Lion Escapes from Karoo National Park

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PJL
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Re: Lion Escapes from Karoo National Park

Post by PJL »

I know when Sylvester escaped the stock poaching went down to almost 0% .... even with a few livestock lost to Sylvester it was still much less than normal. Maybe the local farmers let this one out -O- =O: =O:


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Re: Lion Escapes from Karoo National Park

Post by Flutterby »

lol


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Re: Lion Escapes from Karoo National Park

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:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:


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Re: Lion Escapes from Karoo National Park

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Fresh spoor 60km from Karoo National Park brings new hope of finding lion lost for 2 weeks

2019-03-01 13:27
Duncan Alfreds


The efforts of trackers in the Karoo have been rejuvenated after rangers found fresh spoor in their search for a lion that escaped from the Karoo National Park outside Beaufort West.

The male lion, estimated to be between 2 and 4 years old, escaped from the park on February 15 and rangers lost its spoor when it entered a gorge.

However, on Friday, they found fresh spoor to track the predator.

"This fresh spoor that we are following now actually came from a farmer and we are getting good help to find this lion," Reynold "Rey T" Thakhuli, SANParks general manager for media, PR and stakeholder relations told News24 on Friday.

The spoor is more than 60km from the park and was tracked through difficult terrain.

Puzzlement

Thakhuli expressed the team's puzzlement at the distance the lion travelled.

"It's a mystery to me. The area there is quite tough; it's very rocky. You can't even access it with a vehicle and we followed it (the lion) into that rocky area.

"It's moving toward the northern part of the park."

The search team, which has a helicopter on standby as well as a vet, remained in the area where the lion was spotted until well after dark on Thursday, but could not find the animal.

The lion last made a kill of an eland several days ago, said Thakhuli, and the rangers have not found any evidence of a fresh kill.

"No other kill has been found and it should be very hungry by now. The last kill was last week."

The search team has been split to allow some to rest and police members from the livestock unit have joined the search.

'Definite determination'

Despite some setbacks, the team is intent on finding the lion and returning him to the park.

"They (team members) are tired but there is definite determination to find this lion. We will not rest until we find it and return it to the park," said Thakhuli.

Landowners have been advised to report any sightings of the lion to the nearest police station or to call the park directly on 023 415 2828.

It's not the first time a lion has gone missing in the area.

In 2016, 4-year-old Sylvester the lion went missing and was found after an extensive search.


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Re: Lion Escapes from Karoo National Park

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This lion should be called "Tweety"? ..0..


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Re: Lion Escapes from Karoo National Park

Post by Mel »

Looks as if the Karoo National Park can't keep their lions inside :twisted:

Tweety... lol lol lol RP


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Re: Lion Escapes from Karoo National Park

Post by Alf »

Makes you wonder if they are happy there


Next trip to the bush??

Let me think......................
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Re: Lion Escapes from Karoo National Park

Post by Richprins »

It's just the younger males that get kicked out, Alpheus, as they say! \O


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Re: Lion Escapes from Karoo National Park

Post by Peter Betts »

Richprins wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 6:06 pm It's just the younger males that get kicked out, Alpheus, as they say! \O
Still no sign of the Cat and no reports of Stock losses ..this guy is good at hiding


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Re: Lion Escapes from Karoo National Park

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High-tech helicopter, drone to help find missing Karoo lion

2019-03-08 15:52 - Duncan Alfreds

The search for a missing lion from a Karoo park is set to step up a gear as a company deploys a high-tech helicopter.

On February 15, a male lion went missing from the Karoo National Park near Beaufort West and search and tracker teams have been trying to find the animal for weeks in difficult terrain.

On Friday, Bidvest Protea Coin announced that it was deploying its helicopter, which is ideally suited for tracking.

"We have one of only two choppers in the country fitted with forward-looking infrared (FLIR), or thermal imaging infrared cameras, which allows us to pick up heat signatures on the ground over a radius of 10km when flying at night," said company chief operations officer Waal de Waal.

Four team members from Gauteng left on Friday to help search for the lion.

Fresh kill

The lion, estimated to be between 2 and 4 years old, has left trackers precious few clues as to its whereabouts.

It is believed to have killed an eland several days ago and rangers have not found evidence of a fresh kill.

This is a concern as the rangers are tracking the animal by foot because the terrain makes it difficult for a vehicle to enter.

"No other kill has been found and it should be very hungry by now. The last kill was last week," Reynold "Rey T" Thakhuli, SANParks general manager for Media, PR & Stakeholder Relations, told News24 recently.

The Bidvest Protea Coin team will also have a drone at their disposal.

"We will be joined on Saturday by a drone pilot we use quite regularly, who is also equipped to fly at night. We hope the combination of FLIR and the drone will be able to assist in getting the rangers on the ground closer to the lion," said De Waal, adding that the help was offered for free.

While lions are generally active at night, lion protection organisation LionAid, said it was a myth that lions were exclusively nocturnal.

"If lions have water within their territory that attracts prey animals in the daytime, the lions will be active in the day. Lions are extremely attuned to descending vultures during the day and will follow them to a free meal.

"Lions hunt at night not because their eyesight is better under low light conditions than that of their prey, but because with stealth, they can probably approach their prey closer at night than during the day," the organisation says on its website.

Elusive

It will be risky for team members to get approach the lion to dart it.

According to lion organisation Alert, a lion will eat about 7kg of food per day and can run at 60km/h - more than enough to catch a human.

The Karoo lion has led teams over 110km from the park and despite some clues, such as spoor, it has remained elusive.

"Should the aerial team be able to track the lion down overnight and keep an eye on him while the ground teams are resting, we will have a much better idea of where to continue our search, hopefully from much closer, in the morning," said De Waal.

The current search team consists of 12 rangers and trackers, thanks to help from Addo Elephant, Camdeboo and Mountain Zebra National Parks in the Eastern Cape.

Sightings or evidence of lion spoor should be reported to the police or the public can call the park on 023 415 2828.


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