Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

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Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by Alpha Female » Sun Aug 08, 2010 4:54 pm

-Sorry if this is in the wrong place mods, it seemed to me that it was about saving the African Lion species, or 'Taking Action'-

I watched a show on TV (60 Minutes) and it was talking about how African herders are poisoning the lions. Here's an article I dug up regarding the issue:
We all grew up learning that the lion is the king of the jungle. And now that we're not little any more, we know just how vulnerable they are. In fact, when exposed to man's devices, lions are extremely fragile.

The latest weapon being used against them is poison. As 60 Minutes first reported last March, African herders whose livestock and livelihood are threatened by lions are killing them in the most effective and economical way they can.

And overwhelmingly, that is by using a cheap American chemical called Furadan. It is marketed as a pesticide, to be used for protecting crops. But it's bought by many to kill animals. And that’s one reason why, conservationists say, Africa's lions are in trouble.

Correspondent Bob Simon took a journey through the bush in Kenya to find out what's going on. We learned that 20 years ago, there were some 200,000 lions in Africa. Today, there are 30,000 and the numbers are going down all the time.

Lions are being poisoned at a staggering rate in Kenya, and there's little chance cubs outside the wildlife reserves there will make it to adulthood.

Dr. Laurence Frank, of the University of California Berkeley, told Simon he believes that poison, combined with other threats, will make the lion in Africa extinct.

Frank has been following lions for the last 30 years, looking for ways to keep them alive. While 60 Minutes was there, Alayne Cotterill, his colleague, needed to put a new collar on a lioness named Mara. She darted her and put her to sleep.
Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/ ... 4945.shtml

Here is another article regarding how Kenya doesn't want to ban the chemical:
Can Kenya ban carbofuran?

Despite two years of reports the PCPB had not responded to the concerns raised by conservationists. Even after CBS News aired a documentary on 60 minutes, the response from Kenyan authorities had been aggressively defending the pesticide Furadan (carbofuran) which was alleged to be responsible for most of the lion deaths in Kenya, bringing the country’s population to the brink of extinction.

The makers of Furadan, FMC responded by publicly announcing that they were withdrawing the product from the Kenyan and East African shelves. We found out later that this was only partially implemented.

Wildlife Direct and friends made direct contact with a number of government officials to raise awareness. This led to the creation of a Task Force to address the problem. The task force is being chaired by the PCPB, finally the agency is talking to us, and hopefully listening. Also present was the agrochemical Association of Kenya, the Agriculture Ministry, the National Environment ministry, the Kenya Wildlife Service and WWF. The owner of Juanco, the company that distributes this deadly chemical is also involved in the meeting.
Source: http://stopwildlifepoisoning.wildlifedirect.org/
*Warning* There are some (kind of) disturbing pictures on the site

Any ideas on how you could help save the lions from poisoned? Any comments or suggestions are welcome. ^ ^
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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by SolitaryPride » Sun Aug 08, 2010 5:45 pm

This is very disturbing. I am planing on dedicating my life to the big cats of Africa, I want to help them from going extinct. And this just upsets me. I know that villages in Africa livesstocks are threatened by predators and even their lives sometimes. They are uneducated people that don't have any sense of what they are doing in the longrun, they are only trying to survive.
There isn't much that we can do, if the big services and campanies can't stop it. We can only hope that the people that are doing this will stop and that the people trying to stop this succeed. I would very much hate to see the lion or any other big cat go extinct.

Thank you for posting this
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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by Myk » Sun Aug 08, 2010 7:44 pm

Very Interseting Thanka For posting this Alpha Female :D
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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by Alpha Female » Mon Aug 09, 2010 7:59 am

No problem guys. ^ ^

But, sadly its not just the lions that are being poisoned, its all carnivores that are eating from the poisoned carcasses. I've heard reports on vultures, other carnivorous birds, leopards, lions, cheetahs and even African wild dogs dying from eating the poisoned animal. It's quite a shame seeing some of Africa's wildlife being killed by a pesticide people are using for the wrong purposes.
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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by AlbinoWolf6 » Mon Aug 09, 2010 8:59 am

This is sad, like you said alpha one carcass feeds a ton of species... thanks for posting this alpha^^
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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by Jayness » Wed Aug 11, 2010 12:49 pm

Yes, that's very sad, yet interesting, I'll have to read more on this.
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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by Dewfrost » Wed Aug 11, 2010 12:51 pm

That is very sad to hear. Especially knowing that it's not just lions being poisoned. :/
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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by -x-Zaroque-x- » Mon Aug 16, 2010 11:42 am

I don't particulary like Lions, though, since numbers are getting low already, this can't help one bit. iI've not heard of this, so this is a good topic, thank you very much Alpha Female for sharing this with the users.
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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by Atropine » Wed Aug 18, 2010 9:24 am

This is a really terrible and cruel act that is going on - it is really disheartening. Even more so that other animals are getting killed - I've learned previously that poison will get more concentrated the higher it is in the food chain, so obviously the scavengers won't stand a chance if they are feeding on these carcasses. The sad thing is that it isn't only a threat to lions, it is also a threat to other African-dwelling animals. Kenya really needs to tighten the restrictions on the accessibility of this poison before it kills off even more animals. Thank you for sharing this article with us, Alpha Female^^
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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by Embertail » Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:01 am

i shall start studying on these african lions right away! after i get enough information that would be like in 6-8 years, and then i'd move out before those years are up, and then open my conservation after i get tips from zooworkers. thats what i shall do. Thanks Alpha for the Articals and the resource websites! ill even put up a website about them, ill edit this post when im done.

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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by paperpaws » Tue Sep 07, 2010 1:31 am

This is horrifying news. Survival chances for cubs outside wildlife parks are extremely low? That is not good. It would be such a shame if lions and other Kenyan predators would go extinct, that would ruin the whole ecosystem as well.

Thanks for the share. :/

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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by GizmoWolf » Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:28 am

This is really desturbing, and a bit horrific. I've always liked Lions, and I don't like how they're dealing with the carnivors eating them. I do understand that they want to keep their food safe, and that lives could be threatened by the animals. But, this is still bad news overall.
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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by -Magpie- » Mon Sep 20, 2010 2:31 pm

Horrible news. I was watching TV, and a show come on a bit like that. It was Nat Geo Wild, I think. It was focused on a male in a pride somewhere in Africa. The lead lion kicked him out when he became to old, and it told his life. When he grew old, he relied on the humans for food. A posioned gazille was set out and he went over to it. But, the crew couldn't watch it. Going agenst what they aren't aloud do, they trancalized him in about two seconds after he got there. He died, I think it was two years ago, in a semi-wild preseve. Thank You Alpha Female, for posting this.
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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by -x- Silvie -x- » Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:12 pm

That's horrible! It's very sad that many people are turning on wildlife everywhere, and hopefully we can help save animals like this.
And as for that, one way to help is just like helping wolves; you can educate people about the lions and what's happening to them; the more people in the know, the more likely it is that one can really make a difference; and everyone can help make a difference just by knowing and supporting the lions. ^^
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Re: Lions Being Poisoned in Africa

Post by Asheek » Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:27 am

This is truly sad. I feel for both the farmers and the lions here. Africa is a very poor place and a few cattle killed could mean death for people and their famlies, while the extinction of the big cats is a horrible thing to think of.
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