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A pride of 14 lions is fleeing near a mining community bordering Kruger National Park in South Africa, officials said Friday, and warned members of the public to be vigilant.
The lions were spotted wandering around the Foskor phosphate mine outside the town of Phalaborwa, on the western edge of the famous wildlife park, which is fenced.
But a disagreement broke out about what to do with the big cats, who are being watched by a team of rangers until a new house is found where they can not meet any of them. 39; human.
Officials from the provincial government of Limpopo said the lions had escaped from Kruger Park and should be brought back.
But a spokesman for Kruger said that big cats did not come from the park and could not be moved because well-established pride would drive them away.
"The widely reported pride of recently seen lions in the mining area outside Phalaborwa is not a known pride of Kruger National Park," spokesman Ike Phaahla said in a statement, adding that this was the responsibility of the provincial authorities.
"It has been reported that this pride has been in existence for more than a year in the Foskor Phalaborwa mining company and in adjacent direct areas," said Phaahla, adding that lions had to feed themselves abundantly with elephants. and buffaloes.
"The lion population in the Greater Kruger area is very healthy and growing, and the appropriate habitats are occupied, so it would be imprudent to move a lion's pride into the territory of an existing pride," he said. he declared.
& # 39; There is a danger & # 39;
A meeting this week between the local government and park officials helped to capture the lions and find a suitable location for them.
But Phaahla has said that any pride pbaded on to the Kruger "will continually dissipate as other dominant lions chase them away".
Until the case is settled, he warned, "there is a danger to members of the public working in the area."
"There is a risk of human-wildlife conflict, so people have to be careful," he told SABC public television. "We need to identify a park where they can be taken and establish their own area."
In an online statement, the provincial Ministry of Environment and Tourism advised Foskor mine employees and residents of the region "to be vigilant at all times".
Earlier this week, a leopard killed a two-year-old boy in the compound of the Kruger fenced-in staff.
A team of rangers chased two suspected leopards and shot them to avoid the risk of repetition.
Kruger National Park sits on nearly two million acres and is home to over 500 bird species and 147 mammal species.
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