Ranger Wilson Naitoi is here at Serena Station this morning, and informs us that the resident leopard near Kipas Village (Enkereri), has been creating a lot of problems. On the 3rd June, the leopard attacked a mother goat at Olkurruk, and you can see in the picture below the injury sustained to the neck. The bones were broken, and the wind pipe was also torn so that she could only breathe through her neck. Eventually she died by herself, once she was dead the Maasai found that she had twins inside.

Goat with puncture wound in neck.

On the same day the leopard killed two more goats at Kipas Village. It was in the daytime when the boys were grazing the goats. The leopard first killed one and then another, after which the boys tried to scare him away but he did not want to go. The boys wanted to keep the goats as evidence so that we could take the photographs, but the leopard himself wanted to fight the boys for one of the goats. The boys kept up their shouting and screaming and so the other boys from the village came and helped chase the leopard away.

Two goats dead at Kipas Village

It would have been very easy for this group of boys to kill the leopard, but thankfully they did not. They are however extremely agitated as the cases of goats killed is increasing. One of these goats killed at Kipas village had a young kid of only 1 week old. There is no chance that this young one will survive.

We are still as of yet unable to recommence the cattle compensation scheme as we have very little money ourselves. We hope that tourism will return in these coming weeks, but in the time being we still have to do what we can to fund raise to continue with our basic park operations, such as the anti-poaching and de-snaring patrols.

On Tuesday I reported that we had found a hyaena with a snare around his neck, well I am sad to say that yesterday we found that the hyaena had died. We know that now the poachers are still buying their time for when the migration returns in full force, and so we must be ready and have the resources to prevent the incredible damage that they are able to cause.

Hyaena dead from snare.

One final interesting thing that I would like to share with you all is the video of the two male lions fighting yesterday near Egyptian Goose. I first saw a mating pair of lions just a short distance away from the road, and drove up to take a closer look. When I arrived the female left the male, and it looked like she wanted to hunt. A short time later the male also arose but left in the opposite direction, roaring as he walked.

I continued on my journey to Serena Station, and just a couple of minutes away I saw another mating pair of lions next to the road. When I stopped the car to take a photo I could hear the lone male now making his way towards where we all were. I waited for about twenty minutes and then he arrived. Click here to watch what happened next.

Male Lions Fighting

As you all know, the connection here isn’t always good and we don’t always have electricity and so it is sometimes easier for me to update via twitter. Add me as a friend to stay up to date on all the happenings here. Please also feel free to subscribe to the latest blog posts by email, click here - it takes just two seconds to sign up.

And finally, please also see if you are able to make a donation today. We hope that these are the last few weeks that we have to ask for money as the tourists should hopefully soon arrive. But right now, today, I have just visited the lodge nextdoor and they had only one tourist arrival.

So you can see we still need to raise all that we can, and we are incredibly thankful for all your support so far. It is only by your support we have managed to make it through these difficult months.

Thank you so much to everyone, from everybody here at the Mara Conservancy

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On April 15th we reported that two lions had died within the Mara Triangle. Here is an annotated version of the findings from the investigation, the original written by Brian Heath CEO & Dr Asuka Takita:

The history of the case reveals that three out of four affected lions had fed on a hippo carcass found on the river bank on March 31st. The first signs of sickness appeared three days post-ingestion, when a sick lion (Male #1) was found to be weak, staggering and sitting under a thicket.

The following morning, Male #1 was unable to walk and showed clear signs of front limb paralysis; where the animal could not stand and walk in a normal posture. He used his hind limbs to “hop like a rabbit” in an attempt to move forward.

3.4.08 Paralysis sets in.

The condition deteriorated rapidly within the course of a day, and Male #1 was no longer able to ‘hop’ by the early afternoon. On the same day, another young male (Male #2) from the same pride began showing a more severe form of paralysis and was recumbent by afternoon. This was followed by a lesser degree of paralysis in two more males during the next five days.

