Success for Lion Guardians in Kenya: the Lion Population is Growing

For fifty years, the number of lions in Africa has been declining, from an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 to fewer than 20,000 today. Retaliatory killing was one of the main causes of this decline. The very good news is that, due to the hard work of dedicated people like Leela Hazzah (FFN Award winner 2014), the population is on the rise again.

Leela Hazzah and Lion Guardians successes

Leela Hazzah won the FFN award in 2014 for her work to stop lion killing. She is one of the founders of the conservation organization Lion Guardians. It’s strength lies in the fact that it empowers the local communities.

By working closely with Maasai warriors — once lion hunters —and understanding the motivations behind lion killing, these warriors have transformed into dedicated Guardians that protect lions. Among other tasks, these Lion Guardians are committed to minimising conflicts between lions, livestock and people. Thereby  they promote tolerance to lions among local communities. Even to the extent that warriors and their communities take ownership of ‘their’ lions.

20 years of Lion Guardians

Another achievement in the 20 years since Lion Guardians started, is that their sphere of influence has grown over ten-fold. They have expanded from one site in Kenya to multiple countries across Africa and to thousands of people.

The Lion Guardians conservation model has helped to reduce lion killing by more than 90% and supported the recovery of the lion population in the Amboseli ecosystem. Lion numbers have more than quadrupled in the last ten years. Lion Guardians has also facilitated the passage of lions between the genetically isolated Ngorongoro lion population and the Serengeti region of Tanzania.

The key principals, new programs and other developments

The strategic plan Lion Guardians are now working with builds on the two decades of experience and data collection. They focus on these four key pillars:

• Promote human-lion-livestock coexistence
• Create space for lions, livestock and people
• Support the financial security of local communities
• Ensure Lion Guardians organisation is sustainably and locally run

In recent years Lion Guardians developed several new coexistence programs and innovated their conflict mitigation toolkit. Also tech-based solutions have been improved and expanded constantly.

Digital herders

They launched the ‘Guardians Going Digital’ program, where they equip Guardians and Master Herders with smartphones to digitally report and record their locations and observations. Now Guardians give real time updates on their exact locations and sightings to help the organisation to make better decisions on where to deploy Guardians and Master Herders to keep track of lions and safeguard livestock

Mentorship program

In the ‘Elder to Herder Mentorship Program’ community elders connect with Maasai youth. They teach herding techniques and the importance of responsible livestock farming. The program aims to reduce human-lion conflict and to sustain Maasai livestock farming at a time of ongoing cultural change.

Helping sick lions

A new ‘Vetinary Support Program’ for both lions and livestock was set up. Following an increase in the number of poisoning cases, Lion Guardians saw the urgent need to improve veterinary care for sick or injured lions, in order to prevent avoidable losses. This program also provides support for the local community’s livestock with the aim to reduce economic losses for Maasai herders. By improving the overall health of livestock and preventing weak animals from becoming easy prey, thereby reducing conflict between lions and livestock.

Prime habitat

Another development is that Lion Guardians purchased approximately 500 acres of prime wildlife and grazing habitat in the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem. This land surrounds the new Lion Guardians’ headquarters, buffering and extending conservancy and wildlife corridor areas. They are the first conservation non-profit in the area that is protecting land in this changing landscape by purchasing it.

Changes that bring new challenges

The success of now having the highest lion population on record for the area brings new challenges for Lion Guardians. After all, more lions and less habitat – due to land subdivision, fragmentation and fencing – leads to more trouble.

Climate change is also a growing challenge, which is causing drought and unpredictable weather in East Africa. Not only are people’s livelihoods at risk, but conflicts are also on the rise as a result of changes in the behaviour of both people and lions.

After a decade of increased tolerance and reduced hunting, lions have grown bold around humans and livestock. Research by Lion Guardians indicates however that less than 20% of the lion population is responsible for nearly 90% of depredations. To minimise conflicts, the teams of Guardians and Master Herders have expanded. This resulted in 44 occasions in one year where Master Herders prevented lion-livestock conflict.

Strong leadership

The latest challenge for Leela and the Lion Guardians is to focus on diversity within their teams. Diverse teams perform better. Yet women are often under-represented in leadership roles. Given today’s challenges, strong and authentic leadership is more important than ever. Leela herself is a wonderful, strong female conservationist. Future For Nature is proud to count her among our family.