Why Maasai hunt lions
Maasai hunt lions for multiple overlapping reasons, some related to direct predation on livestock and some not. We discuss these reasons by study site.
Kenya
In Kenya the most common response (76%) for why a lion was hunted was related to achieving and reinforcing the role of ilmurran in society. Specific responses included a way for young men to obtain prestige (29%), a test of one’s bravery (22%), the wish to obtain the prestigious ‘lion name’ (18%) and winning the attention of girls (7%). These explanations overlapped, with several informants mentioning more than one. Lion hunts were discussed simultaneously as an ‘interview’ or ‘exam’ of ilmurran skills, and as bringing status to the entire age-set. Other people mentioned the hunt as the opportunity to practice ‘warriorhood’ in general and to maintain Maasai culture (10%), for fun and enjoyment (4%) and to practice spearing skills (2%).
The overlap of these reasons and the value of olamayio in meeting expectations for ilmurran is illustrated in the following quote from an elder in Kenya:
[Olamayio is important] because the olmurrani who owns the lion will celebrate and will be liked by isiankikin [young girlfriends, wives] and will get a new name. So he looks like he is the one who killed the lion alone when in fact there were so many other ilmurran who helped in killing it. When thirty ilmurran go on olamayio the one who first touches the lion with his spear, he is the owner of the lion. Even if the lion is going to injure you, you don’t mind! This is why we go for the ‘interview’: to show who is the bravest, or the strongest or the fastest olmurrani and who isn’t. So this one sets the expectations for the whole age-set (Kisongo junior elder, Imbirikani group ranch, 2002).
Only 14% of Kenyan informants mentioned livestock predation as a reason for killing lions, whereas 18% mentioned killing lions as a way to prevent them from preying on livestock. This includes responses explaining the purpose of olamayio as: to keep aggressive wild animals away from people and cows; to ‘save cows,’ and to keep lions from becoming habituated to killing domestic animals. A Kenyan Kisongo senior elder (Olgulului-Lolarrash group ranch, 2003) explained that, in the event of a lion killing one of his cows ‘[he] would gather the ilmurran, follow the lion and make sure we kill it so it never comes back. Now that killing wild animals is forbidden,’ however, ‘that lion will just go and may be the next day it will eat another cow.’
In the Amboseli area Maasai perceive tensions between people and wildlife as having increased as a result of the prohibition to kill wildlife and the creation of ‘places only for wildlife’ (i.e. protected areas), which is best expressed in the following two quotes:
Ilmurran used to chase [wildlife] and killed the ones causing problems, so these animals feared people. Now, even ilmurran have decided not to chase and not to kill them. So animals have become more aggressive.’ (Kisongo senior elder, Olgulului-Lolarrash group ranch, 2003).
Because they are not being killed any more the problem [of wildlife attacking people] has increased: we are not used to each other any more. So, the moment we meet, we are enemies. Even before, the lion didn’t eat people that much […]. It was believed that if you were eaten by a lion for nothing it meant that you were cursed (Kisongo elder woman, Imbirikani group ranch, 2002).
Many informants argued that it was ‘the work of the ilmurran’ to keep wild animals fearful of and away from people and livestock. This illustrates the overlapping reasons Maasai hunt lions: as the work of the ilmurran, to keep up expectations that they are capable of this and other responsibilities, and to maintain a safe environment for people and livestock. Yet at the same time, elders and women often try to dissuade ilmurran from going on olamayio (it can result in human injury or death), or from killing too many lions or other wild animals during a hunt, which is considered a sin. Going on olamayio in Kenya may now lead to the arrest of those who participate. According to one elder, olamayio is now happening less frequently, and ‘only if a cow was injured or killed by wildlife. … Before, they would just go even if a cow was not eaten. Now they fear that they may be arrested by the government’ (Kisongo senior elder, Imbirikani group ranch, 2002). Yet another Kisongo junior elder (Imbirikani group ranch, 2002) suggested that hunting continues secretly, ‘yes [olamayio is occurring] less and very secretly because the government is against killing wildlife.’ In addition to being illegal, for some ilmurran lion hunting does not fit with their changing lifestyles. As one Kenyan Kisongo woman remarked (Imbirikani group ranch, 2002), ‘yes, [olamayio is happening but] less because many ilmurran have now gone to school and some to church and they are busy.’