The first paralysed lion was euthanised by a KWS vet for post-mortem and sample collection. The post-mortem did not reveal significant pathological changes suggestive of infectious disease, and all of the organs looked normal except for slightly hyperaemic small intestinal mucosa.

The brain sample was submitted to Kabete Vet Labs for rabies testing, in which the results came out negative. Tissue samples (liver, kidney, small intestine) together with stomach contents, were submitted to Government Chemist Toxicology Lab to test for possible poisoning. The results showed that the stomach contents revealed a high concentration of Carbofuran. The stomach content of a second hippo found dead on 13.4.08 subsequently tested positive for Carbofuran.

Hippo found dead on 13.4.08

An environmental survey was undertaken by Mara Conservancy staff from habitats in the vicinity of both lions and hippos. Water and soil samples were taken from the area, including water samples collected from a tributary where another dead hippo was found. All of the water samples tested negative for insecticides, while some of the soil samples showed traces of Carbofuran.

Based on a history collected from rangers, clinical signs manifested by all four affected lions, post-mortem findings and toxicology results, the paralysed lions are suspected to have suffered from secondary poisoning. It would appear that the hippos died as a direct result from ingesting Carbofuran contaminated plants, and that lions were then affected by feeding on the hippo carcass. It is believed that the severity of paralysis could be correlated with the amount of contaminated hippo meat consumed by each lion.

Due to feline susceptibility to chemical toxicosis, similarity in the mechanism and action of Carbamates and Organophosphates, the tendency of some Carbamates to initiate delayed neuropathy through NTE inhibition, and the absence of other alternative explanations identified for the paralysis, it is believed that Carbofuran-induced neuropathy can occur in animals.

7.4.08 Tests being done on sick lion by KWS.

The Mara Conservancy recommend an immediate ban of the use of potentially toxic chemicals (insecticides, pesticides, acaricides, molluscicide, especially Carbofuran and Organophosphates) inside conservation areas.

Based on the findings and the location of the affected animals, there is no reason to suspect the involvement of the local communities surrounding the Mara Triangle.

Thank you to everyone for both your support and your patience since our report of the lions deaths on 15th April. We ask new visitors to our website to click here to find out more about our Urgent Appeal, and also ask you to consider making a donation to help maintain basic park operations during this time of financial difficulty. Thank you.

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Thank you everyone for your comments of concern, we will try now to answer what questions we can at this time.

The first lion was euthanised on the 4th April, 2008, and an autopsy was done by KWS, along with blood samples taken for tests. On 8th April, tests were carried out on the sick lion by KWS. His condition had been deteriorating, but he was treated for dehydration and seemed to improve slightly.

KWS carry out tests on 8th April, 2008.

The decision was taken by KWS to feed the lion each day in the hope that he would recover. The only other lion to fall ill from this pride, the third one from a pride of seven males and five females, had by now mostly recovered without any human intervention.

The recovered lion yesterday morning, he still has the slightest of limps.

Immediately after the lion died yesterday, samples were taken and then sent to the KWS laboratory in Nairobi.

Mara Conservancy has also carried out environmental tests in the surrounding area. You can read more over on Asuka’s blog.

Lions are territorial animals, and the killing of the sick lion by the older male yesterday would have most likely been because of this.

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This morning we went out to check on the progress of a male lion who has been sick for almost two weeks. Although his senses were fully alert, within 24 hours of first showing signs of illness, paralysis of the limbs occurred which meant that he was unable to look after himself.

The lion at the beginning of the illness.

Fully alert, yet almost completely paralysed, despite all our efforts there was very little improvement in his condition. Under instruction by KWS we have been keeping the lion alive by feeding him each day and also bringing water. We have continued this for ten days until this morning when two male lions found the sick lion. One of the lions gave a bite to the back of the head which killed him instantly.

This morning, after the attack. More photos at Flickr.

At the same time this lion fell ill, two other lions from the same coalition also fell ill. Their senses were fully alert, yet paralysis occurred in the limbs. One of the lions was fortunate to recover, however the other lion was so acutely affected that it was decided by KWS to euthanise the male.

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