Desert Lions

[Matias]

On 06/22/17 the Desert Lion Conservation Project released an Official Note on the Tullamore Incident - Explained in a clear and balanced way the HWC problems in the region. It does not mention any information about XPL 59 and its cubs. Link below:

 

http://www.desertlion.info/news.html

 

 

For those who follow the news reported on the site for years, it is "almost obvious" that something is not right with the Project. It is difficult to make any speculation since there is no concrete and measurable information on the nature of the challenges that the Project now faces (we are thousands of miles away). At the time, the change in attitude towards the periodicity of information disclosure on the site was a symptom of something changed. A new ingredient emerged last year: Desert Lion Conservation Foundation - www.desertlion.org  - which began to exploit, something missing until then, content from social networks (Facebook). In its pages, there is no distinction in realizing that they are two different projects, as well as the Project of Conservation Lion of the Desert does not divulge any information on the existence or not of some partnership between both. I think there is discomfort with this situation. The Desert Lion Conservation Project receives a regularly renewed grant from the Namibian government to carry out its work for almost 20 years without interruption. New actors want to participate in the rescue of desert lions, and there seems to be some organized movement for new NGOs operating in the area. "First they want to join forces, so......

 

 

I fully rely on the approach and monitoring practices of the Desert Lion Conservation Project. By not using social media, nor any language that conveys the sentimental appeal, the same runs the risk of isolating itself in its scientificity. People want to follow, participate and are eager for information, and in the absence of an official channel, others take on this role. It is likely that this position, among many others of a practical nature, is not pleasant, neither the community of concessions nor private concessions, and both possibly have new guidelines, interests and ambitions. It seems that not only are lions under pressed, but also those who protect them.

 

 

Let's look at what practical measures the MET will deploy to mediate the HWC conflict. Judicial measures need to be part of this context. It is necessary to end the culture of which environmental crime is a minor crime, therefore of less penal scope. You have to work with the cultural concept, the common good is everyone's land, not the land where everything is allowed. As for the Tomakas village (including Omiriu and Ondudupi) it is enough to move to pasture rights (reduce its area of coverage and its quantitative) if wildlife crimes remain in its vicinity. When Dr. Stander started 20 years ago the numbers of lions were extremely low, their numbers increased exponentially in their first 08 years of Project, however, after 2009 a huge amount of deaths by poaching and trophy hunting (males) again threatened all This population. There was a bias, when we thought that consolidating this region as a successful international tourist product would consolidate this lion population the reverse occurred and again their numbers are again threatened.

 

 

In 1907, with an area of more than 10 million hectares, the Etosha National Game Reserve was proclaimed, having its territory encompassed to that time, to a large extent, the Skeleton Coast. Over the years, several border reconfigurations have gradually narrowed to their present configuration of "only" two million and two hundred thousand hectares in the 1970s. Today, we see very clearly the missed opportunity. If the original area had been maintained, the entire region would have another setting. It is now a matter of remedying the mistakes of the past and of taking practical long-term measures to safeguard all the natural wealth of this region. Namibia is a very new and innovative country: it is the only country to have its entire coastline protected by national parks, and its communal conservation areas (already more than 100) have exponentially increased the land area for conservation. In short, more than anything else, it is now necessary to safeguard the lives of their animals, notably their predators.

 

 

“End of a wonderful chapter started in January 2012 with the birth of the 5 male cubs. Death itself is already a sadness. What makes it even more sad is that there are no heirs of these five lions”.

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