The UCF Veterinary Team working with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), has successfully re-collared a mature male lion in Kidepo Valley National Park.
He’s a magnificent one! Healthy, powerful, and sporting an impressive mane. In fact, upon locating him, it became evident that his size had been underestimated during planning, prompting the team to quickly adjust the tranquilizer dosage. His sheer presence speaks to the health of the ecosystem we’re working to protect.
This lion had previously been collared and monitored for a couple of years, during which time he largely remained out of conflict zones. When his collar recently went offline, existing data, known movement patterns and sighting reports, guided our team to the general area.
The faulty collar has been removed and will be sent back to the manufacturer for diagnostics, as it experienced an unusual failure. Understanding such issues helps them refine the tools and systems we rely on for conservation.
Several additional collars remain on hand, and the team will return soon to continue to identify and collar more suitable candidates. Kidepo Valley’s lions are deserving of continued protection, and these collars play a crucial role in these efforts. They feed data into EarthRanger, UWA’s park management system, enabling real-time monitoring that informs law enforcement, habitat protection, and community engagement. It’s a vital component of the broader Carnivore & Scavenger Strategy, integrating law enforcement, prey and predator protection, human-wildlife conflict mitigation, and landscape improvement.
Uganda Wildlife Authority is the government body mandated to manage Uganda’s protected areas, and all wildlife data is under their custodianship. Our role alongside our partners is to provide technical and operational support in service of their conservation mandate.
We extend our gratitude to our partners whose unwavering support makes our conservation work in Kidepo possible: SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, Great Plains Conservation, Global Conservation, Tusk, and the European Union in Uganda.
