Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project

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“lions front and centre [stage]”

Category: General | Date: Jul 06 2008 | By: Seamus

This is a response to Jerry’s comment about how one shouldn’t only focus on the plight of lions.

The Kenya stories on poisonings, and the need for action on a wide front, are bad news, but please please do not focus solely on Kenya and on lions. …Of course the huge symbolic significance of lions means that they get front and centre attention from the media and most everyone else, but at least with their biology involving multiple births and allosuckling, their numbers can rebound quickly if they get the chance. For hyaenas, with single births, and the guaranteed death of young if a dam dies, the rebound is much slower, if it occurs at all.

I think this is a fair request. It touches on something which I need to remind people from time to time: I have chosen to concentrate on lions, but really only because they are a convenient focal species.

The conservation logic is that if we can successfully conserve lions then it probably means that conditions are favourable for the conservation of lion prey, and the resources that the prey in turn depend on. Its not that I believe lions are more important than other species, simply that they are a good conservation barometer. I acknowledge Jerry’s point that there are other places and other species worthy of publicity and , and I hope that larger, multi-specie conservation science groups take cognisance of his comment.

Lastly, as a group, Living with Lions is in fact collaborating with several conservation scientists on work to stop the poisoning of other wildlife in east africa.


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5 Responses to ““lions front and centre [stage]””

Wim, on 06 Jul 2008

Maybe I’m missing the point (I frequently do), but you are the
“Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project - Life With Cats”?
It’s a bit of a clue that you might be entitled to be a tad partisan about the poisoned pussies. It’s rather like my giving the Bonobo people a hard time because of their notable silence on the plight of the Pangolin.
If I recall correctly, you tried to save that stock nabbing Hyaena a few weeks back… Admittedly you did (somewhat hastily), then dissect the bugger once they’d done for him Dr Frankenpuss, but you tried and only when life dealt you lemons did you make lemonade.
I’m second to none in my passion for matters hyaenid (for those harbouring the same guilty secret, Google The Hyaena Specialist Group, it’s your home from home on the net), but although one accepts his valid point that things are probably just as bad for bushbabies in Burundi, the underlying notional league table of precedence of endagerment does rather read as tragedy envy in this instance. The wood for the trees?

kd, on 07 Jul 2008

OMG Wim! “tragedy envy.” I love it! That is one of the choicest phrases I have read in a long time. I normally try to stay out of Seamus’ way in the comments and (uncharacteristically) hold my tongue, but I just have to give you a bouquet for your comment today. You are always worth reading, not just for the perspicacity of the observations. Your style is wondrous and a true delight. Today you surpass your own high standard.

Wim, on 07 Jul 2008

You are both kind and generous kd and give hope and encouragement to those of us for whom living with Tourettes is a daily challenge.

Seamus, on 08 Jul 2008

Wim,

You’re the first person to wonder about the title of my blog. I deliberated for a long time over the tag-line, and eventually opted for “life with cats” because, well, this blog is not really just about lions. Its about living in a place that has lions. Perhaps the tagline also makes reference to my personal life, which has always contained cats of one size or another. I really do like cats. I wanted the blog to be less of a dry report and more a personal account. Then again, my tagline might be a response to one of my interlocutors that made some flippant comment involving the word “cattery” with reference to my domestic life…

With regard to hyaenas: you’re observant, yes there are links between the problems being caused by hyaenas at bomas and my recent hyaena dissection. I hope to soon be able to write in more depth about the steps being taken to reduce this kind of conflict.

By the way, there is a help group that has been established by a group of South Africans that can help people that are having trouble with words. I encourage you to visit http://home.comcast.net/~beetlestuff/index.html
or follow the link on my sidebar to “dungbeetle”. You can visit the site completely anonymously and feel happy in knowing that there is ALWAYS someone worse than you. Thank you Geraldine “f-em” Moloketi for making us all feel better about ourselves.

Wim, on 08 Jul 2008

Seamus, It’s your blog and, frankly, if you wanted to call it
Fluffy Things That Go “Meow” Are Really Really Nice
I wouldn’t criticise you. Truly.
I’m not that observant, you did go from suggesting an angry herder put a functioning gate on his Hyaena buffet to an autopsy on a fat dead spotted thing within about three posts, one doesn’t need to be Hercule Poirot to join those dots…
In the meantime, may I request another out of focus photo of a bush please?
I shall refer to Dungbeetle once I’ve finished blue-skying accountability of the quality and outcomes framework for the frontline pathway of my vertically integrated potato if that’s all right with you?

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