This past week at the National Lion & Hyena Strategy Meeting at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Headquarters in Nairobi, KWS formally launched the Response Protocol to Wildlife Poisoning Incidents. Poisoning is a major threat to Kenya’s wildlife, particularly to lions, vultures, hyenas, and other animals that scavenge. This response protocol will help organizations across…
Osewan is a re-known thicket that extends well beyond the jurisdiction of Lion Guardians. The Maasai section that inhabit most of this area are called Matapato and are yet to benefit from the fruits of conservation, thus highly intolerant to predators that kill their livestock. This is the same area in which one of our…
After our female lion Nosioki and her female cub were poisoned in Osewan in Matapato outside our jurisdiction, we thought that was the end for this pride. The white poisonous substance obtained from Tanzania that was used is so lethal; we thought nothing will be spared. The male cub that survived was barely a year…
My fears have now been validated. I regret to inform you that Nosioki, our motherly female lioness is no more! A few days ago, I wrote about the lion-livestock conflict in Osewan. This area has been of great concern to the Lion Guardians given the fact that it is just outside of Lion Guardian zones, on a…
Fossil records reveal that more than 20 hyena species roamed the earth as recently as 10 million years ago but most of these species are now extinct. Currently, only four extant members of the carnivore Hyaenidae exist, the spotted, brown and striped hyenas, and aardwolves. Brown hyenas are only found in South Africa, while striped…
For the past month, conservationist within the Amboseli ecosystem were jubilant following the arrest in Tanzania of an infamous elephant poacher who managed to escape with a broken elbow after two of his accomplices were killed in Kenya as they try to waylay a herd of elephants armed with an automatic rifle. The network of informers…
Amboseli National Park has been severely suffering during the drought that has affected the whole of the Amboseli ecosystem, including Mbirikani, Eselenkei and Olgulului Group Ranches where the Lion Guardians work. Many hundreds, if not thousands of wild herbivores have been dying and moving away from the area, leaving it severely lacking in prey for lions…
Samanya is our new Lion Guardian representing the Oloilalei area of Olgulului Group Ranch near Amboseli National Park. He lives and works in this low lying swampy area which is ideally home to several wildlife species. Samanya is quite young and shy but enormously friendly. The eagerness with which he undertakes his community work is…
We were all shocked and saddened to read that a child recently died in Kenya from eating Furadan. We, along with Wildlife Direct and many many others have been trying to raise awareness about the poisonous affects of Furadan for a long time now. Visit the Baraza blog to watch their video about the poisoning…
We are very excited that the CBS program 60 minutes featuring the Lion Guardians will be shown on TV in the US this Sunday March 29th at 7pm Eastern Time. It will also be available to watch on the internet at http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml soon after. The program is all about wildlife poisoning, and Bob Simon and his…