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Interesting Article here on The “Difference” between the Hunting techniques of the Male and Female Lions…..
These, er, lions-of-sight showed that males and females hunt in different types of terrain. On average, the females dispatch their prey at places where they can see for 8.6 metres around them. Males, however, kill at sites with thicker cover, where they can only see for 3.4 metres around. So while females cooperate to chase prey across open terrain, males are more likely to be ambush-hunters, launching attacks from long grass or dense shrubs.
These results help to explain why male and female lions are equally matched killers. Males were traditionally thought to be less successful than females, but recent studies put both sexes on a par with each other. But why? How do males succeed as solo operators when the females can rely on teamwork?
Cheetah sightings were also great. We saw 7 one day!, and all within one hour of our afternoon game drive. This is a recent records considering how rare they have been lately. Malaika and her son(whom we have named Lucky Boy) has been south of the Talek on the lower Burrungat plains, but have now crossed the river north to Rhino ridge. She is now even more than ever, jumping on the roofs of vehicles since the grass is now very tall. The mother of 3, who has for a long time been down at Lookout hill, has also moved into the same area as Malaika. We did see her hunt, though unsuccessfully a couple of times. There is also one female whom we thought is lactating. We saw her between Rekero camp and Rhino ridge. We hope if she has cubs that she will be able to bring them up successfully.
Our leopard sightings was great too. We saw only 3 different leopards on this trip. These were Olive, her daughter Saba and a young male at the pump house. Who gave us the most beautiful poses. We followed Olive yesterday into the bushes near Mara Explorer where i believe she is hiding her cubs.
Despite the tall grass, we were also able to see a few Serval cats, hunting in the grass, where we got great leaping shots. A couple of them were not shy of vehicles at all.
http://paul-kirui.blogspot.ca/2013/02/big-cat-week-in-mara.html
https://www.facebook.com/Anti.HuntingUSA
Bobcat trapping is becoming a problem in California. Last year, more than 1,800 were trapped and killed because of escalating demand for pelts in places like China and Russia. If nothing’s done, the number will continue to grow.
California’s native wildlife should not be killed for commercial exploitation.
Please sign the petition (CA residents Only)
http://animalconnectionac.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/bobcat-trapping-on-the-rise-in-california-petition/
Journal file
A female mountain lion looks down at South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Wildlife Division employees on Sept. 8, 2010. The lion was tracked, treed and tranquilized so that its faulty transmitter collar could be replaced.
They let loose the hounds in Custer State Park this week, as the state Game, Fish & Parks Commission experiments with the limited use of dogs for lion hunting.
Thursday began the first of three seven-day periods that each allows up to four hunters to use hounds in the 71,000-acre park. Ron Hillestad of Volga was one of the hunters who drew a permit for the first hounds period.
Hillestad doesn’t have hounds himself but was hunting with help from “a friend of a friend of a friend” and others who had hounds. Reached by cell phone in the park late Friday afternoon, Hillested was short of breath and high on enthusiasm.
“No cats yet, but the dogs have been on a couple of them,” he said. “We just can’t seem to make contact.”
Hunting could improve following a forecast snowfall during the weekend, which helps hunters locate lion tracks.
Hunters who draw a permit for the hound hunts in the park can bring their own dogs or hunt with houndsmen who have dog packs. The hound hunts are mixed in with five longer periods — 14 to 16 days — that each allow up to 30 hunters to hunt lions in the park without hounds.
Hounds are not allowed for lion hunting outside the park, in the season that began on Dec. 26.
The addition of hounds, the first allowed for lion hunting since the GF&P Commission set a season in 2005, gives the state a limited-scope experience with hound hunting for lions that some would like to see on a broader scale.
It also is intended to increase the lion kill in the park.
GF&P officials have documented heavy lion predation on elk calves in and near the park in recent years. The the additional hunting pressure on lions is aimed at reducing their killing of elk there.
Last year, 11 lions were killed in and near the park. So far this year, one lion has been killed in the park and three more outside near the boundary fence.
GF&P also increased the overall kill quota for the lion season to 100 cats overall or 70 female lions. The season will close if either limit is reached before the scheduled end of the lion season on March 31.
