A security breach in Uganda’s second largest national park the Queen Elizabeth has left at least 6 rare tree climbing lions dead and the Conservation Area Chief Warden, Mr. Pontiuos Ezuma has said that investigations are underway to establish the protected animals cause of death and those responsible.
Ezuma said that the suspected lion killers had entered the protected area unnoticed and targeted the climbing lions.
A security team has been dispatched in Kihihi Sub County to sensitize the communities living near the park to appreciate the existence of wildlife in their neighbhood. Kanungu Deputy RDC Gad Ahimbisibwe Rugaju has since visited the scene where the 6 lions were allegedly poisoned in the Ishasha Sector of the Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Rugaju condemned the suspected poachers who poisoned the lions and said that the intelligence teams will follow them and get them wherever they may be hiding.
Preliminary findings by a team of veterinary doctors from Uganda Wildlife Authority led by Dr Patrick Atimnedi and the investigative team from the Kanungu District have confirmed that all the 6 lions found dead were poisoned and the 10 volutures that fed their dead bodies died on the spot.
Dr Patrick Atimnedi said they suspect a serious poison substance was used to kill the endangered climbing lions all which were all female.
