SANParks spokesperson Ike Phalala posted a tweet on Thursday 12 March informing the public over an unfortunate incident within the Kruger National Park. A lion got into the living quarters of the Berg en Dal Rest Camp.
A ranger was called and tried to coax the lion out, but the lion did not respond and the difficult decision to kill the lion was taken in order to protect families within the camp.
This comes less than a year since a leopard entered staff living quarters in the Kruger National Park in June 2019 and killed the 2-year-old son of one of the staff members.
In December 2019 a leopard got into the Berg en Dal camp, however, rangers managed to dart it and relocate the animal.
Early this morning a lion entered the Berg n Dal living quarters. The Ranger was called to the scene and tried to coax the animal out of the area with no success. Regrettably the animal had to be destroyed because of the threat to human life. Contact: Ike Phaahla: 013 735 4363
ā Kruger National Park (@SANParksKNP) March 12, 2020
As can be expected, a number of people reacted emotionally deriding the Park on Twitter for not darting the lion. However, the outcry and certainly the grief would have been far worse if the Park ranger had hesitated and the lion had killed a person.
Not everyone sided with the lion and one person responded by saying ‘Never easy making tough decisions… Iām sure it was the last resort.’
Never easy making tough decisions… Iām sure it was the last resort.
ā Russel Alexander (@RusselAlexande6) March 12, 2020
A number of people on Kruger National Park’s Facebook group and on Twitter confirmed that they had heard shots during the night.
We are currently at Berg en De and heard a couple of shots. Suspected it was poachers and never thought it was on our Camp . Sad š
ā Embee (@MarkBamber11) March 12, 2020
SANParks also stated that it would be conducting a post mortem today ‘as the lion was not in a good condition’.
Image (generic): Florian Berger
