25 rare lions killed at Tarangire
By Adam Ihucha

28th December 2009 Conservationists say only 250 remain



At least 25 rare lions have been killed by angry villagers, outside Tarangire National Park, in Arusha, raising fear over their future.

A Warden at Tarangire, the second largest game sanctuary after Serengeti in the northern tourism circuit, said at the weekend the kings of the jungle were slaughtered outside the park in a period of less than eleven months this year.

“The 25 lions, equivalent to 10 per cent of the remaining lion population in Tarangire, have been killed by angry villagers after they took their cattle...the sole death traps for the prowling lions,” lamented, Tarangire National Park Tourism warden, Glory Summay.

Only around 250 of the lions that once roamed across much of Tarangire ecosystem in the early 1970s exist today, all of them in the Tarangire National park.

The killings sparked renewed calls from conservationists to come up with a reasonable compensation package to the would-be-victims in a bid to stop them from killing the marauding lions in future.

The fourth largest National park in the country, Tarangire straddling the border of Arusha and Manyara regions, is likely to face a massive decline in wildlife populations and species extinction as a result of an intolerable growth of human population, coupled with ever increasing demand for land for other uses, not compatible with conservation interests.

Conservationists for many years now have been expressing their concern over the detrimental impact of such over utilization of natural resources on core areas as well as foraging grounds, breeding sites, dispersal areas, wildlife migratory routes and corridors.

They have called for the core areas which link Tarangire National park with other wildlife protected areas and habitats to remain intact for the park to maintain its reputation as an important biodiversity hotspot.

But various studies show that in the Tarangire ecosystem there has been a constant increase of unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and use of the land for cultivation, grazing, charcoal burning and settlements that are not compatible with wildlife conservation.

The consequence of this, experts say in the study, is a growing threat of land degradation and fragmentation, which slowly puts Tarangire National park at the risk of becoming an ecological island.

The probable ecological implications of these trends around the Tarangire national park and the entire ecosystem, includes a massive declining of wildlife populations, genetic erosion and species extinction.

Along with the genetic erosion, the security of the resident animals in fragmented habitats becomes uncertain because once squeezed into small patches, the animals cannot easily escape from their predators and human influence.

Other challenges include the natural decimating factors and catastrophes such as diseases, drought and earthquakes. Conservationists fear that occurrence of any of these catastrophes in an area ecologically isolated augments the risk of losing all populations.

Deogratius Gamassa, a renowned conservationist and the former Principal for African Wildlife Management College, Mweka, once said the eviction of the people within the Tarangire ecosystem and the park expansion were two possible options of saving the most famous national park for its tree climbing pythons, zebras, hartebeests, elephants, buffaloes, waterbucks, gazelles, Oryx and abundant birds.

It is not yet clear which of the two options the government will take.

Covering approximately 2600 square kilometers Tarangire national park, is named after Tarangire River which provides the only permanent water for wildlife in the ecosystem. The park has therefore been referred to as the dry season refuge for migratory wildlife species.

The wildlife species migrating between Tarangire national park and adjacent protected areas such as Lake Manyara national park are wildebeests, zebras, grants gazelle, elephants and hartebeests.

The park which gazetted as a game reserve way back in 1957 and later elevated to a category of national park in 1970 also provides shelter for a number of resident species which do not migrate outside the park such as waterbucks, impalas, warthogs, dikdik, giraffes, rhinos and lesser kudus.

Tarangire national park, which is one of the five parks in the northern ecosystem component, is famous for its extraordinary natural attractions such as tree climbing pythons, high concentration of wildlife species and abundant birdlife.


SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Damn lions, I think they should eat the angry villagers.....MUCH more effective for the area's conservation efforts.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

Our wildlife are our very future
By Editor
29th December 2009


Reports that rare lions found in a national park in northern Tanzania are faced with extinction following the killing of at least 25 of them this year alone are alarming.

What is perhaps of most concern is the fact that those behind the killings are villagers whose cattle the beasts are said to have devoured.

We know that Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) has been taking various measures to safeguard and develop the country’s wildlife sanctuaries, among them national parks and game reserves, in part by eliciting the understanding and cooperation of local communities.

It is much more than cheap public relations when Tanapa keeps declaring that it has always resisted the temptation to cash in on the short-term gains of mass tourism. Instead, or so it says, it has been insisting that it fully understands and appreciates its responsibility to Tanzania and to the world in the conservation and management of wildlife as a global resource.

The agency is charged with ensuring what it calls low impact, sustainable tourism that promises the environment protection from irreversible damage by placing a premium on efforts to turn Tanzania into a world-class ecotourism destination.

That is precisely why we are immensely disturbed by these reports of the very wildlife around which the realisation of that dream revolves being put in danger of disappearing from the face of the earth.

We are told that the killings of the rare “kings of the jungle” have touched off a new wave of impassioned appeals from conservationists that the authorities concerned devise better ways of sensitising local communities on the need to enhance the security of wildlife sanctuaries.

Agencies directly engaged in efforts to ensure that this onerous task is undertaken to satisfaction admit that they have often found their optimism waning. They thus stress that the guardianship of the rich natural resource which national parks are is impossible unless the goodwill of the parks’ neighbours is forthcoming.

Tanzania is blessed with relatively little known wildlife sanctuaries of the likes of Katavi, Kitulo, Mahale, Mkomazi, Rubondo, Saadani, Saanane and Udzungwa. But it also boasts ‘greats’ like Arusha, Gombe, Kilimanjaro, Manyara, Mikumi, Ruaha, Serengeti and Tarangire – not to mention the proverbial Ngorongoro.

Those who have had the chance to tour these attractions will readily acknowledge the fact that a lot of patriotic and philanthropic effort has been going into initiatives seeking to make local communities develop a sense of ownership and have a vested interest in the future of these natural treasures.

This has done a lot in helping our country earn badly needed income, chiefly from foreign tourists, and win acclaim from near and far. Too bad, we now get these disturbing reports about rare lions literally being hounded into extinction. What a letdown!

Our modest plea to wananchi living near national parks and other wildlife sanctuaries is that they should do the most they can to help our lions, warthogs, black mambas, chimpanzees, chameleons, butterflies, proteas, lilies, daisies and fauna and flora in general have an enjoyable time. That, too, would be a laudable show of patriotism.


SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

+2 GarBy I have a shortlist of names for the new feeding program. I'll fill another tablet tomorrow for a long list