Desert Lions

[Gamiz]

From Desert Lion Conservation Foundation

Thank you
 We are still coming to terms with the loss of the four Musketeers, but the support we’ve received from all of you has been a huge consolidation.
So we would like to take this moment to thank everyone who has donated to and helped with our cause over the past few months.
One of the main reasons for setting up our Foundation was the conflict that arose between the ‘Five Musketeers’ and the rural villages in the Gomatum Valley of the Puros Conservancy. The villages here have been in conflict with lions for many years. Amongst others, Xpl-73 “Rosh”, the father of the Musketeers, and Xpl-68 “Terrace Male” both became victims of human-lion conflict in this area.
With their arrival in the Gomatum valley we knew what fate could await the ‘Five Musketeers’. For many months scientist Dr Philip Stander tried everything he could to keep the Musketeers and the people with their livestock safe. Remarkably, there were few livestock losses, and these were mostly away from the villages and kraals, when cattle roamed freely at night. The village of ‘Tomakas’ was committed to protect their livestock by keeping them in kraals overnight and letting their cattle graze away from where the lions rested during the day. A farmer from this village was trained and employed as a lion guardian, who kept the lions away from the rural villages on numerous occasions and played a key role in protecting both the livestock and the lions.
Thanks to all the funds we received from you, we were able to provide our lion guardian ‘Rodney Tjavara’, with a year’s salary, satellite communication, a tent and other camping gear. With assistance from The Desert Lion Trust and TOSCO (Tourism for Conservation) he was also equipped with solar power, a uniform, and a digital camera. What is now desperately needed is a 4×4 field vehicle to get a ‘rapid response team’ going.
Rodney had just gotten to know the Five Musketeers, the lions he had come to guard and protect. He remembered their ‘names’ and was able to observe them on several occasions, already forming a bond with these formidable lions. As a farmer himself, Rodney is part of the difficulties the rural communities face with having to live side by side with lions. Livestock is their livelihood and when predators take one, it is a huge loss for which they seldom get compensated. But he also understands the necessity and benefit of having lions in the Gomatum Valley. Thanks to the Five Musketeers, Tomakas village started to receive direct ‘benefits’ from ecotourism.
However, after the first unfortunate incident where one of the Musketeers was shot and three others injured, the conflict didn’t come to an end. For several understandable reasons the four Musketeers remained in the conflict area and eventually the situation became unmanageable.
A large coalition of male lions like the Musketeers had never been recorded and studied before in the Namib Desert. Everything about the Five Musketeers was therefore unknown territory. Philip gained an extensive amount of knowledge whilst following the males, from when they were born until the moment they got killed. It is a great loss for the population and an enormous tragedy, but the Musketeers taught us invaluable lessons about their kind and how to mitigate human-lion conflict in the desert. As they used to be trusting lions that were habituated to the presence of vehicles, we were able to study them closely during this conflict situation, which presented Philip with valuable information.
They will be greatly missed by many…
Now we have to fight for the only surviving Musketeer “Tullamore” and the rest of the small population. To make sure they have a future… Reply