By Jo B | Senior Fundraising Executive
David Shepherd Wildife Foundation (DSWF) contributions and support over the past few years to ground-based conservation partners in Uganda, have aided in the protection of a stronghold of the country’s last lions in Murchison Falls National Park.
Habitat Restoration
Continued work is going into restoring waterholes in Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda, which will help secure the future of the remaining lion populations (and those of their prey), thanks to increased water availability, which has sadly depleted over time due to habitat degradation.
Monitoring
Our partners are continuing to collar lions in different areas of Murchison Falls, where little research has currently been done on lion and prey population dynamics. With a permanent vet now in place to oversee collaring, the focus for the project is now collaring as many lions as possible. This will enable the rangers and scouts to provide the close monitoring and protection that is so crucial in enabling the lion population to continue to recover.
Communications
A communications system has been launched across Murchison Falls, including the installation of vital new radio towers. DSWF’s support has been used to sponsor digital radio and EarthRanger technology for the patrols; the new system now means over 85% of the park has a functioning communication network, which is a vast improvement on the previous 5%. This is already having extraordinary results and motivating rangers, as their actions are better supported. Rangers are now able to respond urgently to human wildlife conflict incidents, and with poaching over the past 18 months rising sharply, being able to coordinate and respond to incidents in a timely manner is critical to reducing wildlife crime in the area.
Read more here: https://davidshepherd.org/news-events-insights/news/world-lion-day-why-a-new-communications-system-signals-a-bad-reception-for-poachers/
Ranger Training
To further bolster lion protection, there has been a deployment of newly trained rangers into the field, which is desperately needed to cover more ground and deter poachers. The new team are currently undergoing intensive field orientation, including patrolling with existing teams and scouts. Whilst Murchison Falls receives visitors to the Delta region, most of the park has no tourism, no vehicles, no permanently based rangers, and little to no means of access by road. As such, these areas have experienced a high level of poaching of lions and other wildlife for decades, with populations declining dramatically. Now, with the new communications system and an increase in the number of rangers, patrols take place across all areas of the park and the rangers are more able to prevent and disrupt poaching.
Additional training is now being supplied to the communications operation staff, as well as the new rangers – including critical training on information management and analytics, law enforcement, and mitigation of human wildlife conflict. This training will enable the teams to be more efficient, safely mitigate wildlife incidents, and increase apprehensions and prosecutions.
Thank you for your help and support in funding DSWF’s conservation work protecting Lions.
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