Lions Kill 30 Cows in Kasese District
Michael Karugaba And Gerald Tenywa
29 November 2010



RESIDENTS of Kayanja village in Kitswamba sub-county, Kasese district have expressed concern over the continued killing of their animals by lions from Kibaale National Park.

Over 30 cows in the area belonging to 13 families were reportedly killed by the lions from October to date.

John Makobo, a conservation directoor at the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) said a team sent by UWA had been on the ground but did not see any carcasses of the cattle or lion tracks.

"Why is it that the herdsmen never take us where the carcasses are and instead keep on accusing us in the press? We strongly believe that those are false accusations meant to tarnish UWA's image," Makobo said.

"It is true that sometimes lions stray out of the park and maul cattle, but in many cases herdsmen graze their animals in the park and the lions go after the cattle," he said.

Over the weekend, Moses Rukwago Isagara of the Basongora Group for Justice Human Rights accused park authorities of ignoring their complaints.


Rukwago said at least three families had fled their homes and taken refugee under trees near Hima town council in fear of the lions. He said children had abandoned school and cultivators in the area missed the second weeding season; causing financial loss after information circulated that lions were hiding in their neighbourhood.

Rukwago said following the incident, the officer in charge of Kayanja ranger post, Sgt. Wilson Onongi, visited the affected areas and promised to forward the matter to higher authorities.

He also told journalists that the pastoralists in the area had never had problems with Kibaale National Park but the current incident had raised concern among the locals.

"Since 1994 when Kibaale was designated a national park, we have been living in harmony, but the current situation is predicting something else. If this continues, residents might resort to killing the wild animals, like people around Queen Elizabeth National Park did" Rukwago said.

I would suspect that some of these reports are as mentioned people tying to get reimbursement payments from the government. I personally know or villagers who have done this type of thing in the passed

quote:

"Why is it that the herdsmen never take us where the carcasses are and instead keep on accusing us in the press? We strongly believe that those are false accusations meant to tarnish UWA's image," Makobo said.

Like my buddy Nigel always says...3 things that don't go together and never will are lions, cattle, and native African herdsmen!

LANE
Nigel is smarter than he looks