Kenyan Park Sees The Return of Big cats

The East African nation of Kenya has many beautiful sites to see, from its idyllic coast to the wonders of its Mara Game reserve in the South West of the country, but probably one of its most fascinating locations is the Nairobi National Park where lions for a long time roamed in close proximity to the capital city providing an interesting contrast of the totally wild and cosmopolitan city in one portrait. The number of lions and other big cats had, however, by 2003 seen a sharp decline, largely because of being hunted down by Pastrolists with whom they share the Park. In 2003 alone, 11 lions were killed. This had be due to the fact that the big cats had been killing livestock and their Pastoral owners had not been compensated through a now terminated Lion Endowment Fund which had existed for this purpose. Thankfully, this crisis spurred some of the friends of the park into action to save the situation; Since 2004, African Heritage Day has been held, hosted by a Mr. Alan Donovan, co-founder of African Heritage, an African Art House, to raise money to encourage migration into and keep Big Cats at the park. The effort has received support from a wide array of people and organizations and now the park is beginning to see the return of lions and other Big Cats returning the park to its status as a most fascinating of sites.


http://allafrica.com/stories/200809220321.html