Despite her proud bearing, the young lioness in her prime must be sterilized. This may seem paradoxical in the case of a species classified as vulnerable, but in this South African private reserve where there are only three related males, an attempt should be made to avoid any risk of consanguinity.
Small reserves actively contribute to the conservation of wild species. The lion population has decreased by 43% in the course of two decades, to the point of being considered in danger of extinction.
Over 20,000 listed specimens in the world, 700 are found in South Africa in reserves such as Rietspruit, near the famous Kruger Park, and many others in the wild.
The management of this wealth, to avoid overpopulation and matings that would lead to the degradation of the species, is a complex science that sometimes must be handled with a scalpel.
Peter Rogers points his dart gun in the direction of four young females, elegantly lying next to their mother in the shade of a tree, all with their bellies swollen by the meat of a zebra that they devoured at night.
Aim at your target and pull the trigger. A red-tipped syringe is thrust into the neck of one of them. Surprised, she growls and spreads completely.
“It’s huge!” Says the vet almost breathlessly, who carries the lioness satiated by the zebra but asleep by tranquilizers, to the trunk of the 4×4 where he has his equipment. It weighs 140 kg.
Direct to the operating room. The vehicle races along the highway, kicking up clouds of red dust, under the impassive gaze of giraffes that eat leaves in the treetops.
In the rear, the lioness is lying, blindfolded, and perfused.
Removing your ovaries takes about four hours, longer than usual. An “invasive” surgery, complicated on a full stomach, acknowledges Rogers, a wildlife specialist.
The female wakes up suddenly, vomiting from the anesthesia. His mother, on the other hand, is treated with contraceptives, but another older lioness has already undergone the same surgical operation.
Antelopes galore
In the middle of nature or in a large reserve, natural selection would do its job and avoid this type of manipulation.
Only the strongest specimens manage to survive the territorial wars between lion clans and the rivalry for food with other predators. Some cubs would be eaten in seconds without their mother’s attention.
However, Rietspruit’s nine lions have nothing to worry about: antelopes abound in the 5,500-hectare park and there are very few hyenas, leopards or cheetahs that could pose a serious threat.
Without the control of the human being, in such a serene setting, the beasts would multiply rapidly and without a doubt they would devour the entire reserve and then undertake it with the livestock of the neighboring farms.
The only three males are also inseparable brothers who take turns with the females voluntarily and without jealousy between them. Suddenly, “the most serious problem is genetic diversity,” Kevin Leo-Smith, director of the reserve, explains to AFP.
But as a whole, “the small reserves have increased the lion population probably by 50% in the last thirty years.”
The South African Lion Management Forum (LiMF), created in 2010, monitors the population of these big cats in 59 reserves. Its objective is to imitate natural processes, controlling reproduction and exchanging males.
This rigorous control has allowed the population to grow at a sustained rate of 2% per year.
Without it, “the population would increase by 22% per year,” says LiMF president Sam Ferriera. “Said like that it sounds great, but the problem is that we don’t have the space for it in South Africa,” he continues.
The country has 3,500 lions, that is, 17% of the world total, and is even experiencing a growth in this population.
In a few years, the male Rietspruit lions will be replaced by younger ones. And some females will no longer receive contraception.
