Conservation dilemma: Lion euthanisation in Mpakeni sparks controversy

The Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) euthanised five lions in Mpakeni Village on January 5.

Mpakeni is situated close to Mthethomusha Game Reserve, an 8 000ha protected area that borders the Kruger National Park and is operated by the MTPA. Between the village and game reserve is no buffer zone.

The decision to euthanise these lions (four young males and one older female) stem from a complaint on December 27 about them roaming free in Mpakeni Trust and preying on the residents’ cattle.

The MTPA had announced in a press statement on January 6 that the lions had been euthanised the day before, but the initial number of six lions has since been corrected by Louw Steyn, the MTPA’s manager of permit administration and professional hunting, to have only been five.

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This press statement has since evoked widespread reaction from communities, Facebook users and conservationists.Dr Gerhard Verdoorn, a conservationist, said the MTPA’s decision to resort to lethal measures was both surprising and disheartening.
“It is not as if wild and free-roaming lions are in oversupply in South Africa,” he said. He emphasised that the need for non-lethal solutions should always be prioritised, especially when viable alternatives exist. “With the decline in lion populations due to poaching in parks like the Kruger and Mapungubwe, collaboration with SANParks and conservation NGOs could have been a more prudent approach.”

He added that utilising helicopter darting to relocate the lions to a safe area could have contributed to sustaining the wild lion populations in Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

Lowvelder has since approached the MTPA to try and ascertain why such drastic measures were taken.

Mduduzi Vilakazi, the MTPA’s CEO, said factors such as available resources, proximity to the local community, cattle predation, challenging terrain, rain and logistical constraints influenced this decision. These logistical constraints include the moving of darted lions, limited holding facilities and future escapes in which these lion might return to a spot they have come to know and in which they have hunted and killed.

Responding to enquiries about funding constraints, Vilakazi stressed the financial challenges usually involved in wildlife control, citing expenses for helicopters, vehicles, rangers, cages and darting. Agreeing, Ertjies Röhm, the manager of wildlife management at MTPA, said that one dart to sedate and relocate a lion costs about R2 450.

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Despite this, Vilakazi affirmed that funding did not sway the decision to euthanise the lions in this case, and said they had the resources, but that the above logistical issues still held true.

Simphiwe Shungube, the MTPA’s senior manager of corporate communications, answered Lowvelder’s queries with the following: “After all considerations were done, [this was] the best possible option determined by the professionals in the Damage Causing Animals [DCA] Unit. This unit has standing permits to control human-wildlife conflict after conducting a due diligence process. The DCA determined that the best possible way to control the situation before human beings lose lives is to euthanise.

“The mandate of MTPA is to conserve the eco-system in the province. This mandate includes primarily to save the lives of both human beings and game. Where wildlife is in communities, the role of MTPA is to take back the wildlife, however, where is it proven to be complex to deal with the situation endangering human lives, euthanising becomes the last resort.

“It [would have taken] more than seven days to control the situation, trace the lions and devise strategies to dart and relocate. Meanwhile, the lions were roaming in the community at night, eating the cows. Unfortunately, the due diligence assessment left the MTPA with no option but to euthanise the six [sic] lions.”

It became clear that the MTPA team had used cow carcases on January 5 to lure the lions to a designated location where they were subsequently shot and killed.

What happened to the lions’ carcases:
On January 10, Lowvelder was invited to a game farm where these carcases were fed to some crocodiles. The MTPA requested that the location not be disclosed. The agency has yet to confirm what was done with all the lions’ claws and teeth, which are highly valued in the Asian trinket market.

Watch: The five lion carcases being fed to some crocodiles on a game farm.

As far as the skins are concerend, Vilakazi said there is a collaboration with the House of Traditional Leaders through a memorandum of understanding, which aims to process and donate animal skins to deter poaching. He emphasised a decline in animal poaching since the implementation of this initiative. He said the MTPA plans to donate the lion skins to the House as part of its conservation strategy.