Tanzania’s lions kill 3

JOHANNESBURG: The lions of Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area horrifically killed three school children this month, drawing sympathy worldwide. This put the spotlight on the human-wildlife conflict in Tanzania and is a ‘declaration’ of war on the bereaved Maasai local community.

“The local community, together with the bereaved families have vowed to hunt down the lions and kill them if the Tanzanian government authorities don’t act swiftly to deal with the killer-lions,” a well-placed top hunting company director in that country said on condition of anonymity. “Alternatively, they will kill them through poisoning.”

The bereaved Tanzanian community seems to have support for its revengeful feelings towards the killer-lions.

“I support those who want to hunt and kill the lions as long as international hunting is not benefiting the local poor communities,” said Jerry Gotora, Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Painted Dog Conservation, former deputy chair of Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and a fierce international fighter for the SADC communities’ rights to benefit from wildlife, including hunting.

The Tanzanian police confirmed that the three deceased children were from the same family. Ndoskoy Sangau, 9, Sangau Metui,10, and Sanka Saning’o, 10, were savagely killed by lions between Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park, which are both near Olduvai Gorge (a famous photographic area). There is no international hunting in the area and communities are not directly benefiting from wildlife. Amongst the killer lions was a collared lion being researched, similar to the way Cecil the lion of Zimbabwe was being monitored. American hunter, Walter J. Palmer in July 2015, killed Cecil the lion. This time the killing roles have been switched. Cecil’s unnamed cousin in Tanzania, together with other lions, killed not one but three human beings.

The fourth child, Kiyambwa Namuyata, 11, reportedly escaped with minor injuries. He saved his life by climbing a tree. The dead children attended school at Ngoile Primary School, Orbalbal Ward, Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region, together with the fourth child who survived the lion attack.

Meanwhile, the Tanzania-based international hunting company owners who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the affected Ngorongoro residents would like the government to “eliminate the future threat by killing the responsible lions”.

The Tanzanian government has in the past translocated and not killed lions that have killed people. Last year, Tanzania relocated 36 lions from the Serengeti National Park after they had killed humans and livestock adjacent to the national park.

“Should the Tanzanian government not eliminate the lions, the Maasai’s Morans (Warriors) will spear any lion they see in that territory to destroy lion population in the area,” state the top Tanzanian hunting company owners who prefer to remain anonymous saying ‘our country is very sensitive’. “We don’t see this going unpunished by the bereaved community. Even if the authorities can prevent them from hunting down the lions, the affected community can still easily kill the lions by killing a cow and lacing it with poison and nobody will ever know who did it.”

This unfolding human-wildlife conflict seems to have all the makings of a lion conservation disaster.

However, conservationists suggest that the introduction of international hunting and the wildlife and habitat conservation incentives that hunting brings should be considered as a solution to the problem. Morris Mtsambiwa, former CEO of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area that has the biggest elephant population on earth said, “To make matters worse the people who bear the brunt of this problem least benefit from the exploitation of wildlife resources. In the end, we have a situation where custodians of wildlife don’t view those resources as assets but liabilities resulting in revenge killings. Then the situation spirals out of control placing wildlife agencies at loggerheads with communities who live in and around protected areas”. He said that there was a need to take measures to reduce the conflict between humans and wildlife.

According to the last census conducted 10 years ago, Tanzania had over 16,000 lions.

“Hunting has, therefore, the capacity to generate revenue to support both the people and the animals,” Mtsambiwa said.

A Tanzania Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism official is yet to respond to questions on the loss of young lives and whether or not the government would compensate the bereaved families. A well-known wildlife expert from that country refused to comment on the issue saying, “I deal with elephants, not lions”.

This makes one wonder if there is a culture of fear to answer questions involving the government in Tanzania and sensitive issues such as the loss of human life to wildlife.