Simba wawekewa vifaa vya mawasiliano kuwalinda

Kenyan wildlife rangers are fitting lions with GPS collars to prevent them from being slaughtered by Maasai herdsmen. 

Livestock farmers track and kill the predators to avenge the loss of animals, threatening the existence of 35 to 40 lions at a park on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital. 

The collars alert rangers when the predators venture out of Nairobi National Park and enable them to be tracked down and returned.

Kenyan wildlife authorities are fitting livestock-raiding lions with a collar that alerts rangers when the predators venture out of Nairobi National Park

A team led by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) take measurements of the canine teeth while they prepare to fit a GPS-tracking collar to a tranquilized male lion

Kenyan wildlife authorities are fitting livestock-raiding lions with a GPS collar that alerts rangers by text message when the predators venture out of Nairobi National Park

Spokesman Paul Muya of the Kenya Wildlife Service, said that rangers will be able to move to areas where the lion have encroached using coordinates sent by the collars and return the animals to the park. 

The collars send GPS coordinates by text messages to rangers' mobile phones. 

 

Two lions were fitted with collars on Saturday, Mr Muya said. Collars will be fitted to 10 lions from different prides.

It comes after Kenyan conservationists implanted 1,000 microchips into rare rhino horns.

The practice is threatening the existence of 35 to 40 lions at the park on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital

Two lions were fitted with collars on Saturday. Collars will be fitted to 10 lions from different prides

In a bid to fight back against increasingly sophisticated hunters, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is using the chips along with the DNA records to track the decreasing rhino population and their valuable horns.

The technology, gifted by charity World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is designed to protect the remaining 1,000 rhinos in the country as well as to collect evidence to use against poachers in court.

Experts have warned that if the current trend continues, more than 1,000 rhinos could be poached by 2014 and Kenya alone saw 23 of its rhinos killed last year.

Daily Mail