[LISTEN] Roaming lions to be darted
The South African National Parks (SANParks) says the fourteen lions on the loose in the Phalaborwa area in Limpopo are expected to be tranquilised on Saturday.
Kruger National Park rangers are assisting a local mining company and government to locate the pride.
“The Phalaborwa Mining Company has also claimed that these lions might belong to them,” says SANParks spokesperson, Ike Phaahla.
Rangers are also busy checking the microchips inserted in the animals earlier, to determine their origin.
The big cats are believed to have been roaming around the Phalaborwa Foskor Mine area for more than a year.
“To ensure the entire pride is together, then there will be logistical planning from the team that has been assigned to move the lions. Then they will go in dart the animals, make sure they don’t scatter them and then tranquilise them, transport them by road to a place that has been allocated,” says Phaahla.