Here kitty, kitty...
13/11/2008 22:03 - (SA)

Melissa Douman

Camperdown - Stormy weather on Wednesday night damaged the fence of a lion enclosure at the Lion Park in Camperdown, resulting in 12 lions escaping into the night.

Ten lions have been recaptured and are being kept in cages, while two others are still roving about the reserve.

Brian Boswell, owner of the Lion Park, said he was first notified of the wandering lions at 06:00 on Thursday.

"Two lions were found at the front gate (of the park) and this was when we first became aware that the others might have escaped," he said.

A search party of about 20 Lion Park staff members, a helicopter pilot and a district official from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW) organisation searched for the remaining ten lions throughout the morning.

Public not alerted

The police and the EKZNW officials were notified, but were asked not to alert the public of the potential danger lurking in the tall grass.

Boswell said that the park did not want to involve the public for two reasons: "We did not want to be sent on wild goose chases looking for the lions - [incidentally] we received a call saying that two lions were spotted strolling down the road in Camperdown and this information was false."

They also did not wish to cause public panic.

A few hours later eight other lions were found and lured back with a truck to holding cages in the park. They will remain there until the fence of their enclosure is re-erected.

"We put meat on the trucks and they happily followed the trucks to a point where we could safely lock them away," said Boswell.

The two remaining lionesses were spotted by helicopter lying under a tree in fields about half a kilometre from the reception area.

Can't be darted

"We are hoping that they will walk back to the enclosure," said Boswell, who added that they could not dart the lionesses because the lions have strategically positioned themselves close to thorny fields.

If they were darted, the lions would be at risk of running into these fields, making it nearly impossible for the rangers to find them.

"We will have people stationed in the park to keep an eye on them the whole night if they do not come back before then," he said.

Police spokesperson Senior Superintendant Henry Budhram said he was glad the lions were captured without any drama or injury to human life.

Boswell assured The Witness that the situation is under control, that the lions are safe and have not injured any wildlife in the reserve or any person.

"Though it is under control, you sweat a lot and obviously have to practice a lot of responsibility. But nobody has been injured and no animals (including the lions) have been harmed or hurt," he said.

The Witness was not allowed to enter the park for safety reasons.

- The Witness