According to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), ten lions have been slain in southern Kenya in the past week, including six on Saturday alone, as human-wildlife conflict escalates in the region.
This is an "unprecedentedly large number of lions to be killed at once," a KWS representative told CNN on Sunday.
Kenya Lions Killed
It comes after conservationists announced earlier this week that one of Africa's oldest lions, Loonkiito, was killed at the age of 19 years.
One of Africa's oldest lions was slain in Kenya, according to conservationists. Loonkiito was described as frail by Kenya Wildlife Service spokesperson Paul Jinaro, who said it wandered into a village on Thursday night in quest of food after fleeing the Amboseli national park.
Loonkiito had left a protected area and entered a livestock pen because he was "starving," and the livestock owner slaughtered him, according to Lion Guardians.
According to the organization, the end of a drought is typically accompanied by an increase in human-lion conflict, as it becomes more difficult to pursue natural prey and livestock owners become "particularly vigilant" after losing so many animals. Kenya is enduring its worst drought in forty years.
The six lions that perished on Saturday had previously killed eleven goats and one dog, according to a press release issued by the KWS on Saturday. According to the United Nations, the lions were all part of the Amboseli ecosystem in Kajiado County, a UNESCO biosphere reserve site near Mount Kilimanjaro. KWS hosted a meeting with locals and government officials to discuss the recent killings.
Herders speared six additional lions from the same national park after they murdered 11 livestock and a dog in the Mbirikani area of Kajiado County. Sunday, tourism minister Peninah Malonza met with locals in the Mbirikani region and implored them to contact the wildlife service instead of spearing stray lions.
"The meeting centered on peaceful and harmonious coexistence between the community and wildlife," the Kenya Wildlife Service said in a statement on social media.
Per CBS News, the government and conservation organizations have a program to compensate herdsmen whose animals are slain by wild animals. After losing livestock to a drought in East Africa that has been described as the worst in decades, herdsmen have become more vigilant.
Craig Miller of the Big Life Foundation stated that it was regrettable that Loonkiito, the oldest lion in Amboseli national park, was killed.
"While we are relieved no humans were injured, this isolated but tragic incident is a stark illustration of the difficulties in ensuring coexistence between humans and wildlife," the group said in a Facebook statement. According to conservationists, wild lions rarely survive past 15 years.
Loonkiito: Kenya's Oldest Lion
On the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, there are just over 100 lions in Amboseli, and the large cats are classified as "vulnerable."
According to African Impact, there are only 23,000 lions remaining in the wild as their population has decreased by 90% over the past decade. The World Wildlife Federation said that almost all lions reside in Africa, with a tiny population in India, Daily Mail reported.
Loonkito cannot be confirmed as the world's longest lion, but he was extremely old and exceeded the average survival age. The conservation organization Lion Guardians praised Loonkito as "a symbol of perseverance and coexistence."
In recent years, there have been more reports of wildlife straying into human habitats in Kenya, as the animals face increasing pressure from the expansion of cities into ancient migration and hunting grounds.
In July 2021, a lion escaped its habitat in Nairobi National Park and entered a densely populated neighborhood during morning rush hour, causing widespread alarm.
The park is only seven kilometers (four miles) from the center of Kenya's capital, and it is not uncommon for animals to escape the verdant plains and venture into the chaotic city of more than four million people. In December 2019, a lion mauled a man to death just outside the park, whereas in March 2016, another large feline was killed after attacking and injuring a nearby resident.
A month earlier, in February 2016, two lions spent a day meandering through Kibera, a densely populated urban slum, before returning to the park, and more lions were observed in town days later. According to Kenya's first-ever national wildlife census, conducted in 2021, there are approximately 2,500 lions in the country.
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