Desert Lion Conservation (War: Zwei Halsbänder...)

PALMFONTEIN LION POISONING INCIDENT 7TH JANUARY 2022
As per the previous post on the breaking news, this particular adult Lioness was collared and therefore a research subject and as such closely monitored by Lion Rangers. It appears that she frequented the exclusive Wildlife areas around and below the Grootberg area and ventured further North to Palmfontein area where she had killed a Zebra few days before. Some-one, then laced the Zebra carcass deliberately with poison which resulted in the Lioness and a Dog being killed by the poison. It is fairly certain that more predators and scavengers, big and small had been killed by the poison indiscriminately and the case is under investigation by the Namibian Police’s Resource Protection Unit.
In October last year four Lions and two Spotted Hyenas also perished when poison was put in a Cow carcass that had evidently been killed by the Lions. Again, it will never be known how many Vultures, predators and scavengers had been killed as a result. The perpetrator was arrested in this instance and logically one would have thought that this would have deterred a repeat of this heinous act.
The Lioness killed at Palmfontein was a member of a small pride. Given the inter-dependence of younger Lions in the small prides, which are typical of Lions in very arid areas, the death of an adult can impact very negatively on younger members of the pride that are still being mentored and whose hunting skills still need to be developed through the guidance of the adult mentor. By killing/poisoning the mentor, such young Lions are then forced to target easier prey, i.e. livestock, in order to survive. Instead of solving the problem it is then exacerbated by this illegal action.
Poisoning or killing Lions, a protected species, is highly illegal and as it constitutes poaching, punishment had been drastically amended in 2018. The potential for damage caused by the poison killing other animals is incalculable!
The local farming communities know that help is at hand and the Namibia Lion Trust Lion Rangers maintain good relationships with them, hence such behavior is totally unnecessary, uncalled for and unjustifiable.
Given the value of Wildlife as a product attracting Tourism in the Conservancies on which the communities rely heavily, this can simply not be tolerated. and goes against the grain of the fundamental conservation principles these Conservancies stand for. The perpetrator should be apprehended and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
We at DeLHRA pledge N$10 000 for information that will lead to the arrest of the person or persons who committed this heinous, criminal and evil deed.

‼️‼️FEEDBACK-FIELD TRIP-HUMAN LION CONFLICT- KUNENE REGION- FEBRUARY 2022‼️‼️

We have just returned from a two-week stint in Damaraland/Kunene region repeating our two monthly routine maintained over the last more than ten years of monitoring the Desert Adapted Lions for purposes of assisting Conservancy farmers with Human Lion Conflict mitigation, prevention and management. Each field trip also includes an assessment of the prey availability in the Home Ranges of the Desert adapted Lions, as this impacts on their well-being and their inclination to predate on farm animals/livestock.

The Ugab Pride-Total 2:
Previously, and as recent as 2018, the pride consisted of about 10 Lions at its peak. Their Home Range overlapped with their neighbouring Natal Pride of the Huab Lions at the Goantachabriver up to Probeer pos and from the Goantachab/Ugab intersection where the Huab Lions included the West in their territory and the Ugab Lions the Eastern area from that point. Until recently there were three Ugab Lions left of which one was “Angelo”, a Male and the son of XPL 75 aka “Angela” of the Huab Pride. Since the translocation of all the Huab Lions in June 2021 to Naankuse, he migrated to the Ugab where he teamed up with the two females, “Tsumi and Nala” for a short while, bringing hope that new cubs would be born from this.
We were alerted by concerned Namibians who found the skin of a Lion in the Messum Crater region. It seems logical that, since he was the only Lion other than the two females and his tracks were no longer found during the last two trips, that it might be the skin of Angelo.
This now brings the total number of Lions in the Ugab to two females who, despite several mating episodes with the previous male, “Doros” (now at Naankuse’s sanctuary) as well as with Angelo did not conceive. We have remarked in the past that they are highly likely sterile, however suspected that Doros may have been the sterile one. After Angelo we now suspect both females, who are third generation in-bred, may be sterile. This may thus well ring in the end of the presence of Lions in the Ugab/Brandberg area soon.
The fresh tracks of the females were seen near the Domriver towards the West where few small “pockets” of Game had been observed. In the rest of their home range Game is absent and even though the recent rains provided us with a clean slate substrate-wise, simplifying assessing the presence of Game through identifying fresh tracks, it has become clear that there is next to nothing in terms of Prey left in the area. Soon after, the Ugab river flooded, which curtailed further efforts of obtaining a visual on the Lions in order to determine their condition. As poachers steal or destroy trail cameras in this area there was no other means of getting to know the physical condition of the Lionesses.

The Huab Lions Total 0:
Previously, up to 2018/19 also about 10 strong, the Huab Lions have either died from euthanasia (the starving XPL 75, “Angela” put down 2021), or were shot in retaliation by farmers losing livestock through predation by them (“Minki” and “Popeye, Angela’s other son and brother of Angelo, shot at Opdraende Farm 2021) or were close to dying of starvation in June 2021 when they were translocated to Naankuse Sanctuary. The whole area from the Huab to the Goantachabriver in the South is now devoid of Desert Adapted Lions. It has been observed that three Lions from the North, probably the Achab Pride or Kliprivier Lions, have been probing the territory of the former Huab pride, but since there is no Prey, they returned and do not seem to be keen to repopulate the area or take over the territory for obvious reasons. This could change if conditions should improve in the Huab valley region, however a spontaneous rebound by Game seems unlikely and re-introduction of Prey species will highly likely be necessary. For this to succeed, protected status will be necessary to be obtained for the area and security, anti-poaching and effective Human Lion Conflict management will be vital.

