We seldom think much about the many men and women whose lives are intricately woven with the protection of wildlife and wildernesses we all so enjoy. This is particularly true of the vast wild places that straddle the Zambezi along most of its almost 3000km course. These areas are vast – millions of square kilometres kind of vast, and no single organisation can protect that. Over time, concerned, protection agencies have grown up to shoulder the task, often on a volunteer basis, taking on the role of custodians for the benefit of all. Dependant on donor funding for the most part, their work is never done, and between providing protection from often hostile poaching threats to treating ailing animals and safeguarding the sensitive habitats they rely upon, theirs is often a silent and unseen war fought in the back of beyond.
The Bumi Hills Anti-Poaching Unit (BHAPU)’s account of saving one of the area’s lions from an unknown malady is a “good news” story recounted below. But more dramatic and even disturbing are the physical markers of the work they do over 2000 snares recovered, 12 kilometres of illegal fishing nets, in the course of patrolling more than 25 000 kilometres during 134 sorties – in the first 6 months of 2024. That is simply astounding! They deserve all the exposure they can get.
Here’s their story of Blondie the Lion:-
A couple of weeks ago, our oldest lion in the coalition of three, Blackbeard, wandered into the adjacent hunting concession, where he was shot as part of a legal hunt. At almost exactly the same time, Blondie, our collared lion, and one of the remaining two of the coalition of three, was struck down with a devastating mystery illness, one we feared that he would not recover from.
Blondie, as previously mentioned, has a collar, which we track by satellite. On the morning of the 23rd June, hot on the heels of the news about Blackbeard, we noticed that Blondie had not moved from one spot in over 14 hours. Whilst this is not unusual, and normally means that they are on a kill, we were nevertheless on high alert, quite naturally, regarding all things lions, and this was worrying. Late that afternoon, we went out to check what was going on. I will let Mark, our Conservation Manager, take up the tale, as he was minutely involved in the process:
“Seeing no movement from Blondie, we had an inkling that something was not quite right. So, we immediately went to go and look for him. Judging by the satellite map, he was very close to a convenient bush track which crossed a dry river bed. Sure enough, we found him there, lying on his side in the sand. At first glance he looked as though he was simply resting.
However, when we moved closer, we saw Blondie was struggling to rise – he couldn’t even get up on to his haunches to growl at us. Something was definitely seriously wrong. But there were no signs of any apparent injury visible either.
Realising we had an issue on our hands, we immediately contacted African Parks/Parks and Wildlife Authority at Tashinga, who in turn arranged permission for Blondie to be darted and his condition assessed. They arrived on site later that afternoon, bringing with them wildlife veterinarian Dr Panashe Mudandishe, from Ume Croc Farm, close to Bumi.
We then immobilised Blondie with capture drugs – he took much more of the normal dose than we anticipated – possibly because, due to his immobile condition, circulation was poor, and therefore the drugs weren’t absorbed as quickly as normal. Eventually however he succumbed and a thorough examination of him was carried out. Again, there were no obvious signs as to the cause of his condition. It was a mystery. Possibilities such as poisoning, rabies and or snakebite were considered, but nothing conclusive was forthcoming. So, after rehydrating him as best we could, and administering a big dose of anti-inflammatory drug, multi-vitamins and anti-biotics, we reluctantly left him, after reversing those drugs that could be, and making sure he was revived sufficiently enough to fend for himself, as best he could, under his present condition.
First thing the next day we returned, expecting the worse. However, he was awake, but STILL unable to rise – or even move anything except his legs feebly, where he had gouged furrows in the sand.
He remained in this condition for a full 7 days – an extremely worrying time. At one stage we came close to suggesting that we humanely euthanise him, as by day he was lying in the full sun, and by night, he had to endure the cold winter temperatures, lying as he was in a low-lying riverbed. We alleviated his discomfort as much as we could – providing him with a space blanket (not many lions in Africa get this sort of VIP treatment!). This was not, however, without much snarling and growling, which was not really sporting of him!
He initially refused a carefully placed dog’s bowl of water placed nearby. However, knowing it was vital we kept him hydrated, we came up with a plan whereby we filled a 150 litre water drum with water, and carefully manoeuvred it into a position above where he was lying in the riverbed. We then slowly poured the water out, so it filtered down the embankment and into a muddy pool, which filled up nicely, very close to where he was lying, thus giving him a clean supply of water (see photo below).
By the morning day 8, our hopes were rapidly fading, and we were contemplating our next move – Blondie had not shown any marked signs of improvement, nor had he made any attempts to rise fully, so it was a very pleasant and joyful surprise, when we found him sitting up and looking around at his surroundings with interest!
As he had not eaten anything for over a week, we were anxious to get some food into him to keep his strength up. So, the only thing we had immediately available was some choice beef and pork cuts from our base’s kitchen! Our cook’s eyebrows shot up when we told him what we were looking for – but he willingly surrendered these when we told him the reason why! We later managed to secure some impala meat for him which helped enormously.
From then on, Blondie has not looked back. It has been quite amazing – and remarkable – to see how he has pulled back from an almost hopeless condition, to regaining his full mobility – nothing short of remarkable. It is also fortunate that we don’t have a large hyena population in the area – they would have most certainly made short work of him, had they found him.
We are still no closer to establishing the cause of his affliction, but are most gratified he has pulled through – against all odds it seems. Even more so, after the loss of their colleague ‘Blackbeard’ to hunting. So, the two brothers remain – ‘Blondie’ and ‘Scarface’, and together, we hope they will be able to form the foundation for a new Bumi Pride – as hard as this will be due to the challenges they will face. The trio were well known for their forays into Matusadona National Park – wandering as far away as Fothergill and Spurwing, challenging the resident males there and no doubt hoping to acquire some lionesses to bring back to their home ground. We hope, now being the two brothers, that this will still be the case. So we say “Long live Blondie and Scarface!”
