Comic Summary
This 2024 revision of the earlier lion comic book (2008 edition – scroll down to view) teaches children how to build bomas (enclosures) to protect livestock from lions. The centre-spread lays out life-saving dos and don’ts for unexpected lion encounters – crucial knowledge for children walking to school through wild landscapes. The comic uses a narrative format to educate children and communities on human-lion conflict and conservation strategies. The story centers on Vusa, his grandparents, and his best friend Siya. When Siya’s ox is killed by a lion due to a broken kraal (livestock enclosure), Vusa’s grandfather, Babamkhulu, steps in to teach Siya and his father, Gabriel, about responsible livestock protection and the importance of conservation.
Overview of Content
The core themes explored in the comic include:
- Lion Conservation Status and Threats:
- There are only about ±24,000 wild lions surviving in protected areas.
- The African lion population has decreased by approximately 43% in the past 20 years, with numbers continuing to fall.
- Lions are under threat from habitat loss, revenge killing by farmers, trophy hunters, and poachers’ snares.
- Lions are being pushed closer to communities and livestock due to habitat shrinkage from human activities like cutting down trees for buildings, changing grassland into farmland, and roads cutting through their territory.
- The Importance of Lions and Predators:
- Lions are important for the country as they attract tourists, which creates local jobs and money for people and a better life for families.
- Predators, like lions, are important to keep nature in balance, as they keep down the numbers of wild grazing animals, ensuring there is enough grass for cattle to eat.
- Killing predators is illegal without permission from National Parks authorities, and poison will kill more than just the targeted animal, including scavengers like vultures. Vultures and hyenas are vital for cleaning up decaying carcasses and preventing the spread of diseases such as rabies, anthrax, botulism, and cholera.
- Protecting Livestock with Kraals (Bomas/Stockades):
- A broken kraal is as bad as having no kraal.
- Kraals are also known as bomas, camps, or stockades.
- To be effective against powerful predators like lions, a kraal needs strong walls that are 2 to 3 meters tall.
- Kraals should be located near settlements where there are a lot of people.
- Farmers can cover the outside of the kraal with materials like cloth, corn sacks, acacia branches, or stones to block the view, as lions are visual hunters and don’t attack what they can’t see.
- Mobile Kraals made of canvas curtains, shade cloth, or thick plastic sheeting, can be moved around to increase soil fertility by allowing cattle to deposit dung and urine onto crop areas.
- Other Livestock Protection Measures:
- Livestock must be herded into a well-built kraal before sunset and taken out to graze around dawn, as most are killed at night when lions and hyenas are active.
- Livestock Guarding Dogs can be specially trained to walk with herds by day and sleep in kraals at night to protect sheep and goats from smaller predators like cheetahs, hyenas, caracals, and wild dogs. They are not as effective against lions.
- Donkeys are very effective guardians, even against larger carnivores like lions, as they are naturally aggressive and will bray, chase, or try to kick predators.
- Lion-Human Safety Tips: The comic includes a page of advice on what to do if you encounter a lion.
Testimonials:
“This is a great innovative way to bring key messages to people that may not have access to environmental information. Some thoughts on the latest lion comic book: • The emphasis is on kraaling lions to reduce livestock losses due to lions and other predators, which is great! • The story is being told from a wise grandfather perspective, which is also great! • The message is very clear that with certain simple interventions conflict with lions and livestock can be reduced and that is very important!”
““This fun, yet vital, educational tool helps rural schoolchildren and their families understand human-wildlife conflict and how to stay safe. The comic teaches kids how to build bomas to protect livestock from lions, while the poster lays out life saving dos and don’ts for unexpected lion encounters - crucial knowledge for children walking to school through wild landscapes.”
“The series of VUSA Comics offer a valuable resource for rural school pupils and communities. We have already benefited from the first Lion Guardian edition, and are looking forward to the second edition as well as using the Elephant, Cheetah, Pangolin and Wild Dog editions. Comics are a fun and accessible way for the whole family to learn more about these important species and the valuable role they play in our ecosystem. Given the urgent attention that should be afforded to our declining vulture population, we would welcome the opportunity for a vulture edition to be created too. Thank you for considering expanding the VUSA Comic coverage and supporting our ongoing efforts with education and development in rural communities.”
Comic Summary
This first (2008) edition in the lion comic book series tells the story about human-animal conflict on the borders of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe and is presented in both English and Ndebele. Its purpose is to inform children in the surrounding communities about the issues of human-lion conflict and suggest ways to better protect livestock from wild carnivores.
Overview of Content
The comic book follows the story of a herd boy named Vusumuzi, or Vusa, whose family is suffering from livestock losses to lions and hyaenas.
- Human-Lion Conflict
- The Conflict: Vusa and his family, who live on the border of Hwange National Park, have lost most of their cattle, oxen, and donkeys to lions and hyaenas, which they see as a loss of their wealth and community respect. The conflict is intensified because the dry season has not ended, meaning a lack of resources for both humans and wildlife.
- Reasons for Conflict: Vusa’s grandfather (Babamkhulu) attributes the losses to changes in traditional practices: young men leaving the village for cities, resulting in cattle no longer being herded or kept in strong night kraals, and the decline of traditional beliefs and rituals.
- Impact of Poaching: Poaching is identified as a factor, as the scarcity of wild animals compels lions and hyaenas to prey on livestock, and snares attract predators closer to the village.
- Solutions and Conservation
- Livestock Protection: The primary suggestion is to return to the old custom of herding cattle during the day and keeping them in a strong kraal at night, as most livestock are killed when left outside the kraals after dark. An idea is proposed for the community to collectively herd livestock and hire a herdboy so children like Vusa can attend school.
- Role of Wild Animals: The comic explains that wild animals are essential for the ecosystem (lions control grazing animals, hyaenas/vultures clear carcasses) and are a source of wealth for the community through tourism, which provides jobs and money.
- Hwange Lion Research Project (HLR): The project, started in 1999 by Dr. Andrew Loveridge and Prof. David Macdonald in collaboration with ZimParks, focuses on understanding and mitigating human-lion conflict. HLR uses radio collars to track lion movements to find better solutions and suggests training community members as “community rangers” to track collared lions that leave the park and scare them away, which can save both livestock and lions.
- The Long Shields Programme: The comic book’s launch coincided with the introduction of this new project run by the Hwange Lion Project in partnership with Panthera and the local community. The program aims to recruit ‘Lion Guardians’ from the local community to educate, assist, and inform locals about livestock protection and the preservation of natural resources.