He’s a big lion!
Very worrying news about Kip..It’s unbearable to think that any lion who crosses this invisible border line will be in huge danger. Problem animal or not Kip is a member of a species,which numbers have crashed in recent decades and should be protected.He isn’t even an old lion. Have male lions ever been relocated? Could Kip survive in different surroundings where there wouldn’t be an imminent threat of dominant males?Somewhere with more space to roam? The problem with Amboseli NP is that it’s quite small.
Why not just use some of the money donated to Panthera to pay people for the livestock that are killed, as long as they don’t kill the lions. That has worked in other places. Then look at reinforcing the bomas better and teaching the people better livestock management. To a lion the livestock are prey, you can’t blame them for that.
i agree w/you there teresa. long time no hear from you. i just assume this young fellow now is raiding livestock because he has lost his home and pride. now being homeless and all alone, he is lost and scared . and domestic animals are such easy targets especially for any predators with empty bellies. if he goes to tanzania, i doubt any money given to those livestock owners would spare his precious life. the Masaai in tanzania is not into conservation just like their country comparing to kenay. after all, their president is so determined to build a wildlife killing highway thru the northern region of the great seregenti national park? it’s for commerce with uganda. and look at the wildlife in uganda.