Durban - Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is selling lions for the first time at a game auction on Monday, partly to reduce the burgeoning population of the king of the beasts in the remote Tembe Elephant Park near Mozambique.
Two lions and two lionesses were introduced 11 years ago into the 30 000 hectare Tembe reserve.
The lions have multiplied and there are now nearly 50 of the animals.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife eco-logist Craig Mulqueeny said park managers wanted to reduce the adult population by at least half to ensure that lion numbers did not exceed the ecological carrying capacity of the park.
Over the next few months, a number of the lions would be captured.
Five are to be sold at an auction in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park on Monday.
Several more lions are to be donated to or swopped with other wildlife reserves.
Catharine Hanekom, Ezemvelo’s ecologist for the Umkhanyakude district, said although the Tembe lions were genetically healthy, the time had arrived to bring in new blood to avert problems with inbreeding.
She hopes Ezemvelo will be able to source a coalition of two or three new males from SANParks or a private reserve to ensure an infusion of new genes from next year.
Hanekom said it was necessary to remove most of the male sub-adults and cubs as new male arrivals killed younger lions when they took over a pride of females.
Park conservation manager Richard Penn Sawers said the Tembe lions, which were sourced from the Madikwe and Pilanesberg reserves, were descended from prides in Namibia’s Etosha National Park.
“They are lovely, big healthy lions, with a slightly lighter fur colour.”
Hanekom said the Tembe lions also tended to develop large black manes once they became dominant.
Ezemvelo spokesperson Musa Mntambo said the five lions to be auctioned this afternoon at the Centenary Game Capture Centre would be sold along with two dozen white rhinos, 20 buffalo and more than 50 nyala antelope.
Officials expect minimum bids of R10 000 for each lion, although the final auction price is expected to be much higher. - The Mercury