Murderous again! Those wonderful animals we call the king of beasts. Why???
Last night lions killed Jiggy and Atom, and just left them.
On the way to the den this morning I noticed fresh lion tracks on the road. I’ve seen them along here several times before and they head over the mountain. But today they turned off on my small track that heads up to the den and then left the track.
On approaching the den just as it was getting light the pack were heading off on the hunt.
The den was quiet except for the odd whines and squeals as the pups muscle each other around inside. But something told me to scan around and I went walking all around the area of the den, up and down the mountain. After about half an hour I saw her lying in a patch of flattened grass. Atom. Her neck had been broken and there were lion tracks all around.
Searching the area I found more blood stains on the grass and following those brought me to Jiggy’s carcass. The lions had mangled him even more and broken his back. This must all have happened a few hours before I got there.
While still walking around and trying to gather myself Puzzles appeared high up on the rocks near the den and she was looking down towards where the dead dogs lay. She was nervous and restless. She kept moving around and interestingly she was extremely accommodating of me. So much so she repeatedly came to lie down no more than 6ft away from me. She really seemed to show no fear for me.
And so this went on all day, Puzzles would get up and look in the direction of her mate, hear her pups in the den, but never went there and would lie down next to me again.
She didn’t feed her pups all day. She seemed too scared to go to the den, possibly thinking the lions might be there.
Eventually as it was getting dark I left. There was nothing I could do and still the rest of the pack, now only sub-adults, hadn’t returned from their hunt. I’m sure they’ll be back tonight and hopefully give Puzzles the confidence to feed her pups.
I was expecting Puzzles to move the den today because of this disturbance, but still she hasn’t. My concern is she’ll move the pups tonight and without Jiggy’s collar I’m going to battle to find the pack.
Saddening to be sure, but not at all surprising. Here in North America, larger wild animals like coyotoes and wolves will habitually kill fox pups to preserve the food source for their own pups. Perhaps that is what happened in this situation.
This is so sad. Poor Puzzles. I feel so sorry for her. Hopefully she will feed the pups and the rest of the pack will be safe.
Oh no …. thats really sad news .
I’m using your flickr photo of Atom as my wallpaper , she’s stunning .
And poor Jiggy too . Who can fill that gap in the pack now ?
Thats really shaken things up for them , I wonder if they’ll move to the old den again? My heart goes out to Puzzles too , must be really distressed
Lions …. strange creatures, seems like they will kill for the sake of it sometimes .
Sure, you can understand them wanting to eliminate competition for prey , but the dogs roam almost all year long and wouldn’t usually settle if it were not for the pups .
And the dogs wouldnt pose much threat to the lion’s prey supply would they ?
Just hope the lions dont return and a head count shows no extra fatalities. Got my fingers crossed for this lot.
Heartbreaking. I was getting so attached, even thousands of miles away. I am very grateful that you got the pack innoculated…if the babies can get their shots, then at least we won’t have to see that horror again. My thoughts on lions have sure changed since watching your website.
How very sad. I have to wonder if they died trying to keep the lions away from the den. This is heartbreaking. Poor Puzzles…
This is so upsetting. I hope the others can pull together and raise the puppies, and I hope you can keep track of them.
I certainly hope you can keep tabs on Puzzles and the rest of the pack. Will you try to collar Puzzles or another member of the pack for tracking purposes?
Waiting for the next news on the pack. My sympathy to you, Kim. I know how attached you must be to these dogs. Puzzles seems to be also very trusting of you and a form of safety for her at this time. She is obviously going to have a hard time ahead.
How quickly the dynamics of a family, human or animal can change. Like a parent getting in an outo accident or Jiggy getting killed by lions, we must adapt and move on. I guess we should be thankful that Puzzle had already given birth, so the sub adults had taken on more responsibilities. So very sad. I hope the best for the pack.
Oh Kim,
Very sad news. This is nature, and so unfair!
I hope the rest of the pack thrives, and puzzles continues to be the perfect mother she has been all along.
Will you do anything with the bodies? Or just let nature deal with them?
Thank You for the awesome video of the giraffes! So cool!
Thank You for the awesome giraffe video! They are so graceful and huge!! With beautiful markings. I love giraffes!
The hard part for those of us who have been watching the pack all this time will be to go to the corner of our minds where we remind ourselves not to anthromorphosize-lions are acting like lions, not because they are “good” or “bad”, but because they are lions. Wild dogs think nothing of eating an impala while it is still quite alive. It doesn’t mean they are “cruel” (although the impala might disagree); these are values imposed by us humans on every other species on the planet. It is meaningless to do so, but we do it all the time. Still, it is indeed heartbreaking, Kim, and I don’t envy you having to break the news to your girls. But the pack will go on. I wonder if one of Jiggy’s sons will step up to the plate now.
Kim,
I am so very sorry at this news. This is so very heartbreaking for you, puzzles and all of us. When I first became a Wildcaster I enjoyed all that I read and saw. Now I enjoy yet, but I have let myself fall in love with these dogs. In love with the sights and sounds with every video I see. They too even as wild as they are have stole my heart. The feelings I feel right now are of worry for the pack.
I know Nature is unpredictable and cruel, but I wanted a happy ending for this pack and for Puzzles and Jiggy.
I was stunned with this news. I keep coming back to the story and wishing it wasn’t so.
Nature is cruel in our way of thinking but just natural to the animals and their survival.
‘… And the heart of a naked echo cries’
With every step that you took, sadness grew in my heart. In the end, will these dogs survive with so my odds stacked against them?
And yet, we cannot loose faith!
Eve raises a valid point about the lion’s being lions ,
but where does wanton killing fit in with nature ?
To kill for survival is natural , to kill because of competition is understandable , but killing for the hell of it dosent sit right in the jigsaw of nature . Although very much the way lions are wired , it seems unecessary.
Wildcast’s video on November 24th 2008 , the bird and the lion .
This is so sad to hear. I am so sorry about Jiggy. Now that he is gone, will Puzzles look for a new mate? Or will one of the sub-adults go into estrus, look for a new mate, and take over?
This must break your heart. And ours too. Having been around wild dogs several times, I can see how easy it is to get attached to your pack. Assuming all goes well and Puzzles settles down and continues to raise the pups, would she mate with one of the sub adults even though they are directly related? Or would another wild dog have to enter the picture..
It’s hard to believe this has happened.
Am stunned. Jiggy, oh Jiggy! And lovely Atom. Mind is shocked, and refuses to accept this, this. Have had a nagging fear since this new den was chosen, and Kim told us of the regular appearance of lion tracks. Anguish. Kim, am so very sorry. Was so pleased the pack was achieving great growth, and want success for Puzzles, the puppies and the sub-adults. All of whom are too precious to lose.
Ron. Wanton killing…Homo SAPiens (emphasis all mine) is the most wanton of all. Has been, and will ever be. Who calls lions the king of beasts? We do, because they have no natural predators, and we idolize them. Have been very concerned of late about how lions have been referred to here, “laid waste” for the killing of a sable, etc. Primarily because you do have a large audience (and well-deserved) which can strongly influence how people think. In the past, I have, as a scientist striving for open minds to the natural world, deeply and greatly appreciated how Kim presents his blog and videos. But have indeed despaired about some comments about lions for several months now. It is indeed Kim’s blog, and he is more than entitled to his opinions, but because of the reach of your blog, please, Kim, some forbearance? When the kob was eaten alive by the dogs, no comment. When the leopard kills, no comment. Lions kill and “lay waste to the world.” As Eve says: “Lions are lions….” What they, and any other animal does is hard-wired in their genes. Wolves kill coyotes, coyotes kill foxes. We vaunt our superior intellect, but really, have we exhibited any evidence of this when you consider the state of the world today? In the future? No. Look to the entirety of the planet, and all you see is the endangerment of the natural world by us.As a species, we have no respect for ourselves, or other species. A world without predators, nature’s balance. Our desire? Some, yes, much more condemning: most people do not even notice, let alone care.That is my agony. The loss of other innocent species that we will take down with us. I greatly value my numerical age, for I fervently pray to be gone before all of the large animal species are displaced, slaughtered, extinct. Not just the large ones, either.
Wildcast’s video on 2 February 2008: “Nothing’ is good for hyaena” and comments. “I still care deeply about lions and all other carnivores, for they seem to come in for the greatest rage from our species. But most of all, I care for the entirety of the fabric of life. To study it is to be in awe of all and to be indefatigably amazed with its intricacy, confounded by its simplicity.” Other than one of my poems about a black leopard, that is the best thing I have ever written.
b.
p.s. Requiescate in Pace Wave, Jiggy, Atom, and the wild dog pack of 2007.
I was saddened to read about Atom and Jiggy. It does sound like maybe they were standing sentinel and keeping guard over the pups. I’m so sorry, Kim. I know as a professional, you have to keep an emotional distance from the creatures you are capturing on film. But nonetheless, you can’t help but form a bond with a pack that you’re following day in and day out. I really hope Puzzles and her family can steer safely away from any more harm.
