Cape Town – A team from South African National Parks (SANParks) has successfully darted the lion which escaped from the Karoo National Park outside Beaufort West recently.
In a statement issued on Thursday, SANParks said a veterinarian was at the scene with the re-captured lion, dubbed Sylvester
“The lion was darted from the air in difficult terrain high up in the mountains and will need to be transported in a stretcher, on foot, for three kilometres to the nearest awaiting vehicle,” SANParks said.
Read: SANParks rethinks plan to put down Sylvester
SANParks CEO Fundisile Mketeni commended Park Management and the tracking team for “a job well done under tremendous strain and weather conditions”.
Mketeni also thanked members of the public for their “concern, support and patience as the team worked tirelessly to recapture the lion”.
“As an organisation we remain committed to our conservation mandate and assure the public that the decision going forward will be in the best interest of the animal and conservation.”
SANParks said the lion would be kept in the park in a boma until a final decision was reached on its future. This was the second time the lion had escaped from the park.
On Wednesday SANParks was forced to issue a statement in which it clarified an earlier statement that the lion would be euthanised upon recapture.
A spokesman for the conservation authority on Tuesday said it would put down the three-year-old male as he had become a “problem animal”, but in a statement on Wednesday the organisation said euthanising Sylvester was only one of several option being mulled. It added that there had been a public outcry over plans to put the lion down.
“A statement was released prematurely on Tuesday, 29 March 2016, and SANParks apologises to the public for the incorrect statement, which did not accurately reflect the organisation’s position,” it said on Wednesday.
“However, SANParks would like to make it known to the public that we are dealing with a dangerous and ever changing situation and, as such, decisions related to the capture of the lion will be informed by the situation at the moment of capture. SANParks wishes to reiterate that the organisation is considering a number of measures to deal with the lion once it is captured, in line with the Norms and Standards for the Management of Damage-Causing Animals.”
Sylvester killed 30 animals – 28 sheep, a cow and a kudu – last year and sparked a costly three-week search when he escaped from the Karoo National Park in June. It appeared that this time he got out by crawling under the electric fence.
On Tuesday, SANParks sent a 14-man tracking team after the lion after he escaped again, presumably by crawling under an electric fence, and headed for the mountains near Beaufort West. Sylvester was fitted with an electronic tracking collar after his first escape.
SANParks confirmed that it had killed a cow on a private farm since escaping this time around.
African News Agency
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