Hope for Tanzania’s Lions

Since returning from our remote, month-long trip to southern Tanzania with Catherine, Charles and I have been playing catch-up in the office and with current events. Thanks to PPF volunteer, Helena Grant, we were made aware of an article on the status of lion’s in Tanzania that appeared in the Sunday edition of the Arusha Times entitled, “King of the Jungle in Jeopardy”.

I was disappointed with the sensational nature of the article. So, I submitted a letter to the editor today, attempting to clarify some of the statements made in the article. I am copying my letter below. Let’s see if the Arusha Times is willing to publish it!

Hope for Tanzania’s Lions!

Dear Editor,

I am writing in response to an article that appeared in the Arusha Times last week: “King of the jungle in jeopardy.” I would like to thank the author and your newspaper for bringing lion conservation to the public’s attention in Tanzania!

I would also like to help clarify some of the information provided, particularly regarding the status of lions in and around Tarangire National Park. My comments are based on a study I conducted between 2002 and 2005 on the Tarangire lions and their relationships with the sport hunting, photographic tourism and Maasai communities, published as a Ph.D. dissertation at Yale University in the U.S. in 2005.

Determining the number of lions in any ecosystem is tricky business. The article notes that a 2003-2005 study reported that “there were only 201 lions at the park.” I think most lion scientists would agree that determining the exact number of lions in most ecosystems is virtually impossible. You just can’t count every individual. Realistically, we don’t actually know how many lions are in Tarangire National Park. In fact, some of these lions leave the park in the wet season, following their prey toward the Simanjiro plains. While I am reluctant to give numbers, my estimates of densities in three different areas in and outside of the park suggest that there are roughly between 450 and 625 lions moving within the entire Tarangire ecosystem (12,000 km²).

In terms of lions killed outside the park by local villagers, it should be clarified that at least four lions are killed yearly in each village (not monthly as was reported), resulting in nearly 50 to 60 deaths per year in the 12 villages. And in fact, the numbers may be slightly higher. However, this information should be put in perspective. How do local lion killings effect the overall lion population? While indeed a problem, my data show that Maasai killing of lions outside the eastern boundary of Tarangire National Park is only responsible for 6.4% to 8.8% of overall annual lion mortality. Because lions reproduce quickly and have large litters, they can support mortality rates of up to 20-30%, though the lower the better. It is also unlikely that local killing of lions is having a destabilizing effect on the large lion population of Serengeti National Park, though all northern zone parks were reported to be threatened. In truth, Maasai tolerance of lions, in the face of constant livestock predation, is an important part of the reason why lions are still found outside of northern Tanzania’s national parks! Meanwhile, habitat loss and declining prey populations are taking their toll on available lion range and numbers.

Finally, I was disturbed that licensed hunters (presumably sport hunters?) were regarded in the same light as poachers, “danc[ing] to the tune, as they anticipate their next massacre.” To the contrary, I found that sport hunters have an important respect and admiration for lions. And, it should be noted that the incredible mass of land set aside for sport hunting in Tanzania is critical for protecting important lion habitat from conversion to other land uses. For example, when analyzing the effect of hunting on lions outside Tarangire National Park, I found that areas exclusively set aside for sport hunting supported higher densities of lions than those that included local villages.

The article did highlight some of the important issues facing lions in Tanzania – poaching (particularly of prey populations), environmental degradation and change, habitat loss, and yes, in some cases, the combined effects of licensed hunting and local retaliation against livestock predators. These are all issues that need to be addressed. But rather than sensationalizing the information, it would have been helpful to provide this material in a context that also gives some hope. Tanzania is home to nearly half of all of Africa’s remaining lions. If we can find lasting solutions to lion conservation in Tanzania, we will not only safeguard a significant population of lions, but we will also provide the rest of the continent with an important model. That would certainly be something the public could be proud of!

Dr. Laly Lichtenfeld

Executive Director, People & Predators Fund
Member of the African Lion Working Group

Dr. Lichtenfeld’s full report is available on the publications page of the People & Predators Fund’s website (www.people-predators.org).