Oldest Male Lion in the World Killed

A male lion named Loonkiito, believed to be one of the oldest in the world, was killed after attempting to take livestock from a community in Kenya.

The lion was 19 years old and was born in 2004. He lived in the Amboseli-tsavo ecosystem, which is an area in Kenya that protects hundreds of species of wildlife and over 1.3 million acres of land across four national parks. The news of Loonkiito’s death was announced by the conservation organization Lion Guardians on social media, expressing their “heavy hearts” and stating that Loonkiito was the “oldest male lion in our ecosystem and possibly in Africa”.

Loonkiito was killed in Olkelunyiet village, and the charity explained that a drought in the area had made it difficult for lions to find wild prey, making hunting for food much trickier for them. As a result, Loonkiito and other lions were forced to turn to the local communities’ livestock for food. The communities were already vigilant and protective about their remaining animals, and this led to the lion trying to take livestock from the village.

Lion Guardians explained in a statement that “Unfortunately, Loonkiito was caught up in this dynamic as he was starving and jumped into an animal pen in the middle of the night.” The charity recognized that the situation was tough for both the community and the lion.

However, Lion Guardians also noted that a decade ago, no lions in the Amboseli-tsavo ecosystem lived beyond the age of 10. Loonkiito’s impressive longevity, along with other lions around a similar age, was credited to the efforts of “the communities who bear the burden of sharing land with lions”. The charity said that it would remember Loonkiito as a symbol of “resilience and coexistence”, and it emphasized the importance of continuing efforts to protect wildlife and foster peaceful coexistence between people and animals.

#MaltaDaily