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Nowhere to Roam

Spanish Translation

By Terry McCarthy/Laikipia and Andrea Dorfman/New York

In the thick, golden light of a setting African sun, three young lions are feasting on a baby giraffe. A mature lioness approaches. One of the lions tries to scare her off with a snarl. But she lunges at him, and he slinks off into the sunset. The lioness takes his place at the feast.

On the plains of Africa, big cats killing prey is part of the daily rhythm of life. But with wilderness areas shrinking, lions and other predators are finding it harder and harder to survive. Last fall, animal conservationists were caught catnapping when a new survey revealed a sharp drop in the continent's lion population. Ten years ago, the species was thought to number as many as 100,000. But the survey indicated that there were only 23,000 wild lions left. More than half of them live in protected areas, such as national parks. Outside these big parks, lions seem to be in alarming decline.

Ways to Share the Land
Conservationists are now trying new strategies to save lions. Mugie Ranch, in Kenya, is conducting an important experiment. The ranch, which raises livestock to sell as food, is six hours north of Nairobi, Kenya's capital. Some 14,000 sheep and 1,000 cattle graze on the ranch's grasslands. Ten lions also live on the ranch.

Livestock owners usually kill predators. But Mugie Ranch is part of the Laikipia Predator Project, run by wildlife biologist Laurence Frank. The project aims to save large carnivores by seeking ways for big cats and humans to coexist.

Barely a mile from the feasting lions, Mugie's herders are bringing cattle and sheep into their nighttime pens. Under Frank's direction, the ranchers have built stronger pens. These pens, which are made of thorn branches, shield the livestock from nighttime raids by lions.

"To many Africans, lions are simply pests," says Frank. But Mugie's lions have begun to attract tourists. If the lions bring tourist dollars to the ranch, then both humans and lions come out ahead.

The Big-Cat Crisis
Most of the world's big cats--tigers, cheetahs, snow leopards, jaguars--are in trouble. Surviving as a top cat in a world ruled by humans is tough. Big cats need big spaces. When they leave a park's boundaries, they find themselves in battles for land that is claimed by humans.

Even inside a wildlife sanctuary, lions are not always secure. In 1994, one-third of the lions in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania died from an outbreak of a viral infection. "Clearly, protected areas alone are not the solution," says Joshua Ginsberg of the Wildlife Conservation Society, in New York City.

Ginsberg and other conservationists have become convinced that the only way to save big cats is to allow them to live among us. Lions should roam from protected areas through land that is shared by humans, they say.

Still, there is no simple way to meet the needs of both humans and big cats. Whenever a choice has to be made, the needs of humans will come before those of the cats. Even on Mugie Ranch, where lions are prized, ranch manager Klaus Mortensen recently had to shoot a female lion. She had taken to killing sheep. "If you don't move quickly, they teach the other lions (to do the same)," Mortensen explains.

Lions are natural-born killers. To keep them in the world will require hard work. Otherwise, these majestic creatures will end up living out their days in zoos, far from the wild where they belong.

Lions in the Wild
Length: 54 inches to 86 inches, excluding tail
Maximum weight: Males, 496 pounds; females, 370 pounds
Estimated population: 23,000
Status: Vulnerable
Threats: Livestock owners, who kill to protect herds
Habitat: Grassy plains, dry forests, scrub, semideserts
Man-eater: Yes
--The lion's roar is louder than a jackhammer.
--Lions are the only big cats to live and hunt in family groups, called prides. Lions sleep as much as 19 hours a day.
--Once found in Europe, Asia and the Americas, the only wild lions outside Africa, in India's Gir Forest sanctuary, now number 300.

Sources: Justina Ray, Wildlife Conservation Society; IUCN, Cat Specialist Group

Next: Down Came The Sun