Human-wildlife conflict: 10 lions killed in one week

A crisis has hit the wildlife family after 10 lions were killed in one week.

The deaths have been attributed to human-lion conflict.

World Wide Fund for Nature Kenya (WWF-Kenya) Biodiversity, Research and Innovation Programme manager Yussuf Wato said the human and lion conflict has become an unprecedented crisis.

He said the crisis has become a threat to people's lives, their livelihoods and the dwindling lion population.

"With about 2,500 lions left in the wild in Kenya, the retaliatory killing of 10 lions in less than a week, including the oldest lion in Amboseli, Kajiado County, is a wake-up call," he said.

On May 11, the oldest lion in Amboseli National Park was speared to death by herders.

A lion named Loonkito, aged 19, met his death when wandering into a village in search of livestock to prey.

Days later, five more lions were killed in the Imbirikani Group Ranches after preying on livestock.

On Sunday, May 14, reports also indicated four more lions were killed in Rombo and Chyulu, in Kajiado.

Wato said that unless action is taken soon, Kenya will face lion extinction.

He said the human-wildlife conflict interventions and mitigation measures need a radical shift and to be urgent scale-up.

The rising retaliatory killings of lions come at a time when pastoralist communities are recovering from the huge loss of livestock in one of the worst droughts to have hit Kenya in at least 40 years.

According to the National Drought Management Authority, pastoralist communities lost more than 2.6 million livestock to the drought, resulting in an estimated loss of at least Kenya Shillings 226 billion.

The affected communities are at the heart of conservation since they host over 60 per cent of wildlife in their communal and private lands, most of which are critical dispersal areas and migratory corridors.

WWF-Kenya is a locally registered non-governmental conservation organization; an affiliate of the World Wide Fund International.

WWF has been working in Kenya since 1962 alongside the government, civil society, private sector organizations, and local communities to provide an enabling environment for the achievement of a healthy natural environment.

The organisation has different programmes ranging from Biodiversity, Research and Innovation, Coastal Kenya Programme, Kenya Rift Lake Programme and Southern Kenya Programme.