Masai Mara lions devour nine cows

By KIPCHUMBA KEMEI

Narok County: About 20 lions on the loose from Masai Mara Game Reserve descended on a neighbouring village and devoured nine cows.

The lions reportedly broke into a fenced cattle kraal at dawn and feasted on the cows even as their owner and neigbours watched helplessly.

The lions, the owner said would have eaten more if he had not called for reinforcement from morans to drive them away. “I raised the alarm and neighbours arrived but there was little they could do, so we called in morans who saved the situation,” said the owner Joel Soit.

The morans, he said restrained themselves from killing them but warned that they would be forced to kill them if Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) cannot contain them in their designated area. “We are giving KWS 24-hours to move them to the park,” said Soit.

The KWS Corporate Communication Manager Paul Udoto has pleaded with the victims not to take the law into their own hands, saying the Service was pushing Parliament to enact the new wildlife Bill which would open gates for compensation of lives and property lost due to human-wildlife conflict.