Uganda: Ugandan authorities are investigating the deaths of six protected lions after alleged poisoning

Madrid, March 20, 2021 (Europa Press) –

Ugandan authorities have launched an investigation into the deaths of six lions in a natural park in the southwest of the country, which may have been poisoned by animal dealers.

In a statement posted on Saturday on its Twitter account, the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) said that incomplete animal remains had been found in the Isasha sector of Queen Isabel National Park and around it had eight dead eagles.

This indicator indicates “the possibility of unidentified poisoning of lions,” according to Ugandan authorities.

The park is popular with tourists hoping to see large mammals such as lions, giraffes, elephants and hippos. Even so, lion poisoning has spread widely in the park that straddles the border with the militia-torn northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“As some lion body parts are missing, we cannot rule out the illegal wildlife trade,” the University of Western Australia statement said.

Tourism contributes more than 20 percent of Uganda’s exports and generated more than $ 1.6 billion for the country in 2019, according to statistics from the state-owned Uganda Tourism Board.