Kenya to Seek Return of Famous Lion Remains
By Nick Wadhams
Nairobi
11 September 2007

Kenya is asking that a Chicago museum return the remains of the infamous "Maneaters of Tsavo," two lions that terrorized workers who built a railroad from Uganda to the Kenyan coast in the 19th Century. Nick Wadhams has more from Nairobi.


The request from the National Museums of Kenya falls under larger efforts by the Kenyan government to recover fossils, artwork and other artifacts that were sold or looted before Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1963.

The National Museum will reopen at the end of the year after a two-year renovation, and it wants the treasures on display where they came from.

National Museums spokeswoman Connie Maina says Kenya has not asked for many specific items and has made no formal request yet to Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. Instead, it is calling for countries with Kenyan artifacts to inform the government and then return them.

"What we are saying is if anybody has got any artifacts that belong to Kenya, we would like to bring them back," said Mania. "As we are doing the history of Kenya, we would like to show Kenyans that this is part of our heritage. As we rewrite Kenyan history in our own way, we would like to know what was available in Kenya at that time, and we are approaching different people who can give us the history which we may not even be aware of so we can tell where we have come from and where we are going as a country."

The skulls and skins of the two Maneaters of Tsavo are among the most curious of the artifacts Kenya is seeking. The male lions are believed to have killed more than 130 workers who were building a bridge over the Tsavo River as part of the rail line that runs from the Kenyan coast to Uganda.

The lions scavenged human remains from graves and dragged workers from their tents as they slept. Their attacks got so bad that construction was briefly halted. The railway line's chief engineer, British Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson, killed the Maneaters in 1898 and later sold them for $5,000 to the Field Museum, where they are on display.

A spokesman for the Chicago Museum refused to comment, saying officials have not heard of the request to return the lions.

Kenya has made successful appeals for artifacts in the past. Recently, two universities in the U.S. returned wooden funeral statues known as Vigango. Many more of these objects, seen as a fundamental part of Kenya's heritage, are held at museums around the world.



Field angles for Kenya's famed Turkana Boy
'TOO FRAGILE' | Won't lend lions, but may swap their skulls


9-20 UPDATE


September 20, 2007
BY ANDREW HERRMANN Staff Reporter
Whether Kenya wants the Field Museum's famous man-eating lions for keeps or simply wants to borrow them, the answer is the same: No.

But the Field has begun discussions with Kenya that could result in a swap of sorts: The museum would loan Kenya some skull bones of the lions while Turkana Boy, a nearly complete skeleton of a 1.5 million-year-old hominid boy, would temporarily visit here.

News reports this month indicated the Kenyan government wanted to repatriate the so-called "Maneaters of Tsavo.'' Since those accounts, Kenya officials reportedly have said they just wish to borrow the preserved creatures that killed about 140 railroad workers in Kenya in 1898.




The Field Museum of Chicago has begun discussions with Kenya about a loan trade: The Field would send Kenya the skull bones of the man-eating lions from Tsavo, left, for Turkana Boy, right, a nearly complete skeleton of a 1.5 million 11/12-year-old hominid boy.
(Courtesy)

In his first public comments on the situation, Field president John McCarter said the lions -- killed by Kenya railroad engineer Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson -- are "too fragile'' to hit the road.
Before the museum bought the skins from Patterson for $5,000 in 1924, "basically they were rugs on Col. Patterson's floor for 10, 15 years. They were walked on," which loosened them, explained McCarter.

"We really can't do it,'' said McCarter of moving the skins. But McCarter revealed that "we have talked about how some of the [lions'] skeletal material could go back." The skulls are not inside the preserved lions.

McCarter said Field officials have also "been talking about Turkana Boy seriously now for the last 18 months.'' Discovered in 1984 near Lake Turkana in Kenya, Turkana Boy is a chinless predecessor to humans with a sloping forehead and long arms and considered a jewel of the National Museums of Kenya.

"As we rewrite Kenyan history in our own way. . . "

Who cares what Kenya wants!!

quote:

Originally posted by gunny:
Who cares what Kenya wants!!

Amen.
I will be visiting those "remains" again next month in Chicago, and will be very disappointed if they have gone Mau Mau.

Kenya has no "rights" to them. Col. Patterson saw that they got a good home long ago, fair and square.

quote:

, killed the Maneaters in 1898 and later sold them for $5,000 to the Field Museum, where they are on display.

doesnt sound like they ever belonged to kenya

quote:

Originally posted by gunny:
Who cares what Kenya wants!!

as i recall, the lions weren't shot by a kenya native, or his salary paid for by the same...

Why stop there? Why don't they ask for every trophy taken in Kenya before the hunting ban?

Wonder if Kenyans' understand Greek - molon labe!

Hey Kenya, want in one hand...s$#t in the other...See what fills up first.

When Kenya reopens hunting, we'll talk!

Well I sure hope the Field doesn't cave on this. I have gone to see the the lions twice now, the trip is well worth it. The Tsavo display is so popular it is nearly impossible to get photos. There is always a crowd around it. There are several very well preserved African animals on display there such as this giant sable:

Relax, lions aren't going anywhere, Field says

September 12, 2007
BY ANDREW HERRMANN Staff Reporter/aherrmann@suntimes.com

Field Museum officials Tuesday denied overseas news reports that Kenya is seeking the return of the Chicago institution's famed "Maneaters of Tsavo" -- a pair of now-preserved lions that killed about 140 railroad workers in Africa in the 1890s.

Citing separate sources, the BBC and the AFP news agency said the National Museums of Kenya want the stuffed creatures back.

