I’ve never watched a mini-documentary at night in the middle of an African village...until now!
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The movie shown just after dusk in Sasaab Village in northern Kenya was a short film about the importance of caring for pet dogs in order to protect the health of livestock and wildlife
The screening wrapped up another day with the Ewaso Lions organization, one of the conservation partners of the Houston Zoo, which focuses on the restoration of the lion population in the Samburu region of northern Kenya.
Before the film, we spent time with one of Ewaso Lions’ programs called Kura’s Pride. It seeks to promote the health of pets, livestock, and wildlife in Samburu.
We went from home to home in the village with a veterinarian team that treated and assessed several animals. In this year alone, through an initiative called Vet Rounds, they have treated more than 400 animals. Their goal is to mitigate the spread of disease between pets, livestock, and wildlife. Several diseases have impacted wildlife, including rabies and distemper.
We started the day bright and early hiking up a hill called Ndonyuo Naanyekie, which means “red hill” in the Samburu language. We were with children taking part in Ewaso Lions’ Kids Camp. It is a 5-day camp that teaches kids to embrace the connection between their community, wildlife, and the environment.
The program includes curriculum, educational games, and field trips that connect them to their environment. For some, they have never ventured very far outside of their own village or been educated about the connection between community and nature.
The two programs are just a couple of the ways the Houston Zoo and Ewaso Lions are partnering to make conservation and the mitigation of community-wildlife conflict priorities in Samburu for generations to come.
SAVING WILDLIFE: KENYA CHRONICLES
