Lions strayed from park due to laxity of KWS personnel

I am saddened that the media and the Kenya Wildlife Service want the world to believe that Kenyans are more concerned with wildlife than the Maasai morans who killed six lions on Wednesday.

KWS boss Julius Kipng’etich talked passionately about the matter on TV. The Daily Nation on Thursday had the headline ‘Outrage as morans kill six lions in night of terror’.

Outrage about what? About the man who had his hand mauled? Would it have been well-received if we had the following case:

‘Lions kill six morans in Kitengela’? All I am saying is that the KWS must tame ‘their’ animals. They must be told that human life is more important than the life of the so-called big cats, even if they make foreign tourist come here.
Where are the Maasai MPs? What is their stand on this matter?

Peter Ndirangu, Nairobi

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Watching NTV’s 9pm news on the killing of six lions by morans in Kitengela, I was reminded of a similar fate that befell a leopard in Naivasha in May after livestock farmers said it had mauled goats.

In my view, the problem is due to laxity on the part of KWS personnel. Moreover these deaths mean a decline to the population of lions in the country.

I agree with the KWS boss that what the morans did amounted to criminality because such killings will reduce the population of the big cats.

However, he should have gone further to admit that there is laxity among the staff responsible for guarding national parks.

In the Wednesday incident, I think KWS personnel were deep asleep when the lions sneaked out of the park shortly after midnight.

Hannington Cheburet-Mogotio, Baringo