MBOMBELA – Good news for Sylvester, the lion which escaped from the Karoo National Park.SANParks has rethought its plans to kill the escapee lion, although the organisation keeps some options open by saying no decision can be taken until he is safely captured.
In a news release SANParks reassured members of the public that measures are in place to safely capture the lion that escaped earlier this week.
The organisation apologised for the statement released prematurely on Tuesday, March 29 and said it was incorrect and did not accurately reflect its position.
SANParks emphasised that it would like to make it known it was dealing with a dangerous and ever-changing situation.
Its decisions related to the capture of the lion would be informed by the situation at the moment of capture.
SANParks reiterated that the organisation was considering a number of measures to deal with Sylvester once it was captured in line with the norms and standards for the management of damage-causing animals.
The organisation confirmed that due to the history of Sylvester he is now considered a damage-causing animal.
SANParks is considering bringing him back to the park and looking at improving on fencing and other preventative measures, translocating him to another national park, donating him to another state-owned conservation entity, donating him to a private conservation entity but also still keeping the option open of euthanising him if the damage caused is massive and may include danger to people and/or loss of human life, and massive loss of assets.
“In considering these measures to deal with damage-causing animals we should be aware of the reality that such an animal can pose a very real danger to human life. Our actions in this regard are in line with international norms and standards,” a spokesman for SANParks added.
SANParks acknowledged that there were a number of key challenges facing the organisation at this stage which were hampering the search for Sylvester. The first was that due to the difficult terrain and extremely windy conditions on the ground, an aerial search had to be abandoned yesterday. Today the aerial search could not be conducted due to other pressing commitments for the aircraft.
Secondly, though the team of rangers sent out to search for Sylvester are experienced in tracking animals in the bush the situation on the ground continued to pose a real danger of a possible ambush by the lion.
Despite all these challenges the organisation wants to reassure the public that the decision to be taken by the management of SANParks on the future of Sylvester will be responsible, well thought out and in line with applicable practices, policies and legislation.
A 14-person tracking team, bolstered by aerial support has been searching for Sylvester in the Beaufort West area since Monday when the escape was discovered.
According to SANParks, during his previous escape the lion caused significant damage, sparking a three-week search costing R800 000. The lion killed 28 sheep, a Nguni cow and a kudu, and according to reports received by SANParks, a cow on a privately owned farm has already been killed this time.
