South Africa’s Easter holiday season begins today with Good Friday and will continue through the end of the month. With so many tourists in Marloth Park, we will see fewer animals in our garden. As we’ve mentioned many times, when the park is packed with tourists, the wildlife scatters to their holiday homes for not-so-good treats.
Hopefully, animals will visit us in the garden during the remainder of the month, allowing us to continue enjoying activities with Lisa for the next 12 days, until she begins her return journey to the US.
Here is an article we came across today from The Citizen newspaper.
Search for Kruger National Park lions continuing into Easter weekend.
The search for escaped lions near the Kruger National Park is continuing into the Easter weekend.
Multiple communities bordering the park have reported possible lion sightings after four of the predators were believed to have escaped the park.
Areas near Bushbuckridge and Hazyview have reported lion sightings, and officials say they will continue searching until the park confirms their return.
Dogs are called to assist.
Two lions were initially reported to be on the loose on Sunday, with that number rising to four by Wednesday.
A resident near Belfast sent a grainy snapshot of a lion on a tar road to the Lowvelder on Sunday, prompting the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) to begin a search.
As of Thursday, MTPA was still searching and had brought in canine reinforcements to assist.
“Our team is still on the ground searching for these lions. Today we are searching with dogs. We are confident that we will find the lions if they are still outside the park,” MTPA spokesperson Simphiwe Shungube told The Citizen.
“We advise the community to avoid any confrontation with the lions and to report sightings to the authorities,” he added.
Loss of habitat is a concern.
Loss of habitat and disease are listed as one of the biggest threats to the African lion population, with African Impact warning the animals could go extinct by 2050.
“Lions now occupy less than 92% of the land they once did. This loss of habitat has severe consequences. Lions no longer have access to the vast stretches of savanna grasslands they need to find food, viable mating partners, and thrive as a pride,” African Impact states.
This has resulted in increased interaction between lions and communities, while a range of illnesses has affected the lion population.
“The spread of feline herpes virus and feline immunodeficiency virus has devastated huge populations due to the low pathogenicity of these diseases,” it said.
May those who observe the Easter Holiday have a blessed Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, April 18, 2015:
