Lion Warriors

AFRICA, IN ALL ITS BEAUTY. HOME TO SOME OF THE WORLD'S MOST SPECTACULAR ANIMALS. NONE MORE MAJESTIC THAN THE KING. BUT THE ODDS ARE AGAINST THESE CUBS EVER MAKING IT TO ADULTHOOD. LIONS ARE BEING POISONED, SHOT AND SPEARED AT A STAGGERING RATE. DR PAULA KAHUMBA: These could be among the last of the truly wild lions left in Africa. TIM NOONAN: Is it possible that the lion could become extinct? DR PAULA KAHUMBA: If you look at the trends, it's on a downwards spiral. I'VE COME TO THE MASAI MARA IN KENYA. IT'S EARLY AND THE HEAT COMES FIERCELY TO THIS VAST SAVANNAH. I'M WITH RENOWNED KENYAN ECOLOGIST DR PAULA KAHUMBA WHO'S BEEN DOCUMENTING LIONS IN THE WILD FOR MORE THAN A DECADE. DR PAULA KAHUMBA: We're losing lions very, very rapidly. We've lost something like 50 percent to 70 percent of the range on which lions can occur. They're extinct in several countries across Africa. North Africa and West Africa, they're almost gone. Many parts of southern Africa, they've disappeared. We've just come across this pride of lions. There are eight or nine of them here including cubs, mother, sub-adults. They're all hiding in the grass. It's quite hard to see them. But there's a whole pride here. There are fewer than 400 left in this ecosystem and they could be gone in less than 10 years because of the poisoning and the killing of lions by the local communities in the surrounding areas. Oh, look. There goes a cub. How is he going all on his own? Oh, what a sweetie. BUT AFRICANS HAVE LONG BEEN KILLING LIONS. NONE MORE RUTHLESSLY THAN THE SAMBURU TRIBE OF NORTHERN KENYA. THE YOUNG MEN CALL THEMSELVES LION WARRIORS, THEIR FIRST KILL IS MARKED BY A SCAR ACROSS THEIR CHEST. TIM NOONAN: How many lions have you killed? TRANSLATOR: I have killed three lions. The first lion that I killed had come to eat my cows. I took a spear and killed him with my spear. THE PAW PRINT IS FRESH. LIONS ARE CLOSE BY. VERY CLOSE. TIM NOONAN: To these people, not fearing lions is the mark of a warrior but, for me, standing this close without any cage, looking at one of the most-feared predators on earth is absolutely terrifying. FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS, THE SAMBURU HAVE KILLED LIONS TO PROTECT THEIR CATTLE - THE LIFEBLOOD OF THEIR EXISTENCE. TIM NOONAN: This is a ritual that hasn't changed since before Christ. The Samburu get most of their protein and iron from drinking cow's blood. And now it's my turn to try it. To be offered some is an honour you can't refuse. Here we go. Here we go. Oh! IN THIS WARRIOR CULTURE, THE MEN COMPETE TO SEE WHO CAN JUMP THE HIGHEST. IT'S A TEST OF STRENGTH AND AGILITY FOR THESE TRIBESMEN. KEEPING THE LIONS AT BAY IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE TRIBE'S SURVIVAL. DR PAULA KAHUMBA: If you're poor, you're living out there in the wilderness, you're living in a mud house or you're just earning not even a dollar a day. You've got a family to look after, you're literally on a starvation diet and these lions are killing your only source of livelihood and your source of protein. To survive, you've got to protect your source of income which, for this community, it's livestock. AS AFRICA'S HUMAN POPULATION EXPLODES, LIVING WITH LIONS IS BECOMING MORE AND MORE DIFFICULT. LESS LAND MEANS LESS PREY AND THAT'S WHERE THE TROUBLE BEGINS. I'M IN THE BURNING HEART OF KENYA, THE TRADITIONAL HOME OF THE LION AND ITS QUARRY. TIM NOONAN: Early this morning, the pride killed this buffalo. Now after resting, they're coming back to feast on the body. DR PAULA KAHUMBA: What we're noticing is that the prey base for the lions is also disappearing because of all these other threats on the landscape. And so lions have less prey to go for so they do go for livestock. That causes a clash and then people kill those lions. TIM NOONAN: How many lions have you killed? EMMANUEL TENDERE: We managed to kill 27 lions. 27 lions. A lion is like a robber. He come to my home and take my cows. We can kill all of them. TWO MONTHS AGO, EMMANUEL TENDERE WAS TRUE TO HIS WORD. AFTER LIONS KILLED 18 CATTLE AND ALMOST 100 SHEEP AND GOATS IN HIS VILLAGE OUTSIDE NAIROBI, EMMANUEL LED A LION LYNCH MOB. THEY CORNERED AND SPEARED THREE BIG CATS. TIM NOONAN: Why canʼt you live with lions? EMMANUEL TENDERE: Because the lions are the big enemy of a cow. You cannot put a lion with a cow. THE LATEST WEAPON BEING USED AGAINST THEM IS POISON. ONE OF THE MOST TOXIC IS A CHEAP AMERICAN CHEMICAL CALLED FURADAN. IT'S DESIGNED AS A PESTICIDE BUT MISUSED AS LION KILLER. FARMERS LACE ANIMAL CARCASSES LIKE THIS WITH THE POISON, KNOWING THE LIONS WILL COME FOR AN EASY MEAL. DR PAULA KAHUMBA: It's the most innovative and devastating way of killing lions. It's sprinkled on the carcass, lions come, they feed on it. Within 15 minutes, the lions will become paralysed. One teaspoon of this pesticide, you could kill a whole pride of lions - 8 to 10 lions. IT SEEMS SO NEEDLESS AND SELF-DEFEATING. LIONS ARE AFRICA'S BIGGEST TOURIST ATTRACTION. BUT IN THE PLACE I LEAST EXPECTED TO FIND IT, THERE'S NEW HOPE. TURNING AGAINST THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF TRADITION, THE SAMBURU HAVE SWITCHED SIDES FROM LION KILLERS TO LION PROTECTORS - BEFORE THERE'S NONE LEFT. RATHER THAN SPEAR THEM, THEY NOW CHASE THEM AWAY. THIS IS THE HEAD AND PAW OF THE LAST LION KILLED BY THE TRIBE. TIM NOONAN: So why do you now protect lions? TRANSLATOR: We have learned that lions are very important, not only for our culture but also for the place that we live. WHEN A SAMBURU WARRIOR GETS MARRIED, THE HEART OF THE CELEBRATION IS THE LION DANCE. THE JOINT IS JUMPING. HYPNOTIC ENOUGH TO SEND SOME INTO A TRANCE. AROUND THEIR LEGS THEY TIE LION SKIN BUT PERHAPS NOT FOR MUCH LONGER. TIM NOONAN: What would you say to the world watching if they didn't know anything about the dire straits of the lion? What would your message be? DR PAULA KAHUMBA: My message to the world about lions is that when you lose an animal like the lions, which, in our psyche, is the king of the jungle, it really does say something about us as people that we are unable to protect the very species which we have put at the top of the pedestal. It's something that will create a sense of hopeless for many other species. Protecting lions means you're protecting huge landscapes and all the other species that depend on the them. I think that it's really sad that most children in the world are only ever going to see lions in captivity. Seeing a lion in a cage is not seeing a king of the jungle.