The Rewards of Wildlife Conservation

Often whilst out on Safari, the question has been posed by many a hunter; “What exactly do we do outside of hunting season?”
Believe it or not, we catch up in the office on some well overdue book work and more often than not check up on our wildlife to ensure our animals and their environment are functioning in a well-balanced state.
We first introduced lions to our family owned Big 5 Game Reserve 8 years ago. In due course, our lion population has thrived and numbers have been good enough for us to have had the opportunity to harvest 3 lions over the course of the last 8 years. While having free roaming self-sustaining lions on one’s property is a massive privilege, with the privilege comes the big responsibility of managing the species.

Free range lions enjoying the benefits of 30 000 acres of wilderness.

Yesterday was one of those exceptional days one gets rewarded with when spending a large part of your life with wildlife. It was a rare opportunity to experience a lion up close and personal.
One of our dominant lions was fitted with a radio tracking device a few years ago due to problems we were experiencing with a lioness that left the boundaries of the reserve and developed an appetite for the neighbours livestock. At the time this male was a wanderer looking for his own territory within the 30 000 acre reserve, all signs were indicating towards him joining the lone lioness and taking part in her new-found hunting skills.
The radio tracking device came in the form of a collar. Now we not only had the opportunity to track his whereabouts if he were to leave the boundaries of the reserve, but we had the opportunity to monitor his feeding patterns, territorial boundaries and daily habits. All these play an important role of understanding what effect these large predators have on ones ecosystem.

Over time the lion has grown a substantial amount and the collar was proving to be uncomfortable for the cat. It was time to call in our local Wildlife Vet, Thys, for the afternoon.

The team getting ready to load the immobilized lion for transportation to the Boma where the cat will be checked and allowed the sufficient 24 hour period to recover from the drugs before being released again.

Ensuring our cat was comfortable for the short journey to the Boma.

One doesn’t often have an opportunity to give the lion a thorough check up. Here our Vet Thys administers the check up while the team removes the tracking device.

A few final pictures for our records. This of the cats teeth, and gum line. Always a good indicator of a healthy lion. This particular lion indicating the signs of an extremely healthy cat.

Well, now I guess its back to the office!
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