Vuvuzela used as the main weapon to chase marauding lions

UNBELIEVABLE as it may sound, the vuvuzela has manoeuvred out of soccer stadia and is now used as the main weapon to chase marauding predators away from human settlements.

For all the terrifying strength possessed by a lion which makes it the king of the jungle, the big cat is scared to the bone by the sound of a vuvuzela, says a senior researcher at Hwange National Park, Brent Stapelkamp.

Researchers have established the Long Shields Lion Guardians, run by the University of Oxford, which was also studying the slain Cecil at the game park.

Stapelkamp said the vuvuzela, coupled with a horn, fire crackers and of course a GPS satellite device has reduced by 50 percent, the killing of cattle by lions.

He said Long Shields Lion Guardians has employed nine villagers - five from Tsholotsho and four from Mabale who have been trained and capacitated to keep the king of the jungle away from communities as animal-human conflicts escalate.

The two areas are regarded as lion hotspots because of their proximity to the game park.

"We're running a mitigatory project on human lion conflict. We've employed locals and taught them how to track lions, chase them away and protect livestock," he told The Chronicle.

Stapelkamp said the project is based on the GPS collar satellite which shows where a collared lion is at any particular moment.

He said the GPS spots a lion as it goes towards communities, and the nine workers are alerted to "deal with it."

"This is a model borrowed from Kenya where it has been applied for a number of years. The aim is to reduce loss of livestock to lions.

"About three years ago more than 200 cattle were being killed by lions while about 13 lions would also be killed by people annually. In three years we're seeing results of the project and we've witnessed a 50 percent reduction in the number of livestock killed by lions," added Stapelkamp.

He said they work hand in hand with traditional leaders who second trusted men to work in the programme.

The model operates in such a way that a GPS tracking device spots a lion each time it moves towards villages. Most lions have collars for tracking, he said.

"Once a lion is spotted on satellite going towards people, we alert the guardians who then inform the community that a lion has been spotted around. They alert school children and start moving towards the direction the lion has been spotted to look for it.

"Once they are within reach of it, they light fire crackers and make noise through the vuvuzela, horn and other simple instruments. The lions get scared and run away and those that are chased in this way will not come back again. The idea is to minimise animal-human conflict," he said.

The project is a huge relief to communities in Matabeleland North Province especially those near game parks who have expressed concern about loss of livestock to wild animals.

Two years ago a pupil was mauled by a lion while going to school in Dete, resulting in increased animal-human conflict where also illegal hunting by use of snares or dogs to kill problem animals has become widespread.

Stapelkamp said the killing of cattle by wild animals is a matter of concern to communities.

He added that they had introduced a new model of herding cattle whereby the village herd is gathered together and for grazing while an artificial wall made of PVC canvas is erected in the direction where wild animals come from.

He said about 500 head of cattle can been accommodated in the make shift paddocks at any given time and this had reduced cases of animals killed by wild animals because the predators can't cross the wall.

"We also have a mobile grazing project where a large herd is grazed collectively. This means less manpower and villagers have benefited with no attack recorded so far.

"Long Shields Lions Guardians provides villagers with the material to make the PVC walls with funding from international donors. We work for Oxford University and obviously we've to attract donors. For now there is a partner that's funding the programmes together with several other partners," said Stapelkamp.