“One of the reasons we increased the lion harvest limit is with the hopes that the increase in harvest will in turn increase elk calf survival in the park,” said John Kanta, regional wildlife manager for GF&P in Rapid City.
The elk herd in Custer State Park has declined from 1,000 to about 150 in recent years. Kanta said sport hunting has been the biggest reason for the decline in the park herd, but lion predation and out migration of elk also have had an impact, he said.
Some hunters believe lions are the biggest factor limiting the park’s elk herd. They also worry about the ongoing predation by lions on elk and deer throughout the Black Hills.
The GF&P Commission was responding to those concerns as well as research documenting the predation on elk calves in the park when it set the highest kill quota yet.
Hunters killed 73 lions during the 2012 season, which ended March 1 when the quota was reached and exceeded by three. As of Friday afternoon, 35 lions had been killed this season. By Feb. 8 last year, 43 lions had been killed.
10 January 2013 Last updated at 08:16 ET
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20969868
Zambia has banned the hunting of lions and leopards because of the rapid decline in its numbers of big cats.
Zambia’s tourism minister said there was more value in game-viewing tourism than blood sport, which brought in just $3m (£1.9m) last year.
Sylvia Masebo said the country did not have enough cats for hunting purposes.
“Tourists come to Zambia to see the lion and if we lose the lion we will be killing our tourism industry,” she told Reuters.
But Chuma Simukonda from the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) said the ban would be bad for tourism.
“The population of cats in Zambia is around 3,400 to 3,500 and with the ban on safari hunting for cats, we are likely to lose on revenue,” he told the AFP news agency.
He said about 55 cats were killed by hunters each year.
Neighbouring Botswana is banning all sport hunting from 2014, while Kenya halted hunting for sport decades ago.
THE ERADICATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA’S LIONS HAS BEGUN
It’s the day after Christmas, and South Dakota‘s lion hunters – all 4,000 or so of them – are enjoying the present South Dakota’s Game, Fish and Parks Commission gave them: an early and expanded lion hunting season.
This year, so as to not frustrate all those impatient lion hunters that received new guns or hunting equipment in their Christmas stockings, the Commission moved opening day forward six days and increased the Black Hills lion hunting quota to an unprecedented level. Now the killing begins. Reminiscent of the global warming debate, South Dakota’s game commission believes that it can authorize the killing of as many mountain lions as it wants with no repercussions. As far as they are concerned there will always be sufficient lions to kill, no matter what scientists say. The following excerpt from a letter we recently received sums up the problem facing South Dakota’s lion population: “The situation here in South Dakota is worse than grim; you would have to live here to realize what a backward state this is. Not that many of the people are not friendly, generous and hardworking, but there is a stubbornness against change (no matter how needed) that borders on pathological. That, coupled with an entrenched good-old boy political climate that views words like “environment” and “progressive” as Satan‘s vocabulary and subscribes to the idea that animals are only here for our enjoyment; having no other intrinsic worth other than monetary value . . . .” Things look pretty bad for South Dakota’s mountain lions. The season just started a few hours ago and already one female lion has been reported killed. Worse still are the 27 mountain lions that have died in South Dakota since the close of last year’s hunting season: mortalities that don’t count against this year’s lion hunting quota.
To help fight for their survival, please donate to MLF’s South Dakota Defense Fund |
It began with a couple of bangs — at least — as hunters in Lawrence and Pennington counties bagged mountain lions Wednesday during the opening day of the lion season.
By late afternoon, the state Game, Fish & Parks Department website listed two lions on the 2012-2013 season kill list. A 78-pound, 2-year-old female lion was shot in Lawrence County and a 111-pound, 2-year-old male lion was shot in Pennington County.
But there could have been others taken and not reported since hunters have 24 hours to present a lion taken during the season to GF&P officials.
Meanwhile, the hunt continues today in a season that will stretch through March, unless a quota of 100 lions or a sub quota of 70 female lions is reached prior to that.
Steve Bulle, a lion hunter from the community of Hayward south of Rapid City, has no doubt that plenty more cats will come in soon. Bulle expects the 100-lion limit, the highest kill quota set by the GF&P Commission since the season began in 2005, will be reached.
