WINDHOEK, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A body condition assessment of lions in Namibia's northwest region has shown that lions maintaining home ranges further west, also known as desert-adapted lions, are in poor, though not dire condition.
That was disclosed by Romeo Muyunda, a spokesperson for the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, in a statement.
The desert-adapted lion population in Namibia has increased over the past 20 years from approximately 20 lions in 1997 to about 100 at present, which has resulted in increased conflict between humans and lions, becoming particularly acute due to drought, Muyunda said.
According to Muyunda, since 2021, ten lions -- out of 80 to 100 lions excluding cubs of less than a year -- have been killed across the landscape, primarily as retaliatory killings following human-lion conflict incidents.
Following the lion body condition assessment, which was carried out between March and April this year, the ministry has overseen the collaring of more than 35 lions across the northwest to study behavior via movement patterns while also providing farmers, ministry staff, and lion rangers with notifications to prevent and mitigate human-lion conflict in the shared landscape.
"The Ministry will continue to monitor lion movements and conditions, together with the lion rangers, in these areas. This includes more than fifty lion rangers performing regular foot- and vehicle-based patrols, monitoring GPS-satellite collars, deploying early-warning towers at human-lion conflict hotspots, and intensive research on lion spatial ecology conducted by the Ministry and its partners," he said.
To maximize monitoring and communication effectiveness across the landscape, the ministry recently had early-warning systems rovers fitted in the vehicles to enable staff to communicate in real-time across the landscape, monitor collared lion movements, and respond to potential human-conflict incidents, Muyunda said.
The body condition assessment of lions in northwest Namibia was done for the first time following publicly-voiced concerns about their wellbeing, said Muyunda, who added that lions maintaining home ranges further east, along the escarpment and the communal regions west of Etosha, are thriving and in good condition. ■
