A stray lion spotted in
Isinya town, Kajiado county, on Wednesday morning was shot dead after attacking and injuring a boda boda rider.
The lion believed to have wandered out of Nairobi National
Park on Tuesday night was seen in
Isinya Plains near County Resort, some 15km south of the park.
Jason Parantai, a farmer who lives near the resort on
Isinya-Kiserian Road, told The Star by phone at 6am that the animal had been spotted and police alerted.
By 9am, the area had been surrounded by
armed regular and administration police under the command of Isinya deputy county commissioner David Kipkemei.
Kipkemei said
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers from the county were the first to arrive but did not have
tranquilizer guns.
He said they asked officers at the KWS headquarters in Nairobi
to help transport the lion back before it harmed people.
The lion had been charging at the officers and could have escaped and caused havoc, he added.
KWS spokesman Paul Gathitu said the man who was injured was part of a crowd that had gathered.
He said the lion attacked him out of agitation.
Gathitu said the rangers intended to tranquilize the lion and take it back to the park it wandered from. But he said tranquilizer guns are only available at the headquarters.
The spokesman told The Star on phone that the lion was killed to prevent further harm.
The injured man was taken to hospital.
KWS Communication manager Paul Udoto told Reuters on phone:
"It had injured somebody. There was a crowd that had formed around it, so it was practically impossible to capture it the way we planned to."
Images on social media showed the lion walking in a grassy area next to the fence of the park at around 9am.
They also showed residents gathering around it, some perched on the back of light trucks.
"The mob had formed and in the process somebody got injured. By the time the veterinary and security teams got to the ground it was already beyond salvation," Udoto said.
"With that commotion we risked more injuries or even possible deaths."
Udoto
said lions are often spotted in
Isinya and Kipeto plains because of encroachment by people onto wildlife corridors.
"That was the migration route for wildlife from Amboseli National Park to Nairobi National Park. People have put up houses along the route. This is common and there is nothing that can be done” said Udoto.
It is not the first time lions have gotten out of the park, a sprawling sanctuary for giraffes, zebras and other wild animals
on the edge of Kenya’s capital.
In the last incident, a lion named
at about 6am and was spotted by motorists near Kaysalt area along Mombasa Road.
A video posted on social media showed the lion running near the fence of Kaysalt building as motorists rolled down their windows and hooted.
Cheru then approached
the locked gate of the premises, terrifying guards. The lion injured a man.
Photographs of lions walking and playing on Kenya's roads resurfaced when a
got out of the park on February 22 and got into a settlement area in Lang'ata along the Southern bypass. KWS said they were all found.
Previous escapes have brought rush-hour traffic to a standstill in Nairobi city, forcing bewildered commuters to dodge playful lions.
The country’s oldest national park is under pressure from the capital's rapid growth over the last decade.
Poachers have also taken their toll on the animal population, whose numbers have fallen dramatically.
Last year park officials also agreed to allow a new Chinese-built railway line to cut through the park.
The line will be walled off and raised above the ground so animals can safely pass underneath.