AR-News: Lions W/Black Noses Fair Game; Revenge Killings: African FarmersMassacre Lions

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AnimalVoicesNews 
Source:  National Geographic News
Letters:   newsdesk at nationalgeographic.com



Lions With Black Noses Are Fair Game, Hunting Study Says

Bijal Trivedi for National Geographic News
February 23, 2004

A lion with a majestic mane has long been a trophy coveted by big game hunters in Africa. Research suggests that if hunting is going to take place, hunters should target only the big cats with the darkest noses‹perhaps one way to ensure that only the oldest animals are removed from lion populations. 

In general, a lion's nose starts out pink and darkens as it gets older. By age five the noses of male lions in Tanzania's Serengeti and Ngorongoro wildlife reserves are 50 percent black, according to studies. 

By restricting hunting to lions whose noses are at least half black, hunters would be singling out animals that, for the mos t part, have already made their genetic contribution to the population, said Craig Packer. Packer, an ecologist at the University of Minnesota in Saint Paul, led the study, which appears in this week's issue of the journal Nature. 


Photographed on Africa's Serengeti Plain, this male lion's black nose 
signifies its advanced age. Some researchers advocate hunting only lions 
with black noses. The practice, they say, would single out animals that, 
for the most part, have already made their genetic contribution to the 
lion population.
Photograph by Bijal Trivedi   (Below)


Although the rules for sport or trophy hunting vary from country to country in Africa, hunters everywhere pay thousands of dollars to shoot big game like lions. Packer and his colleagues believe a portion of the profits could finance both conservation of the animals and their habitat. 

In many regions of Africa, lion-human conflicts are on the rise. As wildlands disappear, lions stray onto farms and ranches in search of prey. Funds from trophy-hunting safaris could, in theory, compensate landowners for stock losses caused by these animals. 

"If hunters take the older males, these are also the animals with the largest manes and therefore the highest-quality trophies. That's good for business and good for conservation," Packer said. 

"I would be concerned that any off-take would be detrimental," said Will Travers, CEO of the Born Free Foundation‹a conservation organization based in West Sussex, U.K. "Studies from Botswana showed that even a low level of hunting had negative effects on the population." 

There are only an estimated 17,000 to 27,000 lions in Africa, according to a 2002 report issued by the African Lion Working Group of the Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN). According to Travers, only about four countries in Africa have a viable lion population‹South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, and certain areas of Kenya. 

"According to a meeting of the IUCN in 2001, there is not a single viable lion popu lation in any country in West or central Africa. That should serve as a wake up call to conservationists," Travers said. 

The IUCN defines a viable lion population as one with about 500 to 1,000 individuals‹including 100 breeding pairs. Most populations in central and West Africa number between 50 and 100 animals. 

Virtual Lions 

To make projections about sustainable levels of hunting, Packer's team created a virtual lion population‹based on 40 years of real biological data gathered from lions in northern Tanzania. They also used computer simulations to demonstrate the effect of hunting lions of various ages. 

A series of computer models revealed what could happen to a lion population 50 years from now if lions are shot at age three and four compared with five- and six-year-olds. 

The researchers discovered that shooting lions six years old or older‹regardless of number‹had almost no impact on the population over a 50-year period. But just removing a couple of three- or four-year-old lions could cause extinctions or population crashes. 

"Most hunting has been based on [conservation] quotas, with little regard to the age of the animals killed," Packer said. "But all our results prove how important age is to the health of the future population." 

To date, trophy-hunting programs have relied on harvesting a set number of lions a year, or a quota. Quotas are easy to administer and regulate but are based on population estimates that are often wrong. Leopards, lions, and cheetahs, for example, are elusive, and estimates of populations made by government biologists vary widely. 

Packer's scheme abolishes the traditional quota system and instead permits unrestricted hunting of male lions provided they are more than six years old. He will discuss this new approach with park directors in Botswana and Tanzania within the next few weeks. 

Surplus Animals 

Rather than enforcing quotas, park managers and game reserves need to enforce a minimum age for trophy lions, Packer said. The reason is mired in the lions' complex life history. 

