– Abused and poisoned –
In a forest area some 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of Addis Ababa, the Born Free Foundation has taken in seven of the lions, all captured by villagers or soldiers.
Many have suffered physical abuse – a far cry from how Haile Selassie used to keep them as palace pets – and unlike other wild animals seized from traffickers, such as cheetahs and monkeys, the lions cannot be released back into the wild.
Their remaining habitat is very small and the risk of conflict with humans too great.
One young male, Kebri – a powerful cat with a dark brown mane just beginning to appear – is just such a victim of growing conflict with farmers.
“His mother killed some livestock here and as a result the local village poisoned her,” said Derek Bretts, who looks after the animals at the centre.
“They fed her meat that had been laced with poison and she ended up dying,” he said. “We got a call saying that there was a young cub, so we went and took him.”
While Ethiopia has a dozen national parks where wild animals can find safe havens, pressures on the lions continue to grow.
“Wildlife preservation is not given priority in Ethiopia. Not all protected areas in Ethiopia are actually well protected,” said Fikirte Gebresenbet, an Ethiopian lion expert from Oklahoma State University in the United States.
“People reside in the park for half the year, or pastoralists come to the park every now and then to graze their cattle. And it results in conflict with the lions,” she said.
The future of the lions of Ethiopia may lie in the development of tourism, but it is an industry still in its infancy.
“If we take lessons from Kenya and Tanzania, the future could be brighter,” Fikirte said. “We have to convince the government that people would pay to see lions in well-protected areas.”
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