Tanzania, DSC to Host Lion-Aging Seminar



DALLAS -- Tanzanian wildlife officials are partnering with the Dallas Safari Club (DSC) to teach hunting guides how to field-judge and age African lions. Science shows that hunting older male lions has no long-term effect on the sustainability of lion populations.

A special seminar, featuring top lion researchers, outfitters and other stakeholders, will be held in Arusha before the start of the next hunting season.

Through education, the partners hope to encourage a more selective harvest. That, in turn, could bolster both the numbers of lions and lion hunters – as well as the overall economic benefits that legal hunting brings to Tanzania.

Lazaro Nyalandu, minister of Tanzania Natural Resources and Tourism, selected DSC to coordinate and host the seminar.

“The express purpose is teaching guides to better recognize age characteristics of lions, which can differ by region and even by habitat type,” said Ben Carter, DSC executive director. “Better-informed guides will translate to better hunter compliance with science-based regulations that promote harvest of older, fully mature, non-pride lions.”

Tanzania was the first country to implement a six-year minimum age for exporting lion trophies. A 2013 amendment to that law allows the export of younger specimens, but creates a graduated penalty system for shooting lions less than six.

In 2013, DSC began broadly promoting the ideal huntable male lion as “at least six years of age and not known to head a pride or be part of a coalition heading a pride with dependent cubs.” More than 70 major safari operators and industry leaders pledged support. So did the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation.

Educational seminars are the logical next step, says Carter.

“Minister Nyalandu is new to his position and we’re impressed by his strong conservation ethic, vision and knowledgeable support of sustainable hunting,” he said.

DSC has long funded and supported scientific research on African lions. Understanding population dynamics is one of many projects supported by DSC grants to advance conservation, education and hunter advocacy worldwide.

Lane,

How easy - or difficult - for an expert like yourself to age a lion in the wild?

How accurate can you get regarding the lion's age?

It would be very interesting if you can please give us as much detail as you can on this.

In the past few years, we have had endless discussions looking at male lions, with PH who have many years of hunting experience, and could not agree on age.

Hi Saeed,
First and foremost...I am NOT an expert or even close to being one. But...I have studied this a quite a lot and I have come to believe that it is doable.

The reason it is quabbled over so much is that there are NOT that many >6 male lions running around and most people are looking at borderline animals trying to decide.

With a reasonable amount of time spent learning what to look for...I think it becomes easy to sort lions to 3 groups... <5, 5-6, >6 .

With the new rule revisions...all one has to do is stay out of the bottom category...which I think is very doable.

IMO the solution is to cut lion quotas, but I guess that's not going to happen as they want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

On a hunt this year in Zimbabwe we saw over 30 lions, not a single male that was even 4-5 years old. After our hunt another hunter shot one of the lions that we saw off one of our baits. I saw the photo afterwards it was a big bodied youngster. SAD.