The Triad: Lion Conservation, Communities and Coexistence

With the help of supporters, the Born Free Foundation, an international wildlife charity, is working with local communities to protect threatened wild animals, including lions, in Meru Conservation Area, Kenya.

In 2014, Born Free launched a major conservation programme to protect and monitor lions in Meru Conservation Area. Pride of Meru aims to safeguard the lions’ future by protecting ecologically viable populations, as well as their prey and their habitat, through an enhanced human-carnivore ‘coexistence model’ –helping people and lions to live together without conflict.

Born Free’s team works hard to monitor and understand the lions and driving along Meru National Park roads taking photographs of individuals encountered. They focus on the head of each lion, because Born Free uses whisker spot patterns for identification. Every lion has a distinct, unique pattern of whisker spots, rather like human fingerprints.

Other identifying features are noted, including any nose scars or broken teeth, as well as each lion’s size and colour.

Born Free maintains a comprehensive database of lions, updating whenever new individuals are identified. Based on available data, Born Free approximates Meru National Park’s 870km2 is currently home to between 70-90 lions. Routine lion monitoring also helps the team understand the lions’ social structures, their ‘demographic status’ (the characteristics of the population), ranging patterns, prey preferences and availability, as well as any interactions between lions and humans, and the challenges the lions face. This information helps shape Born Free’s conservation work for these apex carnivores.

Lions are iconic. However, these magnificent predators can become injured when hunting – buffaloes use their horns to defend themselves, while giraffes have a powerful and potentially deadly kick. As every individual lion is precious to the population and to us, Born Free’s team responds to any incidences of sick or injured lions, contacting the resident Kenya Wildlife Service vet to administer suitable treatment. Over the years, Born Free’s Pride of Meru team has also helped rescue several lions from deadly wire snares, set illegally to trap wild animals for meat.

Recent rescues include Cheri, a young lioness in a large family of Meru lions known as Elsa’s Pride, who was found with an injury on her head in July 2023. This was probably the result of a skirmish with another lion. Then in September 2023, another lioness Chebby – from the Bisanadi Pride and mother to a pair of three-months old cubs – was found with an injury on her lower jaw, probably due to a kick from a buffalo. Thankfully, she and Cheri were both successfully treated in the field and the Born Free team is following up on their recovery.

To strengthen their community conservation work, Born Free has recruited a team of five Conservation Ambassadors, from local ‘conflict hotspots’, who help manage negative interactions between people and carnivores in Meru. They work to protect the communities and lions across five locations, recording conflict events and helping develop practical, humane solutions.

The work of the conservation ambassadors includes:

• Monitoring and reporting human-wildlife conflict

• Implementing simple and cost-effective solutions

• Monitoring wildlife movement within community areas around Meru

• Educating people on the need for peaceful coexistence with wildlife

• Giving advice for local finance solutions such as Village Savings and Loan Associations.

The Ambassadors work in collaboration with the local administration, who often invite Born Free to their barazas (public meetings). Born Free seizes every opportunity to promote coexistence between people and wildlife! The Ambassadors are strengthening Born Free’s bond with the communities around Meru and showing how it is possible to develop solutions to help people, lions and other carnivores, to live peacefully alongside each other.

Meru’s neighbouring communities are largely agro-pastoralists and lion home ranges can extend to community lands. So, it is important to put mitigation mechanisms into place to reduce the adverse effects of carnivore depredation on livestock. Born Free has deployed various innovative techniques to mitigate such conflict and promote co-existence.

One such technique is ’predator deterrent lights’, which have been found to be effective in significantly reducing livestock loss due to depredation by lions and other carnivores. In the areas where the lights have been installed, livestock farmers reported an incredible reduction in carnivore attacks of cattle, goats and sheep inside the livestock bomas. Born Free has installed 192 predator deterrent lights around the perimeter of 24 bomas (traditional livestock enclosures).

Meanwhile, the low-cost ‘cow eye technique’ mitigates human-lion conflict in grazing fields during the daytime. Painting artificial eyes spots on cows’ hindquarters deters ambush predators like lions and leopards, significantly increasing the cows’ survival and thus reducing people attacking predators in retaliation. Born Free has painted eyes on the rumps of 138 cows to discourage lion attacks.

Born Free is also trialing predator proof bomas in Meru ecosystem – reinforcing traditional bomas with strong metal posts and chain-link fencing to help prevent lion attacks - which have already proven successful in Amboseli. If found to be effective in Meru, this will be rolled out on a larger scale.

To encourage good community relationships, Born Free also held six ‘Humour-to-Conserve' sessions in collaboration with the Kangaroo Actors organisation, using humour to tell stories and encourage involvement in conservation. Born Free organised 15 local football matches in the ‘Kick-to-Conserve' initiative amongst communities bordering the park. Sporting activities can be a vital tool for conservation, so Born Free has embraced football to enhance awareness among players and fans alike. Before matches commence, Born Free gives a talk that embraces conservation, such as taking care of the natural environment and growing trees, as well as avoiding harmful practices such as hunting wildlife for bushmeat.

If you would like to find out more about Born Free’s conservation work in Meru visit www.bornfree.org.uk/ where-we-work/kenya/ and you can support this work by adopting Elsa’s Pride of lions at: www.bornfree.org.uk/ adopt