Kenya relocates Zebras/Wilderbeest to Amboseli
 

Kenya Relocates Zebras, Wildebeest to Feed Starving Lions

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Kenya’s wildlife authorities will
relocate thousands of zebras and wildebeest to the Amboseli
National Park to feed starving lions that are preying on
livestock, a conservation official said.
A lack of rainfall in the East African country last year
shrank pasturage and dried up watering holes, resulting in the
deaths of herbivores on the reserve, Kenya Wildlife Service
spokesman Paul Udoto said today by phone from Nakuru in
southwestern Kenya.
Having lost their natural prey, carnivores such as lions
and hyena began feeding on livestock owned by the ethnic Maasai
people, sparking a “human-animal conflict,” he said.
“Last year’s drought killed a lot of the local communities’
livestock, as much as 80 percent in some households, and other
herbivores,” Udoto said. “Since then, the lions have become more
aggressive to the people, and the people toward the lions.”
The relocation of as many as 3,000 zebras and 4,000
wildebeest from the private Soysambu Conservancy in central
Kenya to Amboseli will cost about 103 million shillings ($1.4
million) and end on Feb. 28, Udoto said.
The project involves flying helicopters above herds of
animals to chase them onto trucks from which they can’t escape,
and driving several hundred kilometers to Amboseli, he said.
Amboseli is located in southern Kenya on the border with
Tanzania. The park covers 390 square kilometers (151 square
miles) and contains animals including leopard, cheetah, wild
dog, giraffe and crocodiles, according to the wildlife service’s
Web site.

Thanks for the info regarding this difficult situation.

Thanks for the heads up information.

There were a lot of starving Zebras and Oryx in Amboseli also.

Maybe the lions figure these are too thin to feast on !

Surely not the whole story?

more about this here:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Globa...and-wildebeest

The Maasai know that in Amboseli their cattle losses are on a par with the lost wildebeest. I think that it is safe to say that they have lost at least 90% of their cattle. The truth is probably worse than reported. Counts show that the loss of wildebeest was more than 95% and loss of zebra more than 85%.
What is being done to assist these suddenly impoverished pastoral people?