Rangers close in on escaped lion

RANGERS have reported finding fresh lion spoor on a farm neighbouring the Karoo National Park, where a threeyear-old male lion is roaming after escaping from the park just outside the town of Beaufort West.

First spotted on the northern boundary of the park on Friday, cyclists and hikers had been urged to remain cautious in the area.

A marathon route being held in the area was changed as there were concerns that the animal may have been wandering along the designated trail.

Karoo National Park manager Nico van der Walt said rangers patrolled a vast area again on Monday.

“This area covers two adjacent farms and rangers made a detailed search on these properties where we believed we might have some luck. All was quiet for most of the day but at approximately 4.30pm a fresher spoor was found, with confirmation that it was a spoor left after the rain fell on Friday night or Saturday morning,” he said.

Van der Walt said that although it was difficult to tell how fresh the spoor was, this was a positive break in the search.

“The trackers were on the spoor until dark last night (Monday) and resumed the search at first light this morning (yesterday).

“The distance where the spoor was found is more or less seven kilometres from the Karoo National Park’s north easterly boundary.”

Karoo National Park was previously in the news after the escape of the nationally-beloved lion, Sylvester. He managed to evade capture for three weeks, and was fitted with a satellite/ VHF collar to track him in case he escaped a second time, which he did.