The Field has owned the lions for more than 70 years.

Author Phil Caputo with Ghost and Darkness, the "Maneaters of Tsavo" at the Filed Museum.
(Rich Hein/Sun-Times)
Efforts to reach Kenya officials Tuesday were unsuccessful. But the BBC quoted National Museums of Kenya spokeswoman Connie Maina vowing to "use international protocols to repatriate them.''
Also, Kenya Tourism Board spokeswoman Rose Kwena told the Agence France-Presse in Nairobi: "We will follow the right channels to get the remains of our maneaters back to us. They are part of our heritage and history and it is good to have them back.''

The lions were shot and killed in 1898 by the Kenya railroad project's chief engineer, Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson. He sold the lion skins and skulls to the Field for $5,000 in 1924.

Following the reports, Field spokesman Greg Borzo said Field officials phoned Idle Omar Farah, director general of the state-owned National Museums of Kenya, and "he tells us it's not accurate and he ought to know .. . this is not their position.''

Last year, Kenya museum officials reportedly met with Sen. Barack Obama about repatriation of hundreds of Kenyan artifacts in the United States. At the time, Kenya museum official Kibunja Mzalendo said the Tsavo lions were high on the government's list but said the Field had made "a legitimate deal, certainly" with the hunter in 1924.

Wouldn't you know Obie would get his nose in to this. Can you see the tribal warfare if he were ever elected!

The skins were in such bad shape and had shrunk to the point that the taxidermy on the lions is just awful. They look more like cougars than African lions.

Still, IMHO, it is a huge stretch at this stage of the game for Kenya to claim any right to them.

Who else's hunting trophies will they next want to "repatriate?"

Well, lets see...
We want all the gold that Spain looted.
We want all the things the British looted during the Revolutionary and 1812 wars.
We want...

The Lions of Tsavo belong to Kenya about as much as tequila belongs to Mexico.

Can someone please tell me where and what Kenya is?

How about if first Kenya returns to the UK the railroad and bridges that Col. Patterson built?

Not that I particularly care where the lion carcasses reside, I just resent the implication that I read into Kenya’s request/demand which suggests that colonization was a one-way street, or, railroad as it were.

Ann..........that is a beautiful sable mount!!

Bob

Kenya.......well, never mind!

I am sure that Native Americans want Manhattan Island back too.

Kenya didn't exist when those lions were shot. It was a British colony, which it still should be, for God's sake, called British East Africa. Kenya has about as much claim to those cats as I do. After all, my family came over from Britain a couple of hundred years ago, and Patterson was British. Now if that ain't convoluted logic, I don't know what is...

Mabe we can send Obama back instead. Sounds like a fair trade to me .

More than fair...

quote:

Originally posted by Die Ou Jagter:
Wouldn't you know Obie would get his nose in to this. Can you see the tribal warfare if he were ever elected!

Kikuyu? Nandi? Turkana? Masaai? Samburu? Who'd claim him?

quote:

Originally posted by gunny:
Mabe we can send Obama back instead. Sounds like a fair trade to me .

Full mount or shoulder mount?

Euro mount.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
The skins were in such bad shape and had shrunk to the point that the taxidermy on the lions is just awful. They look more like cougars than African lions."

That is the truth! I was at a conference in Chicago a few months back and popped over to the Field Museum....how underwhelming....

Don't forget to pack Oprah along with Obama. This sure ain't the country I was born into.


Dutch

Sittin' in the gutter sluggin secular progressives. No, wait...that would offend the rats.

quote:

Originally posted by jetdrvr:
Kenya didn't exist when those lions were shot. It was a British colony, which it still should be, for God's sake, called British East Africa.

Absolutely 100%spot on...jorge

The PEOPLE of KENYA wish for the Tsavo lions to return. Give them back the lions.

On the subject, It a place I enjoy visiting.


While this may not be the original bridge, its still the place.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
The PEOPLE of KENYA wish for the Tsavo lions to return. Give them back the lions.

Personally, I'd much rather give them you and in the same conditions as the lions. Might improve the gene pool of our northern neighbors. jorge

quote:

As we rewrite Kenyan history in our own way

Don't ya just love it? Maybe Kofi Annan can help.

jorge,you should dress up as buffalo and go trick or treating in the Tsavo bush.I'll come along to video tape.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
jorge,you should dress up as buffalo and go trick or treating in the Tsavo bush.I'll come along to video tape.

Sure! given your "proven" track record, I'll gladly let you take the first shot. Will you be bringing your custodian or do I need to provide one? let me know, I don't work too well with retards. jorge

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
jorge,you should dress up as buffalo and go trick or treating in the Tsavo bush.I'll come along to video tape.

Somewhere in Kenya there is a small village being deprived of an idiot.

/

quote:

Originally posted by jorge:


Sure! given your "proven" track record, I'll gladly let you take the first shot. Will you be bringing your custodian or do I need to provide one? let me know, I don't work too well with retards. jorge

Bear in mind shootaway said he would come see us "posers" in Dallas this year -- won't that be a pleasant meeting?

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Manion:


Somewhere in Kenya there is a small village being deprived of an idiot.

Only one problem -- shootway has been no closer to Africa than the National Geographic stacks at his local library (but of course he is an expert... ).

ozhunter,

This reminds me of the camping trip we had in Tsavo East and Aruba in Tsavo West.

Hamdeni

quote:

Originally posted by ozhunter:
On the subject, It a place I enjoy visiting.


While this may not be the original bridge, its still the place.