Kenyan game rangers tracked down and shot dead a lion shortly after it mauled to death a game warden at a national park west of here, a Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) official confirmed on Monday.
”Priscilla Chemutai Aiyebei (24) was mauled by a lion which waylaid her on Saturday evening at the Lake Nakuru National Park, 160 kilometres west of Nairobi,” KWS communications officer Daniel Njaga said.
”She was among wardens who were overseeing a function of visitors to the park, when she decided to rush back to the staff houses near the entrance to collect a scarf to protect her from the cold.”
”She was rushing back to the function, when a lion lying in wait pounced on her,” Njaga said from KWS heaquarters.
”Aiyebei’s colleagues in the staff quarters heard the screams and rushed to the rescue, but found the lion dragging her into a nearby thicket.
”They fired in the air and scared off the beast, but she was already dead,” Njaga added.
The rangers hunted down the lion and killed it an hour after the incident.
Attacks on game workers by wild animals are uncommon in Kenya. Saturday’s attack marked the first time a ranger has been killed by a predator in the Lake Nakuru National Park since it was set up more than four decades ago.
Wardens usually walk in pairs and armed, Njaga explained. Njaga said a 1997 census estimated the lion population in Lake Nakuru National Park at about 40, but the figure is believed to have increased substantially. – Sapa-AFP