Amboseli drought call-to-action answered quickly

On 17th December the Carnivore Task Force met at the African Conservation Centre to implement the top priorities recommended by the Amboseli workshop of 9th December.

Kenya Wildlife Service, ACC, Amboseli Conservation Program, Lion Guardians, and the Amboseli Elephant Research Programme mapped out an integrated program to track and monitor lion and hyena activities over the next three months. The monitoring will focus on changes in lion and hyena prey selection, livestock predation, and competion between lions and hyenas. The program will be jointly funded by the participating organizations and launched the week of 21st December.

The second priority project has also been agreed on and will be underway during the week of December 21st. This entails expanding the Maasai Preservation Trust's carnivore-livestock abatement program to the vicinity of Amboseli National Park. Six meetings are slated with the communities most vulnerable to carnivore attacks as lions and hyenas move beyond the park in search of prey. The meetings will establish the protocols for alerting communities to predator attacks and improving protection of their herds. The procedures for contacting Kenya Wildlife Service on a hotline in the event of predator attacks wil be established, along with measures for offsetting the costs herders suffer from livestock depredations.

The monitoring and conflict abatement programs will be none too soon. With recent rains falling around the park, the remaining herbivores have migrated out, leaving the predators with few prey animals. Two attacks on cattle have been recorded in the last week as a result of lions moving out of the park in search of prey.