Nairobi National Park’s lions sometimes wander into residential areas.
The city of Nairobi is very close to a national park, which is called Nairobi National Park.
Nairobi is a growing metropolis, and it’s now spreading into areas that were used as corridors for wildlife migration.
Although the park is fenced on the city side, the inhabitants can wander out on the other sides.
So now there are lions roaming the Nairobi suburbs.
Discovery News reports:
“There have been no attacks on humans — only dogs — but as the encroachment increases the probability of attacks grows,” said Francis Gakuya, chief vet for Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), as captured lion cubs growled in the background.
Pacing in a cage at the KWS headquarters in Nairobi, four orphaned cubs hiss and snarl at vets taking care of them — then give a surprisingly powerful roar for a two-month-old baby already the size of a small dog.
Wildlife rangers were forced to shoot dead the cubs’ mother after it was spotted in Nairobi’s Karen suburb and it charged before it could be darted. The cubs are now being looked after.
But it is not the only recent case. Conservationists warn of the growing likelihood of closer interaction between wildlife and humans if development is not managed in a sustainable manner.
Another lioness captured last month later escaped back into the park, a 117 square kilometre (45 square mile) wilderness where buffalo and rhino roam just seven kilometres (four miles) from the bustling high-rise city centre.
Wildlife officials have issued warnings to residents near the park to call them “should they see another lion in their area as it is possible more than one lion had strayed from the park.”
Traps are set out when a big cat is reported but the wily lions have so far avoided the baited cages — sparking concern in residents, fearful at night when guard dogs howl that a lion could be hunting in the back yard.
“Lions can hide invisible in the long grass so it’s frightening they could be around waiting to pounce,” said Mary Okello, who lives close to where recent lions were caught.
Visit the park and one is rewarded by the bizarre sight of long-necked giraffes running through wide plains of yellow grass with the gleaming skyscrapers of Nairobi’s business district rising in the distance.
Although fenced in on the city side — some bars even have terraces where one can view animals over a cold drink — the park is open-sided everywhere else to allow the annual migration of wildlife in search of grazing.
Nairobi is not entirely dissimilar from Anchorage, Alaska, which has a population of brown bears roaming the city’s parks.
Of course, brown bears normally attack people as a defensive response.
Lions attack people because they’ve figured out that people are easy prey.
And they’ve just now figured out that suburban dogs are very easy prey.
It’s not a big jump from hunting dogs in backyards to hunting people in those same backyards.
So it won’t be so much fun.
Of course, Kenya has a solution to some of these problems.
They recently let some Masai spear six lions just outside of Nairobi.
So maybe those lions will think twice before eating a person.
That person could be packing a spear!
This is the flip side of conservation. It is all fine and well for those of us in the US or UK to assert land should be accorded elephants, preservation of lions or tigers is essential, or even that cattlemen should leave wolves alone. It’s quite another issue for those who live where these animals live. It is their lives or livelihood that becomes “collateral damage”.
Hunting lions may well educate the lions that humans aren’t “easy prey” although lions are smart enough to figure out which are the weaker members of buffalo, giraffe and even elephant. It does seem that “varmit hunting” gives coyotes a healthy respect for ranchers in the west—but they are perfectly capable of figuring out that in suburban areas where they aren’t hunted that dumpster diving, small pet hunting and yes, the occasional attempt on a child is largely “safe”.
Life with lions isn’t “the lion king”. One doesn’t have happy baboons and warthogs singing with the lions about the circle of life. It’s both far more magnificent and murderous than that. Accommodating “the wild” is always going to have it’s darker aspects and those who think otherwise are deluded.
You mean that wasn’t a documentary?
I thought all the other animals in Africa worshiped lions as their royalty.
It’s a very apt analogy. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles regularly eat their subjects!
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On a serious note:
The Masai have almost no fatalities from lions because the lions know that the Masai will kill them with spears. The Masai have a rite of passage into manhood that requires a young man to kill a lion with a spear. These people are pastoralists and keep large herds of catttle. Cattle are more than their livelihoods. They mean very much to them just as an entity. Lions kill cattle, so they take care of it. They didn’t have guns, so they used spears.
‘Accommodating “the wild”': The only place where I’ve heard of general acceptance (and practice) of this principle is India. Their big cats are known to regularly prey on people, pets and livestock, but they’re still protected. Its a delicate balance but they seem to be doing it.
Of course, the real answer to these problems is to curb our own fecundity, so that there’s room enough for other species. But that doesn’t seem very likely does it?
At one time, a lady was training stray dogs in Bangla Desh to intimidate tigers into retreating to the forest of Sunderbans. I think that project was successful.
Anatolian Shepherds are indirectly protecting Cheetahs in Namibia.
Great Pyrenees and Kuvaszok are being used by silviculturists in BC to protect sheep against attacks from bears and wolves.
I wish dogs (like Boerbols and Rhodesian ridgebacks) can be used to protect cattle against these lions. It will be a win-win situation putting some breeds back to work for what they were originated.
Yeah the Sundarbans guard dogs were successfully trained, but I don’t know if the government allowed them to be used.
There’s currently debate here in Kentucky over whether to allow the use of dogs when hunting bears. Some conservation and humane organizations are opposing it, but I am a strong advocate for it, as long as hunting regulations are observed. I think that it would teach the bears that humans are to be avoided. And they would also associate dogs with hunters and so avoid areas where dogs are present. Bears are becoming very numerous, and several counties now have hunting seasons for black bears. I’d also like to see the legalization of a type of no-kill sport hunting of bears (and of pumas, in areas where they exist), similar to coonhunting, with hounds. A bear or puma that’s been treed a few times will learn that people and dogs are not to be trifled with.
Big cats, bears, wolves, and other apex predators are incredibly intelligent. In areas where they are hunted, it doesn’t take them long to figure out that humans are also apex predators, not prey. As the human population increases and wildlife habitats shrink, the only way that people will be able to coexist peacefully with large predators is if those predators respect people enough to avoid us .
This is a good suggestion, Kittenz. These are exactly my views too. I think its Dave from BC who wrote on this website that they are using dogs in that province to scare bears away from human populated areas.