Why Collar a Lion?

When viewing Lion, probably one of the most commonly asked questions is “Why are the Lion collared?”

Within Hwange as well as other game Parks in Zimbabwe the leading research projects are run by an organisation called WILDCRU headed by Dr Andy Loveridge, relying on the generosity of many donors. The initial collaring excercise was conducted to better understand territory and behavior within the different pride situations.

Over the years the collaring technologies have changed, with radio collars a thing of the past today the Lion have Collars which are monitored by sattelite tracking making research as well as being able to monitor them so much easier.

Traditionally the communities living on the boundary with Hwange have lost their cattle, goats,donkeys,Pigs and other livestock animals to Lion as they often are nomadic and passing through, often young males having dispersed from the pride looking for territory could be culprits as well as old males having been kicked out of their territories by younger males. Sadly where a Lioness will kill livestock, the young are taught to do the same and will in time become problem animals.

Brent Stapelkamp of WILDCRU has developed a system and has called it “the long shields lion guardians” whereby with the GPS type collaring, he will check on a daily basis the location of the collared lions. Should there be a Lion within the community he telephones his representative and gives a GPS coordinate. The villagers are advised in the affected area to move their livestock out and the wait then begins… Not for the Lion to move but for the heat of the Day… Brent will provide a pile of vuvuzela’s which having become well known at the soccer have also proven to be fantastic for driving lions out of an area. At midday the Lion has to sleep and by so doing the crew will creep up to the lion. when close enough the entire team blows their vuvuzela. The Lion are thereafter not seen but the tracks will show the Lion at full speed run, headed for the park boundary.

Since the introduction of this system, the incidences of livestock deaths have drastically decreased.

This young male and his brother at approximately 22 months have recently dispersed from their pride and have become nomadic here he is being darted for the fittment of a collar by Brent Stapelkamp of WILDCRU based In Hwange. It is at this time that the Lion will be named by the Lion research for ease of individual identification his name Imvubu “Hippo” to be found within Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, Southern Africa.