Lions' larder restocked with fresh meat

SOYSAMBU - Kenyan authorities have begun a plan to restore the predator-prey balance in one of the country's premier game parks after a recent drought - by moving thousands of zebras and wildebeests closer to the lions.

As the sun rose over the 17,800ha Soysambu Conservancy yesterday, a herd of dozens of terrified zebras stampeded as a helicopter buzzed overhead, herding them into a funnel-like trap and into waiting trucks. After three trips, the helicopter had helped capture 88 zebras. Earlier in the week, 49 were herded.

At the end of a three-week operation, the Kenya Wildlife Service aims to relocate 4000 zebras from different parts of the country to Amboseli National Park. In March, after the wildebeests have finished giving birth, the service plans to move 3000 of them to the same park.

The more fortunate animals will enjoy the environs of Amboseli, a key sanctuary for animals in southwestern Kenya during the dry season because it usually has pasture and water when surrounding areas are dry.

The less fortunate ones will end up in the stomachs of the park's hungry lions, who have been forced by drought to hunt the goats and cattle kept by the nearby Masai herdsmen.

"We have been hearing reports of a few carcasses [of livestock] found each day," said Charles Musyoki, a senior scientist at the Kenya Wildlife Service.

"When we move the zebras and wildebeests we will now be increasing the number and thereby making them available to the carnivores and this will make the carnivores reduce their dependence on livestock [for food]," Musyoki said.

Dr Frances Gakuya of the Kenya Wildlife Services says the relocations will cost US$1.3 million ($1.9 million).

Amboseli is among the top revenue earners of Kenya's more than 40 national parks and reserves.

Musyoki said the decline in Amboseli's zebra and wildebeest populations has been as high as 90 per cent compared with 2007.

- AP