A wild male lion, believed to be one of the oldest in the world, has died after being speared by herders, according to Kenyan authorities.
Loonkiito, who was 19 years old, died in the village of Olkelunyiet on Wednesday night after preying on livestock.
The village borders Amboseli National Park—in southern Kenya.
The conservation group Lion Guardians said he was “the oldest male lion in our ecosystem and possibly in Africa.” Most lions live up to around 13 years in the wild.
Almost all lions live in Africa, but they also have a small range in India, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) spokesperson Paul Jinaro stated that the lion was old and frail and had wandered into the village from the park in search of food.
Jinaro could not confirm whether this was the oldest lion in the country but noted that it was “very old.”
The Maasai-led Lion Guardians group works to conserve the lion population in Amboseli National Park. According to them, the end of a drought is “typically marked by a rise in human-lion conflict” as “wild prey become stronger and more difficult to hunt.”
“In desperation, lions often turn to livestock,” it is said.
Paula Kahumbu, a conservationist and CEO of WildlifeDirect, said she was outraged by the killing of the lion and called for action to protect the country’s wildlife.
“This is the breaking point for human-wildlife conflict, and we must do more as a country to conserve lions, which are facing extinction,” Kahumbu told the BBC.
The average lifespan of a lion is about 13 years in the wild, although they can live much longer in captivity.
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