Baraza

Category: Lions | Date: Mar 13 2008 | By: admin

I am typing this in the car on the way home (I have a little gizmo that connects to my computer). I’ve never done this before (posting literally on the road)  but then rarely have I felt so compelled  – this is an emergency. We just heard from the lion guardians that lions are being speared in Amboseli – one of Kenya’s premier protected areas. But it’s not just lions, I have heard from good authority that it’s not just lions that are being targeted. Eleven elephants have also been speared to death and we’re trying to find out from Joyce Poole and the Amboseli Elephant Program if this is true.

This is not about human conflict, it’s not about hunger. It has that stinking whiff of rotten politics.

I’ve tried consulting with my colleagues at Kenya Wildlife Service, on the record they are not aware of any ‘reports’. Of course, you can be ‘ignorant’ of issues so long as there’s no typed report on your desk.

But off the record they have admitted that lions and elephants are being killed in Amboseli. They are worried, really worried and they talked about it at a big conference recently. The tourism crisis is cutting deep, it’s affecting everyone. Wildlife compensation schemes that depended on tourism have all but collapsed. Communities that are no longer benefiting, are retaliating. The government authorities held a meeting last week to talk about the serious situation facing lions.

It’s very serious. Kenya’s lion population has crashed from 10,000 in the 1970’s to fewer than 2,000 today. So, where is the response, where are the arrests, where are the convictions. Where is the justice? We are furious. What does it take to wake up the nation? Lions and elephants are probably the greatest tourist attraction to Kenya. Without them we have little hope of recovering the tourism numbers we once took for granted.

I just wish the authorities could be honest and transparent about what is happening, stop being afraid of the truth, and getting into the mindset that we, the public, the lovers of wildlife, the world at large, can help.

Ok..I have to stop now and send this post , we’re coming up to a police check!

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