Two Lions Poisoned in Sesfontein Area
Denver Kisting
3 August 2010


THE conservation industry has been dealt the umpteenth blow this year with two lions being poisoned in the Sesfontein Conservancy Area recently.

Last week, the decomposed carcasses of two young lions were found by officials from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. It is suspected that they were killed by members of the local community.

According to the director of parks and wildlife management, Ben Beytell, signs that the lions vomited profusely and the remains of either a donkey or a zebra found on the scene indicate that the animals must have been poisoned. Poisoning an animal is a particularly cruel way of killing it, he said.

Moreover, the incident was never reported to the ministry.

Diethelm Metzger, the president of the Namibia Professional Hunters' Association (NAPHA) equally condemned the alleged poisoning of the animals.

He said: "I personally and as president of NAPHA of course don't think that is the right way of killing wild animals. I can imagine that it is a very cruel way [of killing these animals]."

In terms of existing legislation, one is allowed to kill so-called problem animals that pose a threat to livestock. This should, however, be reported to the ministry within ten days. According to Beytell, this was never done.

The fact that the law makes provision for the killing of problem animals makes regulation of the killings very difficult, Beytell said. Also, he said, it is difficult for the ministry to relocate animals if incidents of conflict are not reported. "We don't approve of this."

Beytell said one of the lions was collared, which means it was one of Flip Stander's research lions.


Earlier this year, the international conservation community reeled in shock following the killing of Leonardo, a collared lion, also in the Sesfontein Conservancy Area. Although hunter Keith Wright has admitted that he shot and killed the lion, no one has been arrested in connection with the incident. Wright earlier maintained he had a permit to shoot the lion.

Last week, Metzger told The Namibian that the illegal hunting of wild animals taints Namibia's image as a responsible hunting destination. This came after at least two leopards were allegedly killed illegally recently. One of the leopards was hunted with hounds.

Three men have been charged in connection with these two incidents in the Gobabis and Windhoek districts.