National Geographic

the conservation group Lion Guardians. Theyclimbed into a Land Cruiser, drove to a clear-ing in the bush, and parked. Under a big, brightmoon, with lights of, they waited for the roguepredators—young brothers—to appear.Maamai, who’s Maasai, placed a speaker on theroof of the vehicle and broadcast into the dark-ness the recorded bleating of a dying bufalo calf,a sound lions can’t resist. After just 15 minutes alarge animal stepped from the shadows on theright. Ole Nashuu switched on his headlights. Itwas a lioness, one of two sisters that partneredwith but weren’t related to the brothers. The lion-ess, about 10 yards in front of the vehicle, movedcautiously toward a small tree Maamai had baitedwith goat innards. Ole Nashuu signaled to a veter-inarian who was sitting in a second Land Cruiser,his rifle loaded with a tranquilizer dart.After directing his men to shimmy thepassed-out lioness into a cage, Ole Nashuu con-gratulated the group on a successful mission. Theremoval of the female, he said, would disruptthe pride and stop the brothers from preying onthe community’s livestock—a curious claim, itseemed, because the young male lions, the pri-mary mischief-makers, were still out there.Later that night my guide, Simon Thomsett,a leading expert on raptors in Kenya, and Iwere trying to sleep in his Land Cruiser whenwe heard growling and grunting—first at a dis-tance, then closer. It was the two male lions,presumably searching for the female. The teamdarted and captured one of the brothers, but theother escaped. The captured male and femaleeventually were released in Tsavo West. Previousexperience suggests they probably haven’t sur-vived: Lions dumped without acclimation intoanother pride’s territory are treated as intrudersPOISONING AFRICA 85