- Joined
- Mar 10, 2012
- Messages
- 1,895
- Points
- 0
By Lucy Laing: 15:56 GMT, 21 May 2012 The Mail
Agonising death of the King of the Jungle: Young lion doomed to starve after poacher's snare got caught so tightly
round his neck he couldn't eat
It is a heartrending sight. Wire snare caught so tightly around his neck he cannot eat, this young male lion is doomed
to die a slow and agonising death.
Within a matter of days he will be lying in the African bush gasping his last breath.
Nor is he alone in his grim fate. The sight is increasingly common in parts of the continent when a growing number of lions
have fallen victim to poaching.
Some wander by mistake into snares that are meant for other animals such as antelope which are hunted by poachers for
bushmeat.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=frm00001-13.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/frm00001-13.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Others, whoever, are being deliberately poached for their body parts.
There is now a growing demand for lion claws and bones in parts of the Far East for use in traditional medicines.
The huge animals are hunted more and more as a substitute for tigers, whose body parts have traditionally been used for
the Chinese medicine market.
Tigers are now so scarce in the wild that poachers have turned to a another target.
A sharp increase in the lion bone trade suggests that these are being swapped for tiger bones. Pelts and claws are also being used.
A source said: 'Only a few weeks ago we saw this lion with a snare around its neck in Mikumi National Park in Tanzania.
'The park rangers tried to track it with the intention of trying to remove the snare from around its neck, but by the time they arrived
at the location, the lion had disappeared into the bush.
'It wouldn’t have survived for many more days. Already the wound was gaping, open to infection and covered in flies.
'And it was so tight around its neck that it would have found it impossible to eat. It would have either died from infection or starvation.'
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=frm00002-12.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/frm00002-12.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Agonising death of the King of the Jungle: Young lion doomed to starve after poacher's snare got caught so tightly
round his neck he couldn't eat
It is a heartrending sight. Wire snare caught so tightly around his neck he cannot eat, this young male lion is doomed
to die a slow and agonising death.
Within a matter of days he will be lying in the African bush gasping his last breath.
Nor is he alone in his grim fate. The sight is increasingly common in parts of the continent when a growing number of lions
have fallen victim to poaching.
Some wander by mistake into snares that are meant for other animals such as antelope which are hunted by poachers for
bushmeat.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=frm00001-13.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/frm00001-13.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Others, whoever, are being deliberately poached for their body parts.
There is now a growing demand for lion claws and bones in parts of the Far East for use in traditional medicines.
The huge animals are hunted more and more as a substitute for tigers, whose body parts have traditionally been used for
the Chinese medicine market.
Tigers are now so scarce in the wild that poachers have turned to a another target.
A sharp increase in the lion bone trade suggests that these are being swapped for tiger bones. Pelts and claws are also being used.
A source said: 'Only a few weeks ago we saw this lion with a snare around its neck in Mikumi National Park in Tanzania.
'The park rangers tried to track it with the intention of trying to remove the snare from around its neck, but by the time they arrived
at the location, the lion had disappeared into the bush.
'It wouldn’t have survived for many more days. Already the wound was gaping, open to infection and covered in flies.
'And it was so tight around its neck that it would have found it impossible to eat. It would have either died from infection or starvation.'
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=frm00002-12.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/frm00002-12.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
