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It is a huge threat to a species if it is only found in one reserve. This I believe is common sense, and not hard to explain. If all the remaining members of a species live in one place, an unexpected event could wipe out the entire population.
At the current time, there is only one home for the Asiatic lion. this is despite many millions spent to change this situation. For a decade Gir forest has been meant to transfer a handful of lions to Kuno reserve, in order to give them a second home.
Why is this important? We need multiple homes for Asiatic lions. There was recently a huge storm over their one home. It is not unthinkable for the Gir forest to be devastated by something similar.
The government of this part of India has declared exclusive rights to the lions – an absurd claim given these lions once roamed across Asia, north Africa and southern parts of Europe.
It would appear that lions are taking matters into their own hands (or paws). Gir forest has a lion density way too high, which is leading to high mortality from fights between males and infanticide to bring females back into oestrus
Lions are now regularly seen as far away as Madhavpur an area which would take hours to drive to (from Gir national park). They have also created new populations in Girnar, paniya Mitiyala reserves as well as in a whole host of unprotected zones.
One of the areas that the lions have been moving into is Jasdan-Chotila. Lions disappeared from this area about 150 years ago, but the area is still well suited to them. There are various species of prey, and leopards have survived in the area. There are various mitigations that locals would have to make to live comfortably alongside lions. There are also many wells in the area, which will have to have walls built around them, to stop the lions falling in. Lions falling to their deaths have been a significant reason that the Gir lion population has not grown bigger in recent years.
Still this is exciting, though it should force local politicians to look at the health of the lion population as well as their own bottom line as the only place to see Asiatic lions.
South Africa has rather a problem. They have given over a large amount of their country to wildlife conservation, and many of the tourists who visit, come to see the wildlife.
However, South Africa also has an important hunting history. Now, if you go back 50 years the number of buffalo and similar was so high that they could sustain a certain amount of hunting (this cannot be claimed to be sustainable as it reduced populations to their current depressed state, and indeed there are species that it eradicated – for instance the Quagga a type of zebra). However, nowadays there are not these huge populations.
Most hunting reserves are relatively small, and therefore the number of animals that can be naturally hunted each year is also small. It is true that many of these places can sell hunts of antelope and similar, but the majority of big game hunters want to shoot one of the big five (lion leopard elephant buffalo rhino).
The result of this is the hideous industry of canned lion hunts.
Continue reading “Did I miss the start of the end of the canned lion hunt?”The asiatic lion only continues to exist in the For national park. When this area was first protected, the lion population had fallen very low, some saying a matter of only a couple of dozen remaining members. In the 50 or so years since the population has multiplied well. Now are said to be around 400, spread across 1 contiguous protected area (under a number of different authorities – Gir Sanctuary, Gir National Park, Pania Sanctuary, Mitiyala Sanctuary, and Girnar Sanctuary. The first 3 form the core, with the others lying within dispersal range.
The problem is at these three have a combined area of about 561 square miles, which is an incredibly high density for lions.
Continue reading “Asiatic lions are found in only one place, yet local government authorities refuse to move any”While increasing amounts of land is given to wildlife in southern Africa and the lion population grows, unfortunately in east and central Africa the opposite is happening.
Unfortunately in west and central Africa, the lions (many of these lions are orphaned relict populations of the Asiatic lion, and therefore highly important) tend to live in fragmented and small groups cut off from others of their kind. If humans can reconnect these populations then the dramatic decline that is expected in this region, could be halted.
Continue reading “Lion population expected to half in the wild during the next 15-20 years”According to the latest census, the elephant population of the Selous is now over 15,000! which sounds fantastic. Of course, you have to remember that this huge untamed wilderness once hosted over 100,000 elephants and that number comes into focus.
Initially set aside as a hunting reserve, increasing numbers of the concessions are going to those interested in photographic safaris.
Continue reading “Elephants still under threat”The first national park to be formed in Kenya would appear to be under threat. Consisting of only 45 square miles, it is unique around the world as the wilderness comes deep into the city, allowing you to view many wild species with skyscrapers as a backdrop.
Wildlife populations have crashed in the last 70 or so years. In the past huge migrations would bring 30,000 wildebeest to visit each year, and animals such as zebra have had population falls of approaching 50% in just 9 years.
Continue reading “Further threat for Nairobi national park”There is an increasing problem of sea-lions off the coast of California becoming epileptic as result of global warming.
It appears to be caused by domoic acid poisoning, which in the wrong circumstances builds up to dangerous levels in shellfish and other sea animals in the area.
Domoic acid can be released in large quantities during algae blooms, and due to global warming algae blooms are happening far more often.
Another animal this is prone to this problem are sea otters. Given the historical damage we did to the sea otter population, unfortunately lee6 could do substantial damage.
Scientists have found treatments that will allow them to deal with animals affected,however it may become necessary to find methods of making them affected instead as algae blooms will become more and more common as the temperature of the water’s increase.
Nairobi National Park is world-renowned as it is a wildlife Park that is right on the edge of a capital city (4 miles from the city centre). It is Kenya’s first National Park formed in 1946, it is not a large Park covering only around 45 square miles, so it forms part of migrating roots so what time to the year has large populations. Is particularly known for it rhino population, and while it is not a big 5 preserved as there are no elephants it does have cheetah which is rare for reserve so small.
However the issue with having a wild area this close to the city centre is that on occasion the Lions leave the park. When this happened and they come into contact with local residents it is often that the result is sad. A resident living near the park was unfortunately killed by a lion that left. The park is surrounded by an electric fence but this is not not always working and fences the really able to keep in large mammals permanently.
The Lion has killed around 30 dogs and other livestock in the area, and has clearly lost its fear of humans. If it is not possible to move this lion to reserve where it will not come into Direct contact with humans then this lion must be put down- a lion with no fear of humans sees us only as a source of food and will not stop coming back.
I have talked in the past about lion management and the ability to make man eating highly unlikely, all usual methods will fail though with a reserve like this. Reserves like this are important, but we need to find ways for locals to live alongside them safely.
Up until 2010, hunters in the USA could bring back parts of the lions that they hunted to the USA. Under Obama the import of body parts from African hunts was banned because of their inability to get control of the poaching was going on.
However from the second that Trump came to power, despite giving a message on most things, he has been careful to promote hunting. If you wish to import body parts at the moment, you have to apply for a licence on each occasion.
Continue reading “USA has given a hunter permission to bring back body parts of a lion from Tanzania”