The Last Bush Disco!

In the past month we played our special “music” to the Thanda Lions on numerous evenings. (Also see our blog message about two young male Lions which are to be transferred to another game reserve – BUSH DISCO ? – https://thandablog.com/2014/03/01/bush-disco/).

A few times they joined us for dinner but often nothing happened. Every time we asked Mike Toft, our veterinarian for this Lion capture operation, to be there during these call-ups, the Lions decided not to respond. A few days ago, just as the sun came up, they came out to a road and decided to take a break right in front of our vehicle. But we had to race off to a very important meeting and the vet was far away. So darting was out of the question. And as usual, when we had everything in place, they were gone.

The next day we found some fresh tracks of these Lions and as we were setting up the speakers for another call-up a giraffe ran towards us and a lion’s head popped out from behind the bushes. By the time our vet arrived they disappeared into the long grass. Luckily one of them came back and Mike managed to dart him. But he disappeared into the bushes almost immediately. Not good 😦 To be continued…

The picture shows one of the young Lions in twilight and veterinarian Mike Toft with his dart gun.

Story and picture by Mariana Venter – Thanda Wildlife Management Team