Kenya, Olympic Games as an alternative to protecting lions

According to the director of the NGO Big Life Foundation, Benson Leyian, these competitions arose at the initiative of the elders of the villages near the perimeter of Amboseli National Park, as an alternative to the ritual killing of these cats and thus contributing to their lives. protection.

“Our elders were proud that they killed lions to show their strength. But now there are more and more human beings, and there is a danger that this culture will wipe them out, which we cannot allow.”

This year’s event was held in the town of Kimana on the outskirts of the national park, and 160 youths (120 men and 40 women) took part in events that included the javelin throw, high jump and sprint.

The Maasai community is one of more than 40 existing in this African country, and the richest in ethnic diversity in this eastern region, and for more than 500 years they have celebrated a ritual of transition from adolescence to adulthood consisting of lion hunting; The practice of losing weight in their culture in front of laws that protect animals in danger of extinction,

Between 1993 and 2014, the population of this species decreased by 43 percent, mainly due to the loss of their habitat and conflicts between animals and communities, which sometimes poison or attack cats to protect their habitat. The livestock lamented to the conservation organization.

Big Life, for its part, has pointed out that lions were on the verge of extinction in southern Kenya at the start of this century, but the efforts of Maasai communities, rangers and NGOs in the area mean that in that national park and in its own right its population has increased sixfold between 2004 and 2020. .

rgh/ycv