Since the beginning of the year, a devastating phenomenon of wild animal poisoning has not abated in the Maasai Mara area on the border between Kenya and Tanzania.
Last January more than 30 lionesses and lions were killed after eating the carcasses of poisoned cattle, most likely left there by local shepherds, annoyed by the attacks on their herds, but also financed by trophy hunters on the Tanzanian side. This was one of the most serious episodes of conflict between man and animal that unfortunately in recent years is becoming a sad custom, especially with regards to felines and elephants.
At the beginning of the year, joint investigations were immediately launched by the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Tanzanian wildlife authority and the Narok county government, which is responsible for the Maasai Mara reserve.
A few days ago, however, another episode shook the Kenyan and Tanzanian naturalist and conservationist community: an entire pride of lions was wiped out, again by poisoning, in a reserve 3 kilometres from the border, in the Tanzanian part.
According to the Mara Conservation Programme, involved in the investigations because the male of the family, known as Border Pride, named Osopia, had a localisation collar, the poisoning followed an attack on a herd of local cows, during the night of the 1st of February.
Among the victims, besides Osopia, there were three adult lionesses, a cub and also 13 hyenas with their cubs.
For the moment the investigations have led to the arrest of five suspects, who will appear before the court of Narok. The site of the poisoning has been made safe and the contaminated remains have been disposed of under veterinary supervision to avoid further victims among the wildlife. Meanwhile, in the days that followed, another four adult lionesses and their cubs, who did not feed on the poisoned carcass, were sighted in good condition.