Kenya rounds up prey for starving lions
By Staff Writers
Soysambu Conservancy, Kenya (AFP) Feb 10, 2010 Kenyan game rangers on Wednesday began rounding up thousands of zebras to be moved to a reserve where starving lions have been attacking livestock. … “Some herders lost as high as 80 percent of their stock due to the drought and the few that were remaining were attacked by hyenas and lions and that angered the local community,” KWS spokesman Paul Udoto told AFP. … Charles Musyoki, a scientist with KWS explained that Amboseli park is a “dry season feeding refuge for herbivores” where animals jostle around water holes and patches of pasture then leave when rainfall resumes in the regions they migrated from. But last year the animals did not move out of the park because of the prolonged dry spell, and many died. “We lost significant numbers of wildebeests and zebras. Over 60 percent of zebras and wildebeests were lost in that ecosystem,” Musyoki said. “The deaths created an imbalance in the number of carnivores and herbivores in the park resulting in a shortage of the lions’ and hyenas’ normal food,” spokesman Udoto said. As a result the predators turned to preying on domestic animals. … In August, KWS said Kenya was losing 100 lions each year as cattle herders killed them in retaliation for attacks on their stock. But habitat destruction, disease and the rising human population also played a role in the population fall from 2,749 animals seven years ago to 2,000 today. Last year’s drought was one of the worst in years across eastern Africa. …
