Category: Cattle Compensation, Leopards | Date: Mar 23 2008 | By: William

I’ve just spoken to Wilson Naitoi, who reported the attempt by a local Masai to kill a lion a couple of weeks ago. This is what he told me had happened yesterday:

“I was up on the escarpment on patrol, when I received a phone call from a Masai who had my number. He said ‘Please, come right away, there are some Masai who are trying to kill a leopard.’ And so I went down to where they were, and saw that a group of men had surrounded a bush, and they were throwing stones into the bushes. There were other men standing around the bushes with their spears, ready to kill the leopard once it tried to make its leave.

“I went together with the warden from Oloololo Gate, and we tried to convince them to stop. “No, don’t kill, don’t kill the leopard,” we said. And they said, “No, we have to kill the leopard, he has already killed our goat and our sheep, and there is no one to pay.” We told them that they mustn’t kill, as we are still looking for the money, and they said “No, how do we know ? If you have the money then you must pay for our goat.”

“It took the warden some time to convince them not to kill the leopard, and he said to them that we should go back to the village to finish the talk there. We were forced to carry one of the dead goats with our car, back to Kipas village. The other goat that had been killed was taken by the leopard.

“When we were in the village we spoke again. We told them that we are looking for donors who will help pay for the goats killed. “Please don’t kill this leopard ” we said, “it is the only one that we have in the area. You cannot kill him.”

“Eventually the old men came round and they agreed that the men will not go back to kill the leopard. They said, “Once we are paid, then we don’t kill the leopard.”

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