Escaped lions safely returned to Nairobi national park

Kenya Wildlife Service sent in rangers after lions were seen roaming in residential area in middle of night

Reuters in Nairobi

Friday 19 February 2016 11.06 GMT

Last modified on Friday 19 February 201622.01 GMT

Several lions which strayed from the Nairobi national park, on the edge of Kenya’s capital, and wandered into a residential area, have returned, an official has said.

Kenya’s Standard newspaper said the lions were spotted roaming the Langata area in the middle of the night, prompting the Kenya Wildlife Service to send in rangers.

“Lioness and cub safely back into the park,” said Paul Udoto, a spokesman for the wildlife service. “Two others suspected to have sneaked back before dawn.”

Wildlife pushed back as city encroaches on Nairobi national park

The wildlife service said its team had been dispatched to the residential area at about 3am local time and had urged members of the public not to try to capture the lions on their own.

It is not the first time lions have escaped the park, a sprawling sanctuary for giraffes, zebras and other wild animals. Previous escapes have brought rush-hour traffic to a standstill, forcing bewildered commuters to dodge playful lions.

Kenya’s oldest national park is under pressure from the rapid growth of the capital over the last decade. Poachers have also taken their toll on the animal population, whose numbers have fallen dramatically.

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Wildlife pushed back as city encroaches on Nairobi national park

Audrey Garric

Sunday 8 March 2015 09.59 GMT

The air is heavy with pollution, making the sun feel even hotter. Patricia Heather-Hayes, aka Trish, is watching a lioness through her binoculars as it dozes under an acacia tree in Nairobi national park. A dynamic woman in her sixties, she knows all the big cats by name: “That one’s Athi. She has three cubs.” Trish is also keeping an eye on some giraffes, antelopes and zebras, a little farther away, as they move across the savannah. The skyscrapers on the horizon make an unusual backdrop. But what she also notices, each time she tours the park, are the plastic bags, empty bottles and other forms of food packaging that have caught in the bushes or litter the side of the tracks.

This protected nature reserve, which extends over 117 sq km, is the only one in the world to be home to wild animals while being part of a capital city. But Nairobi is one of the fastest-growing metropolises in Africa, increasingly endangering the park in its midst.

“We find more and more waste, carried by the wind from homes nearby or dropped by visitors,” says this lawyer, who works for a local firm. “The other day I saw a snake die. It was trapped in a soda can and couldn’t get out.” Once a month she leads a big clean-up operation with other members of the Friends of Nairobi National Park (Fonnap), of which she is deputy-head. Armed with long barbecue tongs – to avoid getting out of the Jeep – Heather-Hayes deftly manoeuvres, avoiding the ruts but picking up all the rubbish. That day she filled five 50-litre bin liners.

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