Two imprisoned for 8 years after killing 6 lions,10 white-backed vultures

The two, Vincent Tumuhirwe, a farmer and Robert Ariyo, a boda boda rider, both from Kanungu district, were on Thursday sentenced by the Utilities, Wildlife and Standards Court presided over by the Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu following their conviction on five charges last week.

The charges are entering a protected area without permission, hunting wild animals in a wildlife conservation area without permission, killing wild animals and protected wildlife species in a wildlife conservation area without permission.

Kamasanyu last week convicted the two men saying the prosecution adduced evidence from 13 witnesses who proved beyond a reasonable doubt that, between March 17th and 19th, 2021, the two men illegally entered Habugombwa Kob Mating Ground Ishasha Sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kanungu district, hunted and killed six climbing lions and ten white-backed vultures by poisoning.

The court heard that Ariyo and Tumuhirwe were found in possession of four heads of lions, fifteen legs of lions, one tail of a lion, and a three-liter jerrican of lion fats without a valid wildlife use right. The said illegal activities occurred in a radius of 5.4 kilometers inside the national park where the lions were found decomposing with some of their body parts missing in the protected area.

The climbing lions, after mountain gorillas, are the most sought-after species by tourists visiting Uganda. A Wildlife Conservation Society assessment in 2006 showed that each individual lion in Queen Elizabeth National Park generated about $13,500 USD per year for the national economy in terms of the revenue it brought into the country.