Uganda offers bounty on lion killers

Kampala, March 23 Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has offered cash rewards for information leading to the killers of six lions in the Queen Elizabeth National Park.

A bounty of 10 million shillings ($2,857) has been offered to any individual with information that will lead to the arrest and prosecution of the people behind the heinous act, Xinhua news agency quoted Bashir Hangi, UWA communications manager, as saying in a statement on Monday.

"We urge the public to join us in this fight (conserving wildlife) by giving us information in confidence so that the killers of our lions are brought to book," Hangi said.

"Conserving our wildlife resources is a duty for all Ugandans and we should all work together in fighting all forms of wildlife crime," he added.

On March 20, the national wildlife conservation agency confirmed the lions died of poisoning.

This is not the first time that lions have been killed by poisoning in Uganda.

In 2018, about 11 lions were poisoned to death in the same park by surrounding communities saying that the animals were killing their cattle.

According to officials, before the death of the 11 lions in 2018, Uganda had an estimated 400 lions, with 100 of them residing in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Lions are a key tourist attraction in Uganda's national parks.

Tourism is Uganda's top foreign exchange earner, contributing almost 10 per cent of the country's GDP.

The east African country earns $1.6 billion from tourism annually.

( With inputs from IANS )