Kenya Wildlife Service fits lion with tracking device to stop it straying into town

By
Samuel Kisambe
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***EXCLUSIVE*** NAIROBI, KENYA - JANUARY 17: Two lions roll around in the road bringing rush hour traffic in Nairobi, Kenya, to a stand still. RUSH hour traffic comes to a stand still - when two lions decide to roll around in the middle of a ROAD. The African lions caused tail backs during the morning commute on January 17 on the edge of the Nairobi National Park in Kenya, with their antics. Amateur South African snapper Gareth Jones was one of the drivers stuck in the traffic jam and decided to get out and photograph the unique scene. His images show the lions rolling in Buffalo dung to mask their scent in a bid to go undetected when hunting. But that was no consolation for commuters, who were forced to watch the ten minute display, before the lions left the road. PHOTOGRAPH BY Gareth Jones / Barcroft Media UK Office, London. T +44 845 370 2233 W www.barcroftmedia.com USA Office, New York City. T +1 212 796 2458 W www.barcroftusa.com Indian Office, Delhi. T +91 11 4053 2429 W www.barcroftindia.com
***EXCLUSIVE*** NAIROBI, KENYA - JANUARY 17: Two lions roll around in the road bringing rush hour traffic in Nairobi, Kenya, to a stand still. RUSH hour traffic comes to a stand still - when two lions decide to roll around in the middle of a ROAD. The African lions caused tail backs during the morning commute on January 17 on the edge of the Nairobi National Park in Kenya, with their antics. Amateur South African snapper Gareth Jones was one of the drivers stuck in the traffic jam and decided to get out and photograph the unique scene. His images show the lions rolling in Buffalo dung to mask their scent in a bid to go undetected when hunting. But that was no consolation for commuters, who were forced to watch the ten minute display, before the lions left the road. PHOTOGRAPH BY Gareth Jones / Barcroft Media UK Office, London. T +44 845 370 2233 W www.barcroftmedia.com USA Office, New York City. T +1 212 796 2458 W www.barcroftusa.com Indian Office, Delhi. T +91 11 4053 2429 W www.barcroftindia.com
FILE. PIC COURTESY

Kenyan authorities have fitted a tracking device a onto one of the 36 lions that live in a wildlife park on the outskirts of the capital city, aiming to stop the animals coming into unwanted contact with people.

Human settlements have long been encroaching on the Nairobi National Park which was established in 1946 and gives visitors a chance to see lions, giraffes, zebras and other wildlife against a backdrop of the city’s high-rise buildings.

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the it now had six lions in the park fitted with satellite tracking devices inserted into special collars, in a project that began in 2014.

“The information is collected by the lion collars in real time and transmitted to park management to guide problem animal control teams whenever collared individuals are observed to be headed to areas inhabited by people, thus averting conflicts,” KWS said in a statement.

Last year rangers shot and killed a male lion after it strayed out of the park. Another was speared dead in a township south of Nairobi.

Conservationists say a new road and railway passing through the park was affecting animal behavior and leading more big cats to try to escape in search of quieter hunting grounds.

There are about 2,000 lions left in the whole of Kenya.

 

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