“Based on my recent observations running my trap line, I have no doubt that the quota of 100 will be reached prior to the end of the season,” Bulle said by email Wednesday. “I found a four-by-four whitetail buck yesterday that had been killed by a lion, and I have seen more sets of lion tracks prior to the season than I did last year.”
The 2012 lion season, which opened Jan. 1, commenced with multiple bangs, too. Hunters killed four lions on the first day and went on to reach and exceed the overall lion quota of 70 by the end of February, a month before the scheduled conclusion. The actual number killed ended up at 73 when hunters in the woods took additional cats before learning the quota had been reached.
More lion deaths have been reported since the 2012 season closed. They included a few taken by hunters outside the Black Hills Fire Protection District. The lion season outside the district is open year-round, although fewer cats are found there.
In addition, some cats considered threats or problems have been killed this year by GF&P officers and other officials. Other deaths included vehicle strikes and fights between lions. The overall lion mortality from all causes was 108 going into this season.
Bulle was unsuccessful in his lion hunt Wednesday, even though a new snow made for good tracking conditions.
“Snow conditions today were excellent, but I don’t think the lions will really start moving much until after the snow we are supposed to get tomorrow,” Bulle said Wednesday. “My prediction is that on Friday and Saturday the harvest rate will increase dramatically.”
The status of the lion quota can be checked online at: http://gfp.sd.gov/hunting/big-game/mountain-lion-season-harvest-status.aspx
Well done Botswana to recognize that wildlife is a national heritage that does not belong on the walls of overseas trophy rooms to the benefit of foreign operators.
http://www.lionaid.org/news/2012/10/trophy-hunting-to-end-in-botswana.htm
Females do the majority of the hunting. Males who tag along with the hunt usually stay back until a kill has been made.
Lions hunting in twos and groups have a success rate of c. 30%. Those hunting singly by daylight have a success rate of 17-19%, but are the equal to groups at night. This reinforces the idea of why lions became the only sociable cat; to control exclusive hunting grounds rather than for greater success by cooperative hunting.
Most successful hunts are on dark nights in dense cover against
a single prey animal. One reason for lions’ relative low hunting success rate is that lions do not take into account wind direction when hunting; they often approach prey from an upwind direction thereby alerting their prey and ending the hunt. Additionally, the lion’s charge is generally launched directly at its quarry and it rarely alters the path of attack, as do other cats. Generally speaking, if a lion misses its target on the first run it usually abandons the chase.
Hunts of impala and medium-sized prey are significantly more likely to be successful when the lions do not stalk their prey but rather chase them immediately upon detection. The opposite is true for small-sized prey species. However, lions are more likely to stalk impala and medium-sized species, whereas they are less likely to stalk small-sized prey. Females are significantly more likely to stalk anything.
with cooperative hunting a question exists on whether pre-planned cooperation is taking place or whether lions make use of opportunities brought about by the presence of other lions.
Studies of the tactics of group hunting by lions give a similar basic plan of the hunting process. When the group spots the prey a hunt is often initiated by a single lion looking at it, to which the other lions respond by looking in the same direction – the only clear form of “communication” evidenced in the hunting process. The group fans out, with certain lions stalking at a greater distance to encircle the prey. The encircling lions launch the attack, seemingly to drive the prey towards the others who ambush from their cover position.
It is suggested that lions often, but not exclusively, followed the same hunting patterns and divided lions into stalking roles; left, centre and right wing positions. Lions hunting in their preferred roles increased the success of the group by nine per cent.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Animal-Shame/225598740853762
Most trophy hunters try to disguise their canned hunts as real hunts in the wild, but ALL trophy hunts of white lions are done inside enclosures. Canne
Legal to kill a white lion but ILLEGAL to save the life of one! Read this shocking recent story:http://www.whitelions.org/index.php?option=com_zoo&task=item&item_id=24&Itemid=1
The life of a lion in the canned hunting industry:
A few days after the lion is born it is taken from its mother, this is highly destressing for the cubs and the mother. The mother is taken away and made pregnant again, her sole purpose is to be a breeding machine for the trophy hunting outfitter. She spends her whole life giving birth and having her cubs ripped away from her, and she never gets the chance to be a mother. Once her body is useless and can no longer have cubs she is either offered to be shot for a bargain price or just thrown in for free as part of another hunt.
