‘Kenya’s big cats under threat’

The big fall in visitor numbers to Kenya following the violence earlier this year is threatening its big cat population, says a local wildlife organisation.

The non-profit Mara Conservancy says it’s struggling to carry out its conservation work in the world-famous Masai Mara game reserve.

It was receiving a share of the park entrance fees. However, due to the drop in tourists since the beginning of the year, that income has now been stopped.

As a result, the Conservancy says it can now no longer afford to pay Maasai pastoralists compensation for livestock killed by the reserve’s big cats.

This means that the Maasai could be forced to hunt the lions and leopards to protect their animals.

Power cuts are also making it difficult for rangers to protect cattle against rustlers and the big cats from poachers.

The Mara Conservancy’s William Deed, writing on the Mara Triangle website, says the situation is deteriorating: “For so many years the visitors to the Mara had become an incredibly important part of keeping the balance between the wildlife and the human populations.

“Since January that balance has gone, and so far the wildlife has survived and it has been the local communities, which includes those who work here at Mara Conservancy, who have had to suffer the consequences.

“We will have to start laying off rangers. All of the rangers are local, and nearly all are Maasai, and so the suffering in the local communities will deepen.”

The organisation is currently paying rangers from donations it has received from supporters.

To find out more about the Mara Conservancy and its work, go to http://maratriangle.wildlifedirect.org

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