Pretoria - Sylvester the lion is back in the Karoo National Park’s boma and doing well, the SA National Parks (SANParks) said on Saturday.
The three-year-old male escaped from the park last weekend.
“He was recaptured in the Nuweveld Mountains about 20km from the park on 31 March 2016,” SANParks said in a statement.
It took eight rangers nearly two hours to carry him down the mountain in treacherous terrain to an awaiting vehicle, followed by another two hours drive back to the park. The lion naturally woke up from its sedated state from being darted not long after arriving back in the boma.
“The lion is extremely skittish, as expected, with park management declaring the entire area around the boma off limits to all non-essential staff, guests, and the media alike.”
SANParks had been inundated with requests from journalists wanting to photograph and/or film the lion since his return. However, for his own safety, minimal human contact would be made, as the fear existed that he may harm himself by running into the boma’s electric fencing, as he may still believe he was being chased.
The lion had already eaten half the gemsbok given to him when he arrived at the boma. There was enough water and shade in the enclosure and the only time that he would be slightly disturbed was when he was fed every few days, depending on the size of the animal fed to him.
“A final decision on the lion’s future will be made once authorities are in agreement that he has adequately settled down and once they have thoroughly explored all the options available to them. No set time frame is available for this.
“After his last escape [last year] he spent more than five months in the same holding boma before he was deemed ready to be released into the 93 000 hectare park itself.”
SANParks CEO Fundisile Mketeni said in the statement: “We remain committed to our conservation mandate and can give the assurance that whatever decision is taken will be in the best interests of the animal and conservation.”
The lion was darted from the air in difficult terrain high up in the mountains at about midday on Thursday.
Mketeni commended the park management and the entire tracking team for a job well done under tremendous strain and bad weather conditions.
“Wherever we may take the lion, we will ensure that he is fully integrated in order to lessen the chances of a re-occurrence of the recent incident. A thorough analysis of the translocation site will be conducted,” he said.
African News Agency