Across the vast plain, vultures circulate. Ingela Jansson approaches and is surprised by what she sees. There is a lion lying in the grass. Ingela Jansson recognizes the big cat, she has followed it for a long time. But not any more. Now the lion is dead.
- I see immediately that this is a ritual hunt. The lion has been stabbed to death with a spear and its tail and left paw have been cut off, says Ingela Jansson.
It was Maasai warriors who killed the lion and took trophies as proof of their bravery. A few hours later, Ingela Jansson is standing on the back of her pickup truck next to two dead lions. Nearby, police are dragging out the Maasai warriors hiding in the bushes.
- The police are terribly rough and disrespectful. I feel so strongly that this is the wrong way to solve conflicts. If there has to be a future for both humans and lions, change is needed, says Ingela Jansson.
Endangered species
This was more than ten years ago and will become the starting point of Ingela Janssons work to save the lions, but also for Ingela Jansson's research. Trained as a biologist, she did research on bears at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) but dreamed of working in Africa. Eventually, she got a job as a research assistant in the Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater. Soon lions became her research focus.
- The number of lions in the world has been declining rapidly and they continue to disappear as people take new land for fields and homes. There is an urgent need to find ways for lions and humans to live side by side and benefit each other. Which is also what my research is about, says Ingela Jansson.
She works in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania. Here, not only conflicts with humans pose a threat to the lions, but inbreeding i also a big challenge. Crater lions are in great need of gene exchange with lions in Serengeti. But between the lion groups are herds of cattle.
- A dead cow often leads to a dead lion. Conflicts are rife here. At the same time, the Maasai have an admiration for the lions and a desire to keep them around, says Ingela Jansson.
Inspired and supported by the Lion Guardians in Kenya, Ingela Jansson and her colleagues are developing an approach that could be the solution: the organization KopeLion (Korongoro People's Lion Initiative). The whole idea is to turn lion hunters into lion guardians and to counteract conflicts with predators in the local community.
- There was almost no money in the project for a long time. And I had to try to win the trust of the local people who had bad experiences with outside interference. It was tough, but I also saw the potential in the people and animals. And after years of work, we can finally hire young guys to guard the lions, says Ingela Jansson.
Those hired will be given the title Ilchokuti, “the one who never leaves his herd”. Fast forward a few years and KopeLion has grown.
- The challenge is to find models of predator conservation that are good for both people and animals. In this case, by protecting lions and preventing predator conflicts, it means giving people a meaningful job and a steady income. This means a brighter future for both lions and people.
Lion genes
Ilchokuti discourages hunting and promotes the lion population, but also helps Ingela Jansson with her research. They take samples of lion poop and hair, examine prey killed by lions and report on the felines' movements.
Although lions can now move more easily between the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, the problems of inbreeding remain, Ingela Jansson's research shows.
- The chances of males making it to the crater are better now. But once there, they have to compete with the already established, crater-born males. What we can hope for is that more females will mate with males that have not established themselves with their group, says Ingela Jansson.
