June 30, 2011
Building Bomas to Protect Lions
A new HSI project helps protect lions, farm animals and people
A boma is a specially designed lion-proof barrier made from strong posts, spiny shrubs, and chain-link fence, with sturdy metal doors which allow herders to secure their animals inside at night. Humane Society International has teamed up with the Born Free Foundation to build seven of these structures in the Tsavo ecosystem, an area that has been identified as a hotspot for human-lion conflict.
Solution to a problem
Lions depend on an abundance of herbivorous animals for their food, and unfortunately, cattle, sheep and goats make easy targets. Herders may see a lion as a threat and a nuisance and kill it out of fear or in reprisal after a loss. Currently, hundreds of lions die every year as a result, but experience has shown that using bomas to protect farm animals marked decreases retaliatory killing of predators.
The seven bomas being funded by Humane Society International are scheduled to be built by the Born Free Foundation in early July, 2011. Previous construction of other bomas in the area has been met with great support and participation. Our contribution will also go toward conducting outreach and awareness-raising activities in the local communities that will directly benefit from this aid. Educational topics will include care and maintenance of the bomas, as well as environmental protection and conservation.
We are confident that these new bomas, built in an area strategically important for lion conservation, will help protect lions and farm animals and provide peace of mind for the local people.
You can help
Building bomas is expensive! If you’d like to help fund the construction of more, please contribute to our Stop Wildlife Abuse fund to support this and our other initiatives to protect wildlife. You can also help save lions by taking action to get them listed as "endangered" under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.