Wild animals, especially carnivores, must rely on other species for sustenance, as you well know. Lions, leopards, cheetahs, tigers, and hyenas are the top predators now.
This young lion, in his foolishness, didn't realize that the antelope he was trying to hunt would be his last meal before years of suffering. The antelope, on the run from the lion, almost fell victim to the predator when he stepped on a dangerously taut string. Unfortunately, in his attempt to save himself, he actually made things worse by pressing the wire deeper into his skin. After much effort, he was successful, but the trap still hung around his neck. There's another lapse in illumination!
He had been captured in a snare, a common method of illegally capturing wildlife.
'He'd retreated, taking the snare with him, and it had remained around his neck. The snare's stranglehold on him has tightened over the past three years as he's put on weight, thus turning it into a garroting. It would have been a horrible death for him to endure.
Remarkably, the other members of his pride brought him food to eat, ensuring his survival. It's an inspiring display of community spirit.
Travelers saw the lion's distress in 2009, but after seven tries over the years, the vets were unable to tranquilize him due to the park's immensity and the variety of terrain.
Mr. Mwakilema added, "Rangers observed the lion again in October of 2010, and up until this year, had attempted to dart the lion on seven times, but because to the hard terrain and the lion's increasing shyness and anxiety, all of these attempts ended in futility."
It's a sad reality that more and more lions are being killed for their skins in Africa.
Some get caught in snares unintentionally set for bushmeat species like antelope, while others are targeted specifically for their parts.
After repeated futile attempts to free the juvenile lion, he was left imprisoned in the snare for three years as it gradually tightened around him as he grew.
An increasing number of people in the far east are seeking out lion parts for use in alternative medicine, particularly the animal's claws and bones.
As tigers become increasingly rare in the wild, lions are increasingly being killed as a stand-in for tigers, whose body parts have traditionally been used for the Chinese medicine industry.
There has been a dramatic surge in the trading of lion skeletons, which may indicate that they are being exchanged for tiger skeletons for use in traditional eastern medicine. Fur, teeth, and claws are all put to good use.
Because there are so few tigers, the demand for lion bones in the traditional medicine market has increased dramatically, as reported by Dr. Pieter Kat of LionAid.
The lion would have died a "long agonizing death!" if the head park warden at Mikumi National Park, William Mwakilema, hadn't been able to remove him from the net.
In the 1990s, one kilogram of lion bones was only about $10; by 2010, their value had skyrocketed to $300.
The declining population of wild lions explains much of the recent appreciation in the price of this species.
Somewhere around 200,000 lions roamed Africa back in the '60s. There are now only 23,000–25,000 of them.
Two lions' bodies were discovered in Northern Tanzania earlier this year, with only their claws missing.
In May, the Daily Mail published photos of the trapped lion, drawing attention to his situation.
It caused alarm in countries all around the world thanks to the internet, social media, and foreign press.
Since Mr. Mwakilema has been Chief Warden since this past January, he made the executive decision to start the largest rescue mission for the lion to date.
He enlisted the help of the majority of the park's 77 rangers, who then combed the whole 3,200-square-kilometer region.
The Selous Game Reserve, Africa's largest reserve, is adjacent to Mikumi National Park, expanding its size by 50,000 sq. km., or more than twice that of Denmark. The lions have unrestricted access between the two enclosures.
As part of their safari experience, visitors were urged to keep an eye out for lions and report any suspicious behavior or injuries to the park officials immediately.
At the end of August, rangers saw the lion with the rest of its pride and it was recovered. An animal doctor equipped with a tranquilizer gun was dispatched.
Mr. Mwakilema explained, "This was an exceedingly perilous procedure as the other five members of the pride fought to protect the tranquilized lion."
Too little tranquilizer and the lion, who could kill a man with a single swipe of his paw, would remain unsubdued; too much, and the animal would be rendered helpless. Dangerous effects may occur at high doses.
Once the vet had him sedated, the rangers used their patrol land cruisers to drive away the rest of the pride.
As the author puts it, "the skin had healed over the snare, leaving only some of the wire visible, and it required a skilful use of bolt cutters to sever the thick electrical wire cable which was implanted in the flesh."
After seven fruitless tries, in August 2012, rangers successfully sedated the lion and removed the snare from around its neck using tranquilizers.
The lion's shocking wounds were treated with a purple antiseptic.
It was a delicate operation since the rangers needed to give the lion just the right dose of sedative to keep it from attacking, but not so much that it died.
Once the snare was removed, the lion was treated with a purple antiseptic and given medication to counteract the effects of the transquiliser.
Mr. Mwakilema, who has an MSC in Tourism Development from Surrey University, elaborated, "This was a major rescue attempt - bigger than anything ever undertaken before."
The area was difficult to search because to its varying landscape, which included both wide plains and more forested and mountainous regions.
It was in May of that year that this original photograph was taken, and at that time of year the grass was indeed taller than the photographer. Because of their exceptional camouflage, a lion can simply vanish in this grass, sit five feet away from you, and go undetected.
We overcame many obstacles, and it is with great relief that we report that we have succeeded in freeing it.
Gary Roberts, the photographer who captured the original shot, went back to Mikumi National Park in November to spend six days photographing lions. The penultimate night of his pursuit of a pride, he was shocked to see the rescued lion emerge from the shadows.
After the lion was injured, the rangers applied a purple antiseptic to the wounds to avoid infection and speed the animal's recovery. There was a snare embedded in the lion's flesh, but the skin had grown over it.
The animal is shown in the picture sleeping it off in the Tanzanian wilderness after being medicated. A group of rangers administered an antidote to his sedated medicine, and he was finally brought back to life.
In the end, park officials used a comparison of scar patterns on his face and shoulders to positively identify him. The lion had already begun to bulk up, and the mane over his shoulders was only beginning to appear.
It was after nightfall when Gary Roberts said, "He emerged to join the pride." They were getting ready to go for the day.
He went over to the other members of the pride and slept with them. That anything can be done, with the aid of government and the public, to stop the constant menace of poaching to wildlife around the world, was made clear by this amazing sight.
Anti-poaching patrols are conducted by the Tanzanian National Park Authorities, however with over 30 percent of the country's land set aside for conservation purposes, this is a sizable region to monitor.
Saadani Safari Lodge in Tanzania has established the SANA Project to help the local underprivileged population prosper while also safeguarding the surrounding national parks.
It is envisaged that initiatives like these will contribute to the long-term security of the animal population. Six days after being rescued, the lion was finally located in the park at night. A mane of hair began sprouting on his back and shoulders, indicating that the wound was beginning to heal.