The lion, aged between two and three years, has been placed 42km north of Sutherland in the Northern Cape by tracking rangers after he has killed four sheep and two goats on a farm in the area on Sunday.

This was revealed by Reynold Thakhuli, SANParks general manager for media, PR and stakeholder relations. He tells OFM News the searching team tracking down the animal is using advanced infrared light technology with the hope of capturing the lion.

OFM News previously reported that the search for the lion that escaped from the Karoo National Park at Beaufort West has taken rangers and trackers as far as 42km north of Sutherland, after a report two weeks ago of it killing an eland on a farm adjacent to the park. Thakhuli says it’s quite normal for the lion to walk such a distance. Thakhuli says the search for the young male lion continues.

OFM News reported that the search and tracker teams have been trying to locate the animal in difficult terrain for weeks since it escaped on February 15 after it dug under a fence after rain. Thakhuli says they had hoped the Bidvest Protea Coin team with their infrared technology, who have helped with the search since Friday, would have yielded some positive results but they have not had any luck over the past three nights. Thakhuli says the Bidvest team consisted of a tracker who joined the team on the ground and it also had an aerial component. "We have one of only two choppers in the country fitted with forward-looking infrared (FLIR) or thermal imaging infrared cameras, which allows us to pick up heat signatures on the ground over a radius of 10km when flying at night," Thakhuli concluded.

OFM News