Sylvester the lion relaxes at home

BACK HOME: Sylvester the Karoo lion relaxes in a boma in the Karoo National Park after being recaptured earlier this week.Picture: BENNIE GROBLER/SANPARKS Reporter Jan Cronje

BACK HOME: Sylvester the Karoo lion relaxes in a boma in the Karoo National Park after being recaptured earlier this week.Picture: BENNIE GROBLER/SANPARKS Reporter Jan Cronje

Published Jul 5, 2015

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Cape Town - Sylvester the lion is doing well back home in the Karoo National Park after being captured on Monday, after his four-week long flight from the game reserve outside Beaufort West.

SANParks spokesman Rey Thakhuli said the three-year-old lion was healthy, and was being kept in an enclosed boma where he could be supervised by park staff.

After leading a team of expert trackers on a 300km merry dance through sheep farms to the west of the park over 25 days, the big cat was darted and transported back to the park this week.

While he reacclimatises to his private boma, park officials have to decide how and where to release him back into the wild. If he is put back into the area of the park where his old pride resides, he may again be chased away, said Thakhuli.

Park officials believe he originally made his bid for freedom after being chased away from his pride by older lions.

Thakhuli said park officials would consider releasing him into an area far from his old pride.

This may lessen the likelihood of him again trying to abscond from the park to snack on sheep.

He may even be relocated to a new home.

To keep track of him, he has been fitted with a radio collar.

For the “next little while”, however, he will remain in the boma, said Thakhuli.

Sylvester’s escape came to an end on Monday, when he was darted by a SANParks vet in a helicopter above the Nuweveld Mountains.

His capture read something like a movie script:

“(The lion) had to be loaded into a sling underneath the chopper while lying immobilised on the mountain side.

“This was the most dangerous part of the operation as the helicopter blades were not more than two metres from the mountain edge with the lion lying three meters from a high cliff,” SANParks said.

Thakhuli paid special thanks to expert trackers from Botswana, who helped to track the lion for free after hearing of his escape.

These and other trackers have all returned home.

Weekend Argus

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