Male lions reach sexual maturity at about the age of 30 months, when they are usually forced out of their birth pride to lead a nomadic existence. At age three or four, a coalition of a few young males typically challenges pride males and initiates a takeover. 

If they are successful, they kill the cubs sired by the previous coalition and proceed to mate with the females. In general, males only rule a pride for two or three years‹long enough to rear a single batch of cubs to independence‹before they are ousted by more vigorous, younger, males. By age six, many males have been kicked out of a pride. 

Although lions six and older are not neccesarily "surplus," many of them will have made a genetic contribution by then. But more critically, "if a male lion dies after reaching six, there should be little impact on t he population," said Luke Hunter, a conservation biologist and coordinator of the Global Carnivore Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York. "It shows that whether these animals are removed by car, a hunter, or another animal, it is not going to make a difference to the ability of females to leave a generation of cubs." 

Not everyone agrees with this approach. 

"This is not the law of the jungle," said Steve Njumbi, a program officer in Kenya for the Massachusetts-based International Fund for Animal Welfare. "By targeting the black-nosed lions, we are choosing the oldest and the strongest lions. It is not for humans to decide when these animals should be removed from the population, or that an animal has completed its reproductive contributions. A lion is only defeated when another lion displaces him‹that is the law of natural selection." 

Killing young lions age three and older initiates rapid turnover of pride males, causing the lion popul ation to dive; males are removed before they have had an opportunity to mate or before they can rear their cubs to independence. 

By killing too many lions, hunters can drive the lion population to extinction. Basically there are no lions left to impregnate the females, leading to a "convent situation," Packer said. 

Nuisance Lions 

"This is an incredibly important paper. We are losing lions outside the parks all over Africa because they are regarded as a pest and nuisance," said Laurence Frank, a research associate at University of California, Berkeley, who has been studying lions in the Laikipia district in Kenya for six years. "Unless these animals are making tourist dollars they are just a nuisance to people. The only way for these animals to earn a living [for Africans] is through trophy hunting." 

In Kenya, where hunting has been prohibited for 25 years, 70 percent of the wildlife has been lost, and the lion population has dropped catastrophic ally, Frank said. 

Lions are poisoned and shot by pastoralists in retaliation for eating cattle and other livestock. Other animals are killed and sold for a few shillings as meat. 

"A zebra fetches about [U.S.] $30 as meat, versus $500 as a trophy. A big lion could easily fetch $30,000 or more‹some of which could compensate the community for the cattle eaten. I'm not in favor of trophy hunting, per se, but it gives the wildlife value that it doesn't have now," Frank said. His study of lion conservation and lion-human conflict is funded in part by National Geographic's Committee for Research and Exploration. 

Njumbi believes that hunting is a disruptive and intrusive activity. "You can't shoot animals and expect it not to disturb lion society and the ecology of the area. If people want to hunt they should say so‹they should not hide behind excuses and say there are ecological arguments or that it will benefit the community." 

Hunting a "Necessary Tool " 

"I personally don't like shooting of big cats, but given that it does happen, there is good that can come of it," Hunter said. 

Hunters control an enormous amount of African wilderness and can contribute to conservation. A good model, Hunter said, is water bird hunting in the United States, where hunters have bought large chunks of wetland‹which preserves land for the birds and provides land for recreational hunting. 

"This is a novel and interesting study that is of great practical significance, because it actually suggests a practical way to suggest which trophies should be shot to achieve a sustainable harvest," said Nigel Leader-Williams, the professor of biodiversity management at the University of Kent in the U.K. "The system would still require a good enforcement strategy to ensure that only old lions with mostly black noses were being killed," he said. 

The black-nose strategy still needs to be tested in the field. It remains to be seen w hether an excited hunter would take the time to examine a lion's nose before pulling the trigger. 

Packer's report has broader implications for trophy hunting. If age-related characteristics could be identified for several species, these physical cues would target only males of a "threshold age" that had completed their genetic contribution but also possessed the highly sought trophy characteristics, such as large manes, antlers, horns, or tusks. 

