Today, the WildlifeDirect sponsored lion sculpture, which is part of the Pride of Kenya campaign, the Androcles Lion, finally arrived at the public display point at Yaya Centre in Nairobi. The lion was delivered by a Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) truck and was accompanied by the team from Kenya office of Born Free Foundation and Wild in Art.

The KWS truck in the ‘drop off zone’ after delivering Androcles Lion

To receive the lion and supervise it’s installation on the base that had been placed a while back was our excellent artist Mary Collis.  Dr Paula Kahumbu and Samuel Maina of WildlifeDirect were there too. Artist Gakunju Kaigwa of Kuona Trust, who made the mold from which all the 50 lion statues were cast was also there. Mary Collis and her team from RaMoMa were fussing around the loin as they touched up parts of the lion that could have been altered during the transportation.

Touching up the lion upon arrival

There was a challenge however since today – and all of Nairobi is thankful – it had rained and the late morning drizzle had made the lion somehow wet. Everyone who was there grabbed serviettes that someone had instantly bought from the nearby supermarket and tenderly pat-dried the lion, all the time being very carefully not to damage the art.

As Mary and the many helping hands were finishing the touch-ups, Dr Richard Leakey arrived.

Dr Richard Leakey arrives

Richard Leakey endorsed the message that WildlifeDirect is sending with the lion – to stop all poisoning of lions using Furadan – by appending his signature on the rump of the lion. Dr Leakey thus became the first prominent person to endorse the campaign. Others have been invited to endorse this campaign among them Achim Steiner, the Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Kenya’s Wildlife Minister Hon. Noah Wekesa, among others and we still await their response.

‘Now don’t move while I sign on your rump’

The happy faces as Dr Leakey appends his signature

The lion will remain in display at Yaya Centre for the next 2 months. Other lions in the Pride of Kenya campaign distributed around Nairobi will also be in display for the next 8 weeks until the day of their auction. The auction of this beautiful art will be held in November. Says the Born Free Foundation in their blog:

The lions will be on display until the end of October, when they will be brought together for one last time as part of a gala auction to be held at the Headquarters of the Kenya Wildlife Service on 6th November. Virginia McKenna OBE, one of the original stars of the classic wildlife film Born Free will be coming to Kenya to attend this very special event, which also marks the 25th Anniversary of the Born Free Foundation, the wildlife charity she founded in 1984 with her late husband, the actor Bill Travers.

Before the Androcles Lion is auctioned, however, and as he sits in public display at Yaya, WildlifeDirect will push the message to the public about the contribution of Furadan to the decline of Kenya’s lion population, which now stands at only 2,100 individuals and is being lost at a rate of 100 lions per year (from KWS data of the past 7 years).

Dr Leakey with Artists Kaigwa and Mary (both on the right)

Dr Leakey’s signature (in gold ink) on Androcles’ rump

If you are resident in Nairobi, or if you will be in Nairobi at any time during the next 8 weeks, please pass by and show your support for this campaign. You can also donate here to help us produce educational materials to give to the public so that they can learn to conserve lions.