Page 32 - July-Sept 2024 Edition

Why are there collared lions & leopards?
QENP has eleven enclave communities that were in existence when
the park was gazetted. These communities were allowed to remain
and in most cases are surrounded by three sides by the park. This
means people and wildlife are living near each other. People can
understand park boundaries, but animals can not, which inevitably
results in conflict. The Uganda Carnivore Program and the Uganda
Conservation Foundation both run programs that collar lion and
leopard. The concept is to collar one or two lions within a pride or
in some cases single male lion and solitary leopard. This allows for
two things, monitoring for the purposes of big cat research as well as
staying updated on their location so when big cats get close to the
communities, people can be warned of their proximity. This allows

Lion with Rwenzoris Mountains
in the background Leopard Lion in a Euphorbia tree

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