The lion which escaped from the Karoo National Park almost a month ago is still on the loose. Contrary to prior reports that the lion was found and returned safely, he is still at large. Security company, Bidvest Protea Coin, has volunteered their helicopter, staff and heat sensing cameras to assist in the rescue effort.
The technologically advanced helicopter has cameras that pick up heat on the ground over a range of 10km – even when flying at night. They plan on using this technology with the ranger team to make sure the lion is tracked down.
The search will continue for three days and nights, together with a drone pilot who is also equipped to fly at night.
“Should the aerial team be able to track the lion down overnight and keep an eye on him while the ground teams are resting, we will have a much better idea of where to continue our search, hopefully from much closer, in the morning… This will give us an advantage over the lion which we haven’t had to-date,” said Karoo Park manager, Nico van der Walt.
The Karoo National Park rangers have been assisted by rangers from other national parks like Addo Elephant Park, Camdeboo National Park and Mountain Zebra National Park.
On Friday, the latest spoor was found 110km in a north-westerly direction outside of the park.
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On the February 15, a lion sighting was reported just outside the Karoo National park. Park rangers searched for three days before they found the first fresh spoor on a farm which neighbours the park. The spoor was found about 7km from the north easterly boundary of the park.
The next day, the team found the carcass of an eland on another farm. Van der Walt said this made them optimistic that they would soon find the lion. He said a lion with a full belly will sleep for some time, which means they can catch up to him. They followed the spoor until they were almost 12km from the park’s boundary.
On the 6th day, they followed the spoor until it was lost in rocky terrain. Not even a 4×4 could manage the gorge, so a helicopter was brought in, with no success.
Examples of the terrain the rangers tracked the escaped lion in. Picture: SANParks
At that stage of the search, Van der Walt said they were worried that the lion has not yet been found after 6 days. “The tracking team remain resolute that the lion will be successfully returned back to the park,” he said.
The next day, they continued the search where they left off and the lion was spotted for the first time since his escape. The helicopter searched from the air while the ground team swept the thick bush.
Feature image: Juanma Clemente-Alloz
