A mass capture technique for lions

During a 13 month survey over 600 lions were lured to capture sites and of these 488 were captured and 409 marked in 158 effort nights (two teams worked for 79 nights). Lions were captured in 96 effort nights out of the 158. Groups of up to 16 were captured per effort night with 80% of all observed lions captured. Seasonal capture rates indicated that there was an inverse relationship between rainfall and capture success, the greatest success being recorded during the dry season. Lions were lured to a game carcass with tape recordings of lions and spotted hyaena calls, and scent trails. All lions were darted at night from the back of a parked vehicle. Record ings were audible to 7 km, the effective luring range with regard to lions being about 4 km. Lions and hyaenas also responded to the sounds in the absence of a carcass or scent trails and approached the sound at a brisk walk. Playing roars often caused lions to move away. Recordings used in conjunction with a carcass and scent trails reduced the time lions took to arrive by a factor of 2.7 when compared to using only a carcass and scent trails. Eighty-three per cent of the darted lions remained within 10 m of the carcass. Both sexes and all age classes except cubs under about 1 month were captured by the technique. The mortality rate was 0.82%.