"I view hunting as a necessary tool in conservation. And a new approach is necessary to guarantee a long-term sustainable off-take of lions. If we look ahead both conservationists and hunters both have the same long term interest," Packer said. 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0223_040223_lionhunting.html?c=Newsletters&n=1Q04_news&t=internal#main



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Also See~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Revenge Killings: 

African Farmers Massacre Lions
Peter Standring
National Geographic On Assignment
February 10, 2004
Editor's note: Peter Standring, a correspondent/producer for National Geographic On Assignment, spent three weeks in and around Nairobi, Kenya, to investigate who has been killing Kenya's lions, and why. Watch his report on Wednesday, February 11 at 7 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT on the U.S. National Geographic Channel. 

It had been another long, frustrating day at Nairobi National Park in Kenya. The sun was setting in a fiery red glow behind the dark profile of the Ngong Hills; the light reflected warmly off the flat-topped acacia trees, bringing them to life. Beyond, the skyscrapers of downtown Nairobi flickered and sparkled. Yet we were glum. We had been in the park since dawn, driving along its maze of dirt roads, craning our necks and straining our eyes, searching for lions. Exhausted and fed up with our lack of success, we finally put down our binoculars and video camera. 


Farmers and cattle owners sever the head of a lion using a machete. (Below) Jubilant farmers hold up mutilated limbs in front of a television crew. Their goal was to send a clear, strong message to government officials and park managers, who, in the farmers' view, had been ignoring their suffering.
Screen Grabs courtesy of National Geographic On Assignment 

   

In a place famous for lions, we couldn't snatch even the briefest glimpse of a big cat. Sadly, it is becoming ever more challenging to see lions in this park. Why? 

They are being wiped out by their human neighbors. 

In the past four years, more than 40 lions from the park have been killed. Not by accident, mind you, but intentionally slain. During a six-week period last spring, no fewer than ten lions were killed. In a macabre twist, they were also mutilated. Their heads were chopped off, along with their paws and tails. Their teeth and claws were removed, perhaps claimed as trophies. Who would commit such gruesome crimes? Why would anyone show such wanton disregard for these majestic beasts? I've come to Kenya to find out. 

I recruit the assistance of Jim Cavanaugh, a retired American veterinarian still living in Nairobi. Cavanaugh has been watching the parks lions for more than a decade. He loves the big cats, knows them all by name, and ventures into the park every day to check on them. 

Lions In Peril 

Visiting the park‹established in 1946, and covering 40 square miles (103 square kilometers)‹it's easy to see why the lions are in trouble. Its proximity to people and urban centers‹the park entrance is just a ten-minute ride from my hotel in downtown Nairobi‹has put Kenya's first park und er pressure, and has placed its prized lions in peril. 

According to Cavanaugh, the lion population here has been "decimated," with numbers at an all time low. Ideally, the park would support as many as 40 lions. But today, there may be fewer than a dozen. "When there's no prey animals in the park," he reported, "the lions are forced to go out of the park. Either that or they stay here and they starve." 

But for lions, pursuing prey outside the park is a dicey proposition. And the reserve's borders, which are fenced on all but the southern side, may only serve to exacerbate the problem. On the east, west, and north perimeter the animals are kept in, and would-be human predators are kept out. 

But along the meandering southern boundary there are no fences. Animals can come and go as they please. 

"They [lions] end up running into people, fences, cattle, and sheep," Cavanaugh explained. "And if they run into these domestic animals they'll kill them and eat them. And if they do, the people will kill the cats." 

Traditionally there has always been a natural movement of animals in and out of the park across the southern border. There were sizeable migrations involving large herds of wildebeest, zebra, and other herbivores, that travelled vast distances in search of water and fresh grazing, providing plenty of prey for hungry lions. 

"Thieves and Killers" 

But during the last three years there has been no migration into the park. Some blame recent weather patterns, like prolonged droughts, and intense floods brought on by El Nino-induced rains. Others point to rampant development in the area just south of the park, particularly in a community known as Kitengela. 

Kitengela is a chaotic place, filled with rows of cramped shops and squat concrete buildings. It's teeming with people of all ethnicities, who buzz in and out of tin-roofed homes, ramshackle roadside bars, and modern factories. There are also small family farms here, each bisected by miles of wire fence. 

