New Vision (Kampala)

25 July 2007
Gerald Tenywa And John Thawite

THE number of lions, leopards and hyenas has gone down drastically since the Basongora herdsmen entered Queen Elizabeth National Park in March 2006.

"Over 80% of the hyenas have been killed and all leopards along the Nyamusagani river have been poisoned," said Dr. Ludwig Siefert, a veterinarian and lecturer at Makerere University.

"We have also lost at least 11 lions in the last 15 months."

Experts reckon that the lion population decreased from 94 in 1999 to 39 today. The damage done in the last 15 months will take 20 years to reverse, they estimate.

Last weekend alone, Siefert's team, which monitors the wild animals in the park, found three carcasses of hyenas in the area taken over by the Basongora.

An autopsy established that they had been poisoned with furadan, an agro-chemical. The carcasses were bleeding through the nose and the mouth.

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