Thirteen/WNET » Africa’s Vanishing Lions

Africa’s Vanishing Lions

June 27th, 2008 at 10:36 am

In April, two lions died in the Mara Reserve on the border of Kenya and Tanzania shortly after eating contaminated hippo meat. According to an annotated summary in the Mara Triangle blog, the lions suffered front-limb paralysis the morning after ingesting the meat. One had to be euthanized shortly thereafter. Eventually, tests confirmed that the hippo meat that the lions ate contained Carbofuran, a pesticide that has been widely banned. Here’s a an excerpt of the report:

The history of the case reveals that three out of four affected lions had fed on a hippo carcass found on the river bank on March 31st. The first signs of sickness appeared three days post-ingestion, when a sick lion (Male #1) was found to be weak, staggering and sitting under a thicket.

The following morning, Male #1 was unable to walk and showed clear signs of front limb paralysis; where the animal could not stand and walk in a normal posture. He used his hind limbs to “hop like a rabbit” in an attempt to move forward.

The condition deteriorated rapidly within the course of a day, and Male #1 was no longer able to ‘hop’ by the early afternoon. On the same day, another young male (Male #2) from the same pride began showing a more severe form of paralysis and was recumbent by afternoon. This was followed by a lesser degree of paralysis in two more males during the next five days. Read more…

The case highlights the plight of lions that have been steadily declining all across Africa over the last two decades. Their numbers have dwindled from 100,000 in the early 1990s to no more than 30,000 and as few as 16,000 today.

Watch a preview of NATURE

NATURE’s “The Vanishing Lions” investigates declining lion populations this Sunday, June 29th at 8pm on Thirteen. Watch a preview of the episode at NATURE online, then discover what measures experts are taking to reverse the trend.

Laikipia Predator Project

You can also read about the Laikipia Predator Project, a program sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Society and an array of other conservation groups designed to help local farmers protect their livestock from lions so they don’t have to kill them.

For more information, including video and Web-exclusives of upcoming programs, visit NATURE online.

Tags: Africa, endangered species, lions, Nature, pesticides, poacher, pollution

COMMENTS

4 comments

6/25/08 :: 7:28 am
Robert Says:

With Civil War and political unrest going on as much as it has, I’m afraid saving lions goes low on the list of things needed to be done.

6/29/08 :: 9:02 pm
Hungry Hunter Says:

Are lions tasty? If so, then their meat can me rationalized for market. That would give lions value, and they would not be killed wantonly, but rather in a way that would preserve their numbers for continued value. But they’d have to be tasty.

6/29/08 :: 9:07 pm
Denise Felazzo Says:

I began watching the “Vanishing Lions” this evening
and then saw that the show was viewing hunters who
kill the lions when they are 5 years old. Why would
channel thirteen want to show such a thing on PBS.
You are not a station for hunters? It should be
against the law to hunt them since their numbers
are declining. The hunter was explaining he would
kill a lion that is five years old and how he can
tell if the lion is that age. A cruel and selfish
act should not be viewed on PBS. Leave that for the
horrific hunter channels where they like to boast
their kill. Denise

6/30/08 :: 9:03 am
J Stanley Says:

This was an excellent show from which I felt I had learned a good deal more than usual about Africa and the threats facing the animals there. With human populations growing; dwindling land, food and clean water resources; and conflicts among men raging across the continent, can the animals survive at all?