Yeah it’s all very sad, but one has to go on and the dogs go on. today they went to sniff briefly at Atom’s carcass.
the sub-adults were all there today and i think they hunted successfully last night and then again this morning. they are more than capable of keeping the pack going. for at least the last 3 months they have been killing on their own at times. so they’ll be fine and will be able to look after Puzzles and the pups.
i have left Jiggy and Atom’s body’s to decay in a natural way. the vultures haven’t been in but probably cos the bodies aren’t easy to see.
i managed a head count of puppies and saw 11 and heard another in the den. so all seem to be accounted for.
i’m hoping in the next couple of days to fit a transmitter to either Chevvy or Kodak, the sub-adult males.
Puzzles tried to move the puppies several times today but they just weren’t cooperating. for now they’ll be safe at this den as lions definitely can’t get in there.
I just have a real problem with the fact that we, man, have put lions on this pedestal as “The King of Beasts”, which I don’t agree on. I don’t hate lions, actually I am quite attached to some lions, but we need to take them off the pedestal that WE have put them on.
it is for this reason that you will see in my blogs over the last few years that i’m always having a dig, usually very subtly, at them.
I was very surprised at myself this morning when walking to my vehicle in the dark I heard a lion roar in the distance and it sent shivers down my spine. Normally this would worry me at all. I can only put it down to the fact of what happened to Jiggy and Atom and how it has affected me. Just when I thought i wasn’t scared of lions, suddenly there’s something creeping in. Oh dear!
Dear Kim and Mark - S..t - so sorry - it really hurts regardless
Kim&Mark, I enjoy seeing the pups. Hopefully we’ll a closeup soon.
Poor Jiggy and Atom. Then I think of all the videos you’ve sent, they and their antics brought a lot of joy. I was also surprised that the lions didn’t eat the dogs—-is that normal?
Those giraffes are neat too. I saw she had a calf with her. How long does mother and offspring stay together?
King of the bush? They did not ask to be labled. We labled them. And it is exactly due to this lable that they do in fact have an enemy. A very dangerous and greedy one. Man! That is why they are bring hunted .. For trophies. This is just as unfair! And we also seem to forget that they (the lions)have it just as hard when they starve to death during drought or when the break a jaw trying to bring a buffalo down or when they get kicked out of the pride due to old age. Each species are unique in their own special way and they are equally amasing in their own way. This is unfortunately nature. Who are we to judge. Though it’s always hard to witness, to say goodbye to an animal we came to love. I think it makes it twice as hard coz their numbers in nature are so low. But that is due to humans and not lions.
Their natural hatred for one another is just another mystery of the African bush. One we might never understand.
Wild dogs are one of my favourite animals for so many reasons; always hurts when I hear of lions killing them. I havnt been watching the pack for long but Im extremely grateful for seeing what I have, and for all the work you continue to do. I know its a human thing but I truly hope the pack makes it, Ill be watching,
good luck
Thank you bonnytexas, for saying EXACTLY what I wished to. I hope everybody reads bonnytexas’ comment. It’s hard to let emotion slide on this one, but please don’t get too carried away - nature is as it must be.
Kim,
Thanks for your response about the lions. I needed it. However, is there a way you could make what you want to say a little clearer? WE put them on that pedestal, so could the comments seem not to denigrate lions? My first wince was when you said all you really liked about lions was their roar. Afraid Manyari filled my thoughts when I read that. And I thought about how your grandfather fought a lion for his life with just a knife and won, plus all you have seen done by lions over the years…. So.I tried to understand, but each comment after that gouged a little more. If it’s us you want to get, please do. I’m not a fool, I know how brutal to our eyes a top predator can be: leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, wild dogs, even elephants, and the herbivores: from grace incorporated (impala, nyala, kudu, sable) to chunky (wildebeeste) killed by them. And I die a little more, because ALL of them face us as a threat, be it now or in the future. I hope you can understand where I’m coming from, as no affront has been intended.
b.
Kristy! A belated thank you, so very much. What can I say, other than validation on something that important to me is tremendous. Thank you, again.
b.
People in general, honestly do tend to give lions an undue amount of glory. Just as there is a general stigma, for no reason, against hyenas. Reading these blogs and seeing his footage really helps me put things in perspective. There is nothing negative about hyenas, and there is nothing outstandingly positive about lions. I think he is able to make this point come across very poignantly. I doubt anyone is going to go out and hunt lions because they think Kim portrays them as evil. But rather, people’s eyes might continue to be opened to the fact that no species deserves the praise or censure we tend to give them unduely. JMHO
bonnytexas, you are very welcome! You are the kind of person I think I could spend hours talking to! It’s tough to find people as intelligent as you are in regards to this subject. I appreciate all that you have said here. To be honest, I was very frustrated until I read your comments.
There are some fascinating points in time in this article however I don’t know if I see all of them heart to heart. There may be some validity however I’ll take hold opinion until I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we wish extra! Added to FeedBurner as nicely
Excellent site and agree with your comment will monitor your post congratulations and move on
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