Why Maasai's prefer killing lions to compensation

A group of morans. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

By GATONYE GATHURA

Money or the cow?

The Maasai prefer their cows and tell conservationists to keep their livestock compensation money and let their morans kill beef-loving lions.

They say theirs are not butcheries where lions can walk in, grab a meal and then bill the Kenya Wildlife Service or some other donor groups.

“We cannot accept compensation because we do not have cattle to be killed every day. We must go and kill that lion because our payment is to kill it today,” says a senior Maasai elder in Amboseli.

The elder says a lion that has developed a taste for beef must be put down because it will keep coming back for more. “And then we will have no more livestock. So what are we going to do with the money?”

“My son’s boma had two cows killed and one moran hurt by a lion. I cried, so the lion must cry. We cannot stop the morans because we already lost our cattle and this loss hurts deep in our soul,” says another elder in Kisonga area of Amboseli.

 These revelations come at a time when the government has substantially increased the amount of money paid out for loss of humans or property occasioned by wild animals.

In an extensive survey covering the Maasai of Amboseli and parts of Tanzania, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder in the US concluded that livestock compensation programmes do not work and could be fuelling the killing of more big cats.

 Cow’s worth

Released on Monday, the report by Joana Roque de Pinho says efforts to protect the animals have so far not been successful mainly because they have been “wrong and simplistic” and do not understand the real worth of a cow to a Maasai.

Research ethics do not allow one to identify participants interviewed for the study by their names in case of backlash from the government  and regulatory authorities.

The survey tells of an American tour operator who approached villagers at  Oltukai in Amboseli with a proposal of a project to compensate  families that lose their cattle to lions and who were in turn expected to spare the cat’s life.

“The people refused,” explained a junior elder. “They complained that the lions would learn that it is all right to eat cattle. And so for now, you will pay, but what happens when you and your organisation leave? Who will pay then? The lions will have learned to eat cattle. No. We refused.”

 The issue of killing lions came to a head last year when angry Maasai residents in Kitengela killed six lions in a single swoop for feasting on their livestock.

The community then dared the government to arrest them.

With the unprecedented act, the Maasai had made a major statement to the government and conservationists.

“Killing a beef-loving lion is not the solution,” says Dr Paula Kahumbu, the Executive Director at Wildlife Direct. “I agree with the Maasai and the study that such a lion must be punished for its wayward ways, but killing it is not the answer, just like a delinquent child should be punished but not killed.”

Dr Kahumbu says a lion that has tasted livestock will also teach others how to hunt, especially its cabs.

“That was why those killed in Kitengela included cabs who were on a learning mission,” she told The Standard on Sunday in an interview on Friday.

One method that has worked to dissuade elephants from destroying crops and other property, Dr Kahumbu says, are electric fences. “Once an elephant has been hit by the shock they learn not to go near the fence. I think we should experiment the same with lions.”

The lions, she says, must be taught to respect the humans because they are quite intelligent and will learn. Her sentiments are shared by the Maasai elders who were interviewed in the study area.

 Cultural heroes

By not punishing the lions when they kill livestock as required by law, the elders say the animal is losing respect for the moran, ‘seeing’ him as an impotent coward. This, they say, will encourage the big cats to attack more livestock and people.

“Because they are not being killed any more, the problem of wildlife attacking people and livestock has increased. We are not used to each other anymore. So, the moment we meet, we are enemies,” an elderly woman at Imbirikani Group Ranch told the researchers.

The Maasai say they will not let this happen to their warriors who are supposed to protect the community. During the interviews, 96 per cent of respondents in the Kenya side said hunting down and killing a lion is an important part of their culture and should be respected.

“Part of the duties of young morans is to know how to hunt lions. The offending lion must be speared to death. Killing lions by other means, such as with poison or a gun, is considered cowardly and thus does not create heroes as it should do,” says a junior elder at Kisongo village at the Imbirikani Group Ranch.

“Even if the lion is going to injure you, you don’t mind! This is why we go after the animal. It’s like an interview to show who is the bravest, or the strongest or the fastest moran and who isn’t.”