Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
LAST week, Zimbabweans and other people across the globe were united in shock and outrage when images of three dead lions suddenly flooded their social media timelines.
Dead lions are always a cause for concern, but this trio of big cats seemed to have met their demise in a particularly painful way. The lions had been beheaded and their paws were also missing.
In addition, the three big cats were also riddled with bullets, as if they had faced a firing squad in the wild before they breathed their last.
Unsurprisingly, images of the trio of lions elicited outrage far and wide.
If a lion is the king of the jungle, its head, or even its mane, is its crown. Seeing them lifeless, headless, and without their paws as they lay on the forest floor felt like a dagger driven into the hearts of those who care for these fearsome beasts.
Lions are supposed to be invincible, the proverbial kings of the jungle that roam the veld and forests, eating and killing what they fancy. All creatures, big and small are meant to be on the menu, providing an endless buffet for their undying appetite.
ZimparksThey are not supposed to be the prey, mercilessly killed, beheaded and dumped. Following the discovery of the three lions, speculation was inevitable.
While there were many theories, the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority (Zimparks) made it clear that they suspected that the country was now dealing with a new problem. While all eyes are on the rhino and its protection, Hwange National Park might have witnessed its first instance of lion poaching within a national park.
“The poachers shot them with a heavy-calibre rifle and we suspect the poaching was linked to rituals because of the manner it was done,” said Zimparks spokesman Tinashe Farawo.
The suggestion that the trio of lions were possibly killed for ritualistic purposes, brings to life a dark underworld that relies on the unholy alliance between the dark arts of traditional medicine and poaching.
According to a 2022 report by Africa Geographic, there has been a 75 percent decline in Africa’s predators in the last five decades while the wildcat conservation organisation Panthera recently reported that lion populations have plummeted 43 percent in the last 21 years.
According to the Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global wild African lion population has fallen to 23 000, down from around 200 000 at the beginning of the last century.
Ironically, this decline can be linked to the decreasing number of tigers, another big cat that has become endangered or even extinct in some parts of the world. According to the Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF), tiger teeth, bones, and claws have always been in high demand, as they are used in traditional African and Asian medicines. They’re also used in a variety of luxury products, including bone wine and jewellery.
As tigers become scarcer, however, the poaching of lions becomes more popular with lion teeth, claws and bones now being sold as tiger products. The motivation to kill lions is now greater than ever.
Lions, or certain parts of their bodies, have been used by traditional healers for centuries for various rituals including protecting one from evil spirits, power and healing.
While the unsanctioned killing of lions is relatively rare in Zimbabwe, in other parts of the continent, their uses for medicinal and ritualistic purposes are fairly common.
A report by the Born Free Foundation found that lion fat in particular was fair game for traditional healers, who found various uses for it.
“Interviews with villagers revealed a startling breadth of use: lion fat used to treat back and joint pain; lion skin and lungs used to treat whooping cough; lion veins used to treat erectile dysfunction; lion noses used to treat stomach problems; and lion livers used to treat headaches.
“Lion fat was the most frequently used body part mentioned. An extraordinary 62 percent of respondents described using lion fat in medicine.
The second most prevalent body part mentioned was skin (34 percent). Half of those surveyed described wearing layas (a type of talisman worn around the neck or waist) to ward off the spiritual attack and in some cases offer spiritual empowerment.
Skin was also reported to have healing powers with 20 percent of the respondents describing its use to cure whooping cough by soaking the skin in water and drinking the water,” the report stated.
In Besmeet, a documentary aired on DSTV’s KykNET, a traditional healer in Johannesburg gave an insight into the two big muti-markets in the City of Gold, where one can find anything from a lion nail to a hippopotamus tooth, a hyena skull, and even a whale tooth.
In South Africa’s markets, a lion tooth or nail will set one back about R1 500 while a lion skin can cost anything between R30 000 to R40 000.
Focusing on the lion, the traditional healer explained that lion fat is rubbed around people’s ankles to protect them from evil spirits. The same practice is said to be common in Zimbabwe.
Other parts of the lion that are used for traditional medicine include the teeth, claws, and skin — and all these parts have different “healing powers” and are used for various traditions in varying cultures.
Acknowledging the prevalence of some of these practices in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers’ Association (Zinatha) director-general George Kandiero said there were legal means of acquiring some of these animal body parts.
“The fact that sheep fat can easily be bought from Mbare is because that is a domestic animal. However, it is not easy for traditional healers to get fat from other animals like lions, elephants, leopards or even pythons because these species are protected by the Parks and Wildlife Authority. One needs to get a letter from Zinatha to buy that kind of fat.
It is possible to get it especially when Parks and Wildlife do culling of animals. That is when traditional healers get python, lion, or any other animal skins,” he said.
The way that the animals are killed by the poachers is usually gruesome.
While the killing during the week might have appeared gruesome to some, to others who are in tune with the brutal underworld of poaching, the trio might be said to have been granted a merciful death.
One of the most common ways poachers kill lions is by leaving a poisoned buck or donkey in the veld. After eating the poisoned meat the lion suffers for hours, vomiting and walking around in agony.
Some of the poachers, who usually operate in South Africa, ride in on donkeys from Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Using this method, they cannot be tracked by rangers before killing the donkey and then they throw poison over its carcass to attract a lion.
While the death of Cecil the Lion in 2015 brought attention to the problems associated with trophy hunting, the killing of the three lions last week might also draw the nation towards a problem that has been lurking in the shadows for too long.
This post was originally published on here
