- A wild lion believed to be one of the oldest in the world has been killed.
- The Lion Guardians, a conservation charity, announced the death of Loonkiito, the 19-year-old male lion.
A lion believed to be one of the oldest in Africa has been killed after straying into a livestock pen on the outskirts of the Amboseli National Park, Kenya.
The Lion Guardians, a conservation charity, announced the death of Loonkiito, the 19-year-old male lion, last week.
They described him as a "symbol of resilience and coexistence" and said they feel privileged to have "borne witness to his life and his legacy."
Lion Guardians said Loonkiito was "the oldest male lion in our ecosystem and possibly in Africa."
Loonkiito wasa 'lion king' who had ruled over a big pride of females and cubs in the a national park for many years, according to reports.
The herder killed the big cat after he leaped into a livestock corral. The elderly lion was probably having problems capturing wild prey to survive and saw the domesticated animals as an easy meal option, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) spokesman Paul Jinaro told AFP.
"A normal lion would go for wildlife inside the park," Jinaro said.
The Lion Guardians said on Facebook that the response to Loonkiito's death had been "astounding" and noted that the his legacy lives on.
"A decade ago, we did not have lions surviving past age 10 in this landscape. That Loonkiito and other older lions exist in the wild today is due to the efforts of many, primarily the communities who bear the burden of sharing land with lions. Thanks to them, we now witness lions living into and beyond their 'golden' years," the organization said.
Although lions are not considered endangered, their habitats have dwindled in recent decades, and their population is in decline.
The WWF says that today, lions only inhabit 8% of their former range due to human land use and climate change. It says 23,000 to 39,000 lions remain in the wild, though it could be closer to 20,000.
In addition, populations of lions' natural prey are in decline as herbivores have less food available to them due to humans encroaching on their lands.
As a result, lions often have to venture outside protected areas to feed. Sometimes, this means going into human communities, where they can be killed.
In 2021, a lion caused panic in a neighborhood of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, after it was spotted wandering the streets during the morning rush hour after it escaped from nearby Nairobi National Park.