Six wild lions speared to death after livestock killed in Nairobi area

Kenya Wildlife Service condemns residents' rush to kill cats, including two cubs, looking for food in Kitengela
Lions killed by Kitengela residents, Kenya
A Kenya Wildlife Service ranger with the lions killed by villagers for their predation on domestic goats. Photograph: Rex Features/KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/

Six lions have been speared to death near Nairobi by residents angry at the predators for killing their livestock.

The killing has been condemned by wildlife officials, who warn that Kenya's lion population, a great a draw for tourists, is under threat.

The Kenya Wildlife Service said two adult lionesses, two younger lions and two cubs were killed by a group wielding spears in the early hours of Wednesday. The animals had gone in search of food outside Nairobi national park, which is surrounded on three sides by the city.

The wildlife service said the lions killed four goats at a small farmstead in the township of Kitengela, about 18 miles south of the capital.

Other reports quoted residents putting the loss at 28 goats and eight cows over two days.

The wildlife service said it had dispatched rangers and a veterinary team to search for the lions, while trying to dissuade residents from intervening.

But it appears they were too late. Francis Kasha, who keeps livestock, said the lions had arrived in the early hours.

"We gathered as we waited for [wildlife service] officials to come and catch the lions," he told Reuters. "We tried to surround the animals as we waited for the officials but some people became too rowdy and it was impossible to stop them from killing the lions."

Kasha, who said the loss of some of his own goats had left him feeling bitter, added: "I did not kill any lions then, but right now we have been forced to kill the lions and we are feeling very bad because this is national heritage and a source of income for our country."

The local residents have been described as mainly Maasai pastoralists, who have asked the wildlife service how it will compensate those who lost their animals.

The service said the big cats were a big loss to Kenya's economy, given the number of tourists who travel to Kenya to see the wildlife.

The east African country has been losing 100 lions a year for the last seven years, and now there are only about 2,000 left. "This implies that the country could have no wild lions at all in 20 years," the service said.

Some of the carnivores are dying because of habitat destruction, others have succumbed to disease. Conflicts caused by the encroaching human population has also contributed to the decline.

Killing lions in Kenya is a crime. But citizens who lose livestock to the cats frequently retaliate with deadly force.

The Kenya Wildlife Service said it would "strongly discourage the public in any killing of lions and other wildlife, as this is criminal".

Last week the service pleaded with the public to desist from killing wild animals and instead contact the nearest office of the service. This advice followed a retaliatory attack on a leopard in Nairobi. In May, rangers shot a lioness after it had stalked an upmarket Nairobi neighbourhood for some months.

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