Mara Mobile Veterinary Unit

Category: Wildlife | Date: Apr 28 2008 | By: admin

Last week, I have spent countless sleepless nights trying to prepare a report and presentation for the paralyzed lions in the Mara Triangle. The toxicology tests came out and Brian from Mara Conservancy to present the case in Furadan meeting on Friday. Please check Mara Triangle Blog for more details on the report.

”The Mara Conservancy has alerted authorities after finding five hippos dead and observing paralysis in four lions which fed on one of the hippo carcasses. Toxicology reports on one of the hippo carcasses and a lion both tested positive for carbofuran, an extremely toxic agricultural pesticide. Further investigations have revealed that traces of carbofuran were found in areas where the hippos were known to graze.

The sick lions were first reported on the Mara Conservancy Blog on April 15th and followed carefully by the rangers. Brian Heath, CEO of the Mara Conservancy later stated: “The first report came in three days post-ingestion where a lion was found to be weak, staggering and sitting under a thicket. Another young male from the same pride began showing similar but more severe paralysis and quickly became recumbent by the afternoon. This was followed by a lesser degree of paralysis of two more males during the next five days. Tissue samples together with stomach content from the euthanized lion were submitted to the Government Toxicology Lab. The results showed that the stomach contents of the hippo and lion tested positive for Carbofuran.”

It has been crazy week for me and now I need little time to relax. I am off to coast for a week for a holiday and then I will be visiting Lion Guardians on my way back to Mara to get some advice on livestock compensation and predator depredation control. Sorry if I wont be able to answer comments after tomorrow, but I am sure Kimojino and Will from Mara Triangle will be able to address all the questions regarding the lion case.