King of the jungle still on the prowl in KZN

Elusive male lion has killed four cows

Wildlife authorities in KwaZulu-Natal are still on the search for a lion that is believed to have escaped from a game reserve about two weeks ago.

The male lion has killed at least four cows. It was first seen about 30km from Ulundi in northern KZN two weeks ago‚ but a resident allegedly spotted it and alerted KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife officials at the weekend.

Ezemvelo spokesman Musa Mntambo said there had been “no new sightings” since. “There were three cows killed in the Mlaba area and one cow killed at Biyela‚” he said.

“The preferred option is a live capture but if that is not possible it may be destroyed.”

This is not the first lion escape in South Africa this year. Last month‚ three male lions that had escaped from Kruger National Park came to a sorry end. One was shot by a farmer and a second injured. SANParks euthanised both the wounded cat and the third one.

Another Kruger inmate‚ a lion named Sylvester‚ had better luck following his second escape attempt. He first got out of the reserve in 2015‚ wandered 300km and killed 30 cattle. He was tranquillised and returned to the reserve but managed to escape again a year later.

A comment from the park that they would put the animal down was met with a public outcry so that Sylvester‚ like any cat worth its salt‚ used up another of his nine lives and was resettled at the Addo Elephant Park in the Eastern Cape.