Runaway lion spotted on outskirts of Beaufort West

A RUNAWAY lion has been spotted roaming on the outskirts of Beaufort West.

The first sighting of the lion was outside of the Karoo National Park on February 15.

Since then a team of 14 rangers and six volunteers led by park manager Nico van der Walt have been following its trail while the animal has been on the run.

The first clue was the fresh lion spoor that was spotted on a neighbouring farm three days later.

On February 18, the rangers searched two adjacent farms and fresher lion spoor was found more or less 7km from the Karoo National Park’s north east boundary at 4.30pm.

“A spoor was left after the rain fell on Friday night or Saturday morning. Although it is difficult to tell how fresh the spoor is, but at least this is a positive break in the search,” Van der Walt said.

After five days of searching, the search team and residents of the neighbouring farms were relieved to discover the carcass of female eland on a farm adjacent to the park.

“The discovery of this kill, with most of the carcass consumed, has increased our chances of locating the lion.

“A lion with a full belly is likely to sleep for some time, this will thus work to our advantage and we can gain time on the lion,” Van der Walt said.

The search team followed the lion spoor to the kill and covered a distance of about 11.8km from the park.

On Thursday a helicopter was brought in to help with the search.

“The spoor was followed to a point where it disappeared into an extremely rough terrain inaccessible even by a 4x4 vehicle.

“As a result, a helicopter has been brought in to assist in the search but by late afternoon they had had no success in spotting the animal,” Van der Walt said.

Residents of Beaufort West and surrounding areas have been urged to be extra careful and not to approach the lion.