Even in ideal weather conditions it's difficult to see how wild herds could migrate through this area and arrive safely in the park. So, faced with starvation, Nairobi's lions have left the park with increasing frequency, and have come to Kitengela attacking great numbers of cattle and other livestock. 

"You cannot see a lion coming. You can only hear it when it's already inside your boma [an enclosure for cattle]," Nicholas Matiko tells me. Matiko, a tall, stout, Masai farmer, owns land in Kitengela close to the park. To him, the lions are "thieves and killers." The year before last, he said he lost five cows and eight sheep to marauding lions. His neighbors, he told me, were similarly affected. Then, in early spring of last year, things evidently got worse. 

"The lions had gone on the rampage," Matiko said. "Every night, a cow, sheep, goat, or donkey would die. Every night while we were as leep, the lions would break into the boma. I have personally been very much pained by the loss of my livestock. We landowners could not take it anymore." 

There used to be a "compensation scheme" for farmers like Matiko who had lost livestock to wild predators. But the system was used and abused, and soon the money dried up. Now there seems to be no formal means of compensating aggrieved cattle owners. In most cases, they simply "swallow" their losses, which often run into thousands of dollars. Angry, and impatient, some of the farmers in Kitengela decided to take the law into their own hands. 

Broadcast Massacres 

With spears and pangas (also known as machetes) in hand, and dogs snapping at their feet, they organized "hunting parties" that trudged into the areas south of the park to look for lions. They were not seeking a particular lion that had just killed one of their animals. Instead, they would slay any lion they encountered. Their goal was to sen d a clear, strong message to government officials and park managers, who, in the farmers' view, had been ignoring their suffering. 

On several occasions, the gangs tracked down a lion, surrounded it, speared it, and hacked it to death. Once, they called the news media and invited journalists to document the results of their grim exploits. When Kenyans turned on their televisions that evening to watch the nightly news, many were stunned and dismayed by images of the grinning farmers gleefully holding up their victims' severed paws and heads. 

"The first thing that comes into your mind is: This is unreal. This must be happening someplace else. This can't be Kenya," exclaimed Winnie Kiiru, who heads the Nairobi-based Born Free Foundation, one of the country's best-known wildlife conservation organizations. 

Like many in the community, Kiiru is concerned about the plight of Africa's lions, and was horrified by what she saw on the broadcast. She considers the kil ling and mutilation of the lions "unforgivable." 

"If every Kenyan who has an issue with wildlife, went out and killed those animals that were causing them that distress," she told me, "we wouldn't have one animal left!" 

Deadlock? 

In the months that have passed since the cats were butchered, no one has been arrested or charged with the killings. Of course, in most cases it is illegal to kill wildlife, but not if it's done outside the park in self-defense. 

Officials with the Kenyan Wildlife Service, the government agency that manages the park, held talks with the farmers involved in the "lion hunts," and supposedly reached some sort of understanding. I spoke at length to the park's senior warden, Paul Gathithu, who assured me there would be no further killings. 

I'm still not quite sure exactly what kind of arrangement he struck with the farmers, or why he's so confident. There seem to be no guarantees at all. In fact, the farmers had pledg ed to kill more lions (and then move on to antelope) if they continue to lose cattle. And that's what's worrying people like Cavanaugh. 

"It's not government land. If the cats go out there, if they're on private property, if they're threatening cattle or people, according to Kenyan law, the people are allowed to kill them, and they do, with impunity," Cavanaugh said. "It's annihilating the lion population of Nairobi National Park, and there's only a few left." 

It's a fact that is painfully obvious. We spent three full days looking for big cats in the park, but came up empty-handed. The day after we finally left the park, I got word from a local conservationist that the last remaining male lion, "Red," had been found outside the park. He was injured and starving. Vets were planning to tranquilize him, bring him to the park's wildlife rehabilitation center, and nurse him back to health. 

Sadly, he is not the only lion here that needs to be rescued. If the situa tion remains unchanged, more human-wildlife conflict will be inevitable. And ultimately, the great beasts that prowl the park may just slip away entirely, much like the huge red sun dipping silently below the hills, bringing darkness to this troubled place. 

Photos:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0210_040210_TVlionmystery.html


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