A lion that has killed a number of cows around the Meru National Park got a taste of its own medicine on Thursday night .
The lion most likely died of suffocation when a rope got entangled around its neck at Luciuti, Amwathi, in Igembe North. It had pounced on a window's homestead.
Amwathi Ward MCA John M’Ngai, whose two cows were eaten by the lion last week, said the rope around the lion's neck did a wonderful job.
Kenya Wildlife Service Community Warden Nathan Gatundu said investigations were underway to establish what really killed the lion. He said hunger and stress could have led to its death.
M’Ngai said the lion, which has been roaming in the villages at night after it escaped from the park, died after it was strangled as the cow successfully freed itself from its claws.
“The lion attacked the widow’s homestead in the dead of the night and went to the shed. But as it struggled to kill the cow, it got entangled by the rope around its neck and somehow suffocated. We think it was divine intervention because the poor widow only has that one cow,” said M’Ngai.
The MCA said the lion which hadkilled a number of livestock in different parts of the park, attacked his homestead last week on Friday and Sunday.
“It killed one cow on Friday and another on Sunday, but people helped us to fight it. It has been hiding in the thickets during the day and attacking at night, to escape the KWS rangers and locals looking for it,” he added.
Gatundu said preliminary physical examination of the dead lion revealed it had eaten something like a goat but samples had been taken for further analysis to establish cause.
“We got reports it had died at 1am on Thursday. It could have died as a result of strangulation or stress. It has been under a lot of stress because people were hunting it down,” said Gatundu.
