LIONS SHORT OF FOOD.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 250, 4 August 1941, Page 8

LIONS SHORT OF FOOD.

HUNGRY AND. DANGEROUS. IN THE KRUGER NATIONAL PARK v . JOHANNESBURG, April 29. Owing' to unfavourable food conditions for game during the past two or three years, herds of animals have spread themselves far afield, with the result that the lions have lately been hard put to it to sustain themselves, says the annual’ report of the National Parks Board, dealing with the Kruger National Park. At Pretorius Kop the ranger believes that some disease akin to rickets has been affecting the cubs, and few, if any, have survived this year. ‘The unfavourable conditions which arose for the lions,” adds the repoit, “naturally made them hungry and therefore dangerous, a state of things reflected in the growing number of casualties among natives in the paik. At Letaka a native camp assistant was killed .During the night, he Jolt his hut and was seized by two lions, about 20 yards away. They dragged him a little distance into the bush and ate him. Both lions wore subsequently killed by a ranger. The lioness of tho pair was normal; hut tho male was stunted, badly deformed and very emaciated. The ranger performed this duty at great personal risk. Owing to the thick bush, he had to approach the lions on foot and fire through a screen of undergrowth at a distance of about 30 yards, Tlte lion was killed by the first shot; but it took three shots to kill the noness.

The report refers to a/popular fallacy that herds of game arc driven all over, and even out of, a given piece of country by pursuing lions. Nothing, it states, could he further from the truth. The sole condition which serves to shift game on masse from their normal feeding grounds is the lack of food and water. Not even the efforts of the human predator, so much more devastating and alarming than those of any carnivorous lower animal, suffice to move game more than a few miles one way or the other* provided the pasture remains .sufficient.