THE LIONESS
When humans and nature collide...
The lioness was hungry, tired and further from her two cubs than she should have been, but game was scarce and she knew she had to find prey to keep her and her cubs from starving. The scent of impala was faint but unmistakable and seemed to be coming from her left as the wind drifted towards her. Carefully she started stalking, ever vigilant for a change in the wind’s direction or movement ahead. In front of her was a small patch of thick stunted combretum scrub, and she cautiously moved through it along a narrow winding game path.
Suddenly the lioness felt a tightness around her waist. As she moved forward, it became tighter and stopped her in her tracks. The more she tried to push ahead the tighter the feeling around her waist became. Pain was starting to cut into her. The cable snare placed along the path by poachers for hippo coming from the waterhole, had trapped her. She grunted and growled, pulled forward, then back, but it made no difference. Her growls became louder and her struggles more panicked, but she could not find any relief. Exhausted she lay still for a while to see if the tightness around her waist would go away, but it did not.
In desperation the lioness started twisting and rolling, ever tightening the wire around her body. The poachers who had placed the cable across the path two months ago never returned to check their traps. They had collected enough meat from other snares and did not care about the ones left in the veld far from their camp. Any animal caught by those traps would die an excruciating death... becoming an easy meal for hyenas and vultures.
Already weak from hunger the lioness became weaker in her struggle to loosen herself from the cable. The pain was becoming unbearable. With a last desperate twist and roll, the rusted cable broke where it was tied to a tree trunk and she found herself able to move. The wire was still cutting into her body but she was no longer stuck in one place. During her struggle all the game in the area moved away, alerted by her growls and painful roars. She had to find some prey but in her weak state it would not be easy, and the snare dragging behind her hampered her movements.
The young ranger was patrolling along the riverbank checking for signs of poachers and illegal activity in his designated area. He had been walking for hours and feeling tired, his concentration was waning. He was not paying much attention to his surroundings but kept his eyes on the footpath ahead of him, looking for tracks. The day was drawing to an end and he was thinking of the cold beer and warm fire that waited for him at his camp. The sooner he could complete this section of his patrol, the sooner he could turn along the path to his campsite. He was completely unaware of the animal in the grass ahead of him...
As the lioness lay panting from her exertions the first faint scent of Man came to her. Alarmed and frightened she lay still with nostrils flared, listening and trying to pinpoint where the smell was coming from. Though the pain from her body was severe there was nothing wrong with her nose and her
hearing was acute. The scent became stronger and she picked out sounds of footsteps and leaves crackling under foot. Carefully she moved away, trying to avoid the approaching human. However, with the wire catching on undergrowth she found it difficult to sneak away, so she moved onto the game path.
As the sounds grew closer she shifted into the grass on the side of the path. At that moment the ranger decided to leave the path and cut through the tall grass to his left taking a shortcut to his camp on the riverbank. Hearing the change in direction the lioness realise the man was now coming directly towards her. Trying to get away she moved a few yards but the cable got stuck again, bringing her to a halt. She crouched down... waiting.
The ranger’s eye caught a movement. He stopped to look and listen, thinking that it might have been a duiker or steenbok dashing away from him. Hearing nothing he started walking again after a few seconds, still heading towards the lioness. Feeling threatened, instinct took over and the animal charged. The speed and force of her attack jerked the cable free from the bush to which it was hooked.
Hearing the grunt the ranger raised his rifle instinctively, thinking it might be a warthog. But with growing concern he saw the grass parting and flattening as something was coming for him. Whatever it was, it was bigger and more threatening than a warthog. Unable to see over the tall grass, he made a snap decision and scurried up the side of termite mount directly behind him.
As the lioness’s head broke through the grass about four metres from him he fired instinctively from almost pointblank range without aiming properly and fortunately his bullet found its mark, dropping the luckless animal in her tracks.
When the ranger examined the lioness he noticed that she was whelping – her teats were swollen from suckling. His heart went out to the poor cubs that now would starve to death or become prey to other carnivores or scavengers. With a heavy heart he took a few photos for his report of the incident, then continued on his way back to camp.
Walking along, his thoughts still with the poor lioness and her cubs, he again realised that Mother Nature is cruel enough without further help or interference from Man.