A group of shepherds killed on Wednesday in southern Kenya the oldest wild lion in Africa, 19 years old and baptized as Loonkito, after the animal entered a community to attack domestic livestock, the conservation NGO Big Life Foundation reported Friday.
"Herders are on high alert to protect the few animals that survived a recent severe drought," Daniel Sampu, coordinator of the Big Life Foundation's lion and other large predator damage compensation programs, told local media.
According to a witness to the incident, who preferred not to disclose his identity when speaking to the Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation, the lion entered a community near the Amboseli National Park (south) on Wednesday, around 20, local time, and the shepherds killed him with spears before he could attack domestic livestock.
"(The lion) was weak due to his old age and succumbed to spear wounds to the head," the witness said.
Loonkito was a male lion known for his advanced age, well above the average lifespan of lions of his sex, which is around 11 years.
There are currently about 30,<> lions left in Africa and their populations continue to decline, according to the latest data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Between 1993 and 2014, lion populations declined by 43 percent, mainly due to habitat loss and conflicts between these animals and communities, which sometimes poison or attack the cats to protect their livestock, IUCN said.
Lions were on the verge of extinction in southern Kenya at the beginning of this century, but the efforts of local communities, rangers and conservation NGOs saw lion populations in Amboseli National Park and surrounding wildlife reserves increase sixfold between 2004 and 2020.
To avoid conflicts between lions and humans, special pens have been built to protect Maasai cows from lion attacks, financial compensation is provided to herders who have lost their livestock to these cats, and communities have been involved in tourism activities to improve their economies.
.DB
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