When the cub is taken from its mother it is sent to a petting zoo or a volunteer project, where tourists pay to interact with the cubs. This is very distressing for the cubs who have no means of getting away, cats sleep a lot and cubs especially but they cannot do this because of been constantly picked up for photographs. Volunteers pay thousands of dollars to work on projects that promise that they will be one day released. Volunteers do not care to do any research and realise that any hand raised lion in South Africa cannot be released. These volunteers believe they are doing a good thing but they are just filling the pockets of these murderers and keeping this sick industry alive.
Once the lion is no longer a cub it is sent back to the trophy hunting farm, where it can grow into a suitable trophy for a tourist to shoot. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=352193494860952&set=a.315784881835147.72724.225598740853762&type=3&theater
When it comes time for the lion to be shot, it is released into the larger enclosure. The killers drive around the enclosure looking for the tame, hand raised lion. Meat is often hung out and they wait for the lion to start eating and then open fire as it eats.
I have seen many videos of these hunts and they are shocking, any person who takes part in one of these hunts is a disgrace to the human race. Often the tame lion will be laid undreneath a tree and as it sees the people approach it just glances over and glances away, as it does not see people as a threat. The cowards open fire and take pleasure in watching the animal roll around the floor in agony, then watch the life drain out of its body.
The aftermath is shocking as they parade the dead lion for ridiculous photos as they stand over the lifeless corpse of the tame, hand raised lion. They then return home to their countries to tell tales of how they killed a big bad dangerous man eating lion (they never mention they killed a tame, bottle fed lion inside an enclosure).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPMZ9mRcn50
Trophy hunting companies have now found another way to profit from the lions they kill, they are now starting to sell the bones to the Asian medicine market. This is the same market that has wiped many species off the face of the planet and is the biggest threat to tigers and rhino today, the scariest thing is that the South African government are allowing them to do this legally. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVPxfYFj7Yg
Illegal rhino poaching has risen 3000+% in the past five years and this could happen to lions as well, we are starting to the the exact same patterns with lions as what happened to rhinos, but the SA government do not appear to care. South Africa are even allowing tigers to be shot inside enclosures and their bones sent to Asia. http://www.lionaid.org/blog/category/canned-lions
Avaaz recently started an advertising campaign in airports calling for president Zuma to put an end to the sick lion bone trade. It took around one week for president Zuma to order the posters be pulled down. Avaaz have started an online petition which already has over 700,000 signatures calling for an end to the lion bone trade.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/1_million_to_ban_the_lion_trade_fbb/
A young tigress is chosen to found a new dynasty. Airlifted from her home in an Indian park to life in a new reserve, Baghani the tigress must fight with leopards for territory and learn to hunt dangerous wild boar. Also released is Rajore, a hot blooded young male. For two years every aspect of their lives are followed by the camera.
I was in tears seeing Baghani calling for Rajore and searching for him all over while he has been killed by the poachers……. a must watch documentary for all. – Amit Amaresh Kanungo
“Trophy huntinghas long been associated with conservation, with many western
However, there is little evidence of human and ecological conservation benefits, and the practice is replete with poor management and corruption. The potential of trophy hunting as a conservation tool is context/taxa specific. Its value may be considered in terms of the conservation of species, populations or
individuals. Each level can in turn be considered in terms of its
contrasting instrumental and intrinsic value. Trophy hunting is thus both a tool and threat to lion conservation. Ultimately, this discussion accepts that regardless of the scales of analysis used, or the apparent practical and theoretical issues surrounding it, trophy hunting is here to stay. The practical, not theoretical, debate is thus not whether trophy hunting is a conservation tool, but whether it can be improved so that animals and humans can benefit as much as possible from this polarizing practice.”
http://www.facebook.com/lionguardians
Selenkay’s pride which is now composed of ten lions is well known for being a livestock killing group. This is because they have killed livestock in almost every corner of their territory and have been hunted countless times in retaliation. Fortunately, we have succeeded in stopping all lion hunting party’s intent on killing them except for the politically motivated hunt that killed their sister Narika two years ago. However, over the last two months, as if sensing the tension and danger in the air as a result of the conflict in Amboseli, this pride has confounded many that know their reputation. They have not killed any livestock and thus managed to stay away from the limelight……..
There are thought to be no more than about 4,500 
