Hungry lions turn on humans

www.telegraph.co.uk
By David Blair in Kikonga
15 May 2006

 
Adam Rijani: deep gashes (photo)

When a lion seized Adam Rijani in its jaws and flung him almost 20ft with one shake of its head, the 13-year-old boy was so paralysed by terror that he felt no pain.

Only when his stepfather drove back the lion did he realise that blood was streaming from deep gashes carved by the beast's incisors in his left leg and chest.

"When I ran inside the hut to escape, I started feeling pain and the bleeding came," said Adam. "My heart was pounding from fear."

Adam was attacked outside his family's hut in Kikonga village, southern Tanzania, joining a rising toll of the big cats' human victims.

The number of lion attacks in Tanzania has trebled since 1990. About 100 people now fall prey every year, compared with an annual total of less than 30 in the early 1990s. Two thirds of these attacks are fatal. Lions have killed at least 566 Tanzanians and wounded 308 in the past 16 years.

Experts point to a simple explanation: there are more humans for lions to eat and fewer zebra, wildebeest, buffalo or antelope. Their prey species have all declined outside protected areas and Tanzania now has 35 million people, up from 24 million in 1990.

Tanzania has more lions than any other country. Everywhere else, the predators have been virtually eliminated outside national parks - shot, speared, poisoned or starved by the death of their prey.

Tanzania is their last great stronghold. Alone in Africa, it still has thousands of lions living outside protected areas and another 8,000 roaming the national parks. Of Africa's 30,000 lions, perhaps half are in Tanzania.

Adam Rijani was attacked in Mkuranga district - closer to the capital, Dar-es-Salaam, than to Selous Game Reserve, the nearest protected area 150 miles away.

But conservationists fear that if lion attacks continue to rise, the big cats of Tanzania will suffer the same fate as everywhere else. "It's a race between us and the end of the lions," said Dr Craig Packer, a lion specialist from Minnesota University who uncovered the rising trend of attacks.

"Eventually there will be no lion attacks because there will be no lions. If we want the people here to behave differently, they've got to be protected."

Simple precautions can reduce the risks. Clearing bush and grass near villages deprives lions of cover. The animals are more likely to attack lone people than those walking in groups, and sleeping in fields to protect crops is particularly risky.

Village after village across Mkuranga has felt the presence of the big cats. The tracks of two lions were found in Mihale village last week, near a gnarled tree trunk where two predators were recently shot for killing cattle.

In Kiparang'anda, lions broke into a hut and ate a mentally handicapped man. No herds of zebra or antelope are visible in the lush forests of swaying palm trees. The lions in this area have little choice but to kill people.

"They actively hunt humans," said Denis Ikanda, a lion researcher on Dr Packer's team. "You don't find that behaviour elsewhere. You don't find it in the Serengeti where there is plenty of plains game. If you stayed in a tent here, you might not last even one night. You would need a death wish."

Adam Rijani, now 15, owes his life to his stepfather, Ali Mohammed Lindunga, 60. After the male lion hurled the boy into a maize field, Mr Lindunga rushed towards the beast, shouting and waving. This distracted the lion, allowing Adam to run inside the hut, where the family hid in terror.

For an entire night, the growling predator circled their home and tried to break in. There have been cases of lions breaking down the doors of village homes, clawing their way through thatched roofs or even scratching holes in mud walls.

But by dawn, the predator had given up and it was safe to take Adam to a clinic for treatment. He now suffers a recurring nightmare.

"I dream the lion breaks into the house and chews my whole body," he said. "I would be happy if someone killed that lion. I would be happy if all the lions were killed."

Article & photo at:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tanzania/1518443/Hungry-lions-turn-on-humans.html