The Palmwag Concession Lions-Total estimated 26-36 (excluding the 7 Hoanib Lions):

Our visit to the Hunkap Spring in June 2021 revealed a very emaciated Lioness (following our report to the MEFT, the researcher, Dr Stander subsequently shot a Springbok to feed her) and there were no signs of Lions in this area during this trip. Not even old tracks were seen at there favourite haunts. Judging by this we are convinced that the Hunkap/Orowau Pride must have suffered setbacks and that few, if any, may still be alive (remember the video clip of the emaciated weak Orowau Lion lying between the Kraals last year that prompted the MEFT to do a survey?). The whole Palmwag concession, a protected area, has very, very few Game/Prey animals and even waterholes/Springs/Fountains are devoid of Game. Reportedly the Lion rangers of an NGO active in an “Early Warning” initiative have acted on a report from the Palmwag concession custodians and bought two Donkeys which they fed to starving Lions as recent as December 2021. During our normal survey to establish the frequency and severity of Human Lion Conflict around the Palmwag Concession area, we found that conflict incidences were now rare. The diminished Livestock farming activities due to Livestock losses resulting from the drought of over 70% in numbers and the absence of Lions which, at times like these would normally, definitely resort to Livestock predation, speaks volumes in explaining this trend. Tourism Game guides and Rangers rarely see Lions as of late and Game is as scarce. Historically the Palmwag concession has been the stronghold, nucleus and provider of Wildlife to the bordering areas as core Herds and Prides prevailed, enjoying some protection the Concession offers. That seems to have changed drastically now.
The Hoanib Pride- Total 7:
We were lucky to see the fresh tracks of “Little Tina”’s pride but they had vanished into the mountainous area near the Mudorib Spring. We were keen to see their condition and lucky for us a friend and supporter had seen them just before we arrived and provided us with great photos and videos. From the photos we could see that the Lions were in lean but fair shape. XPL 131 aka “Romeo”, Little Tina, Tammy (two adult Lionesses) and the young Male seemed to be coping so far and some Game had been observed in their Home Range. This pride roam between Elephant Song and the President’s Waterhole up to the Mudoribriver to the South and the Giribes Plains to the North.
East of the Presidents Waterhole at the Mudorib/Hoanib junction and downriver to the Flood Plains and Okongwe a lone female, “Charlie” still roams. She was seen in “Lean but Fair” condition as she just made a quick turn in the dunes to the East of the Amspoort.

Further downstream, in the Skeleton Coast Park, Charlie’s two siblings,”Alpha and Bravo” roam up to the Huarusebriver where they have been recently seen on a kill which means they are still coping, for now. We are quite surprised that the siblings have not teamed up since the coalition between Charlie and the older Lioness “Aunty” aka XPL 69 had been terminated when the latter died.

Before the trip we had posted on the Obab Pride that roams the Obabriver and the Unyab river Delta on the Western side of the Palmwag concession and South down to as far as the Koichab and Springbokrivers and even the Huabriver.
They had been seen on the Skeleton coast by holidaymakers during January and photographed. Judging by the photographs they are barely hanging on and we reported this to the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism who reportedly, consequently monitored the situation, however with no feedback. It is therefore not known whether they have survived or not but judging by the emaciated Lioness gnawing on an old rotten Seal carcass the prognosis for their survival does not seem great.

Naankuse, Zannier, Timbila-Desert Lions:
Fleeing many flashfloods, we then went on to visit TIMBILA private Game reserve near Omaruru, where some of the Huab Lions are awaiting release from a comfortable large holding camp and got a general idea of the lay out and facilities. Interaction with Humans are carefully avoided and desensitization prevented, which we applaud. We enjoyed the friendly hospitality of the Timbila lodge and will attend the release of a young male Lion, the offspring of the male Huab Lion Nkosi (died in transit) and Cheeky (alive and well). The females we named “Cheeky” and “Missy” have since been renamed as “Lexus” and “Luna”.
We look forward to this and will write a blog with photos and video clips on it. In the interim we can say that these Lions are well looked after and the 32 000 hectare facility at Timbila will provide them with a quality of life as close to natural as a fenced area can offer as they hunt for themselves and Human disturbance is at a minimum. They would all have been dead by now and for this we thank the team of Naankuse for intervening at a great cost. Our differences of the past mostly based on the, then deemed unjustifiable, removal of the Ugab Lions have been put behind us in the light of the undertaking given by Naankuse that the Lions saved can be returned should the conditions allow or warrant that. We know the conditions will not allow it for many years as there simply is no Prey left for these predators in their natural habitat, hence it is a welfare matter until they naturally expire. There can only be praise for how their welfare is being handled by Naankuse and Timbila and we hope to visit their other reserve, Zannier, as well.

CONCLUSION
Given these observations and known mortalities we have amended our estimation of the population of the Desert Adapted Lions from between 45-55 to 35-45 now. Considering that 14 of these Lions had been translocated to Naankuse between 2018 and 2021 alone and the recent mortalities, the slide in numbers comes as no surprise. It would be fair comment to state that the fate of the Desert Adapted Lions are hanging on a thread.