With olamayio illegal in Kenya, people have begun to use poison to kill lions following predation on livestock. This occurs in secret and is not celebrated, being considered cowardly and shameful. Restrictions on practising olamayio were seen as directly linked to the power of the conservation sector and the government (often conflating the two). As a Kisongo junior elder from Olgulului-Lolarrash group ranch (2003) explained, olamayio is still happening but ‘very little,’ because, ‘no elder will allow the ilmurran to come and celebrate at his boma and enjoy olamayio, because of KWS [Kenyan Wildlife Service] rules.’ Additional restrictions on olamayio in Imbirikani group ranch were enforced through the local predator compensation programme, which makes compensation to individual herders who lost cattle to predators conditional on the absence of any lion hunting in a certain area for a certain period (Maclennan et al., 2009). This programme potentially influenced ‘lion hunt politics’ in the area as well. In one revealing episode, JRP came across an olamayio of 11 ilmurran, returning from an unsuccessful hunt, which was carried out on the day of the launching of the compensation programme. The participants justified that hunt as the expression of their disagreement with the compensation flat rate. Conservation workers also reported a series of hunts (of lion and other wildlife) in a neighbouring group ranch, rumoured to be orchestrated as an attempt to demand a compensation programme (S. Maclennan, Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project, pers. comm., 5 February 2005). These instances suggest that uneasy relationships with conservation goals and initiatives and power struggles over the management and profits related to wildlife can lead to a different reason for killing lions: as a political statement. Such protests are not new for Maasai in Kenya. In 2003 Kaputei Maasai living adjacent to Nairobi National Park killed lions in protest when their requests for support and dialogue with KWS were not met. According to local Maasai, lions were preying on sick and recovering cattle after a severe drought. They had asked KWS to intervene, and received no response. One of the Maasai leaders of the group that led the protest explained, ‘We were killing lions because of the cruelty of the government. Not because the lions erred but because the government refused to help’ (interview, 2008).
Tanzania
In Tanzania the most frequent explanation for why lions were hunted was livestock depredation, mentioned by 95% of informants. As one Tanzanian olmurrani explained: ‘We call olkiyioi (alarm cry) after the lion attacks livestock and then we go on olamayio’ (interview, 2008). However, ilmurran do not always wait until a lion attacks livestock but often kill lions perceived as preparing to attack, and to ensure that lions stay away from people and livestock. Such hunts were mentioned by 27% of Tanzanian informants and include those who referred to killing lions in the wet season, when carnivores follow migratory wild herbivores into village lands (Kissui, 2008) and are seen as a threat. Ilmurran are on the lookout during this time and if they hear a lion in the area for a few days, will hunt it. Some researchers have suggested that the rise of lion hunting in the wet season is because ilmurran are idle at this time, with nothing better to do (see Frank et al., 2006 for Kenya). Yet in the wet season lions follow wildebeest and zebra that come near Maasai settlements (for protection against lions, according to Maasai) a behaviour also described by Reid et al. (2003) and Goldman (2006).
The protective nature of hunting lions at this time was explained by an Esilalei olmurrani (2008):
Soon after we see the lion near our homes we maybe hear it in the night. Tomorrow morning we start following it. [So it does not always attack livestock first?] We can follow him before he attacks the livestock. We have to protect our cows before [the lion] attacks.
Explaining why lions were hunted after predation on livestock a senior elder from Esilalei explained (2008):
We know the character of lions. If a lion eats cattle, it will keep eating cattle until you kill it. It will run to eat cattle until you kill it or you move. But the ilmurran say, ‘don’t move, let’s go and kill that lion.’
A senior elder from Oltukai explained that when he was an olmurrani, he ‘killed a lion so it would no longer kill cattle.’ When asked if ilmurran could be prevented from killing lions today if monetary compensation for the lost cattle was provided he emphasized the need to kill the responsible lion (2008):
We cannot agree [to compensation] because we do not have cattle to be killed every day! We must go and kill that lion because our payment is to kill that lion today. If they pay money today, then tomorrow, they will pay every day because the lion will keep coming back to eat cattle until all the cattle are gone. And then what will we do with the money?
The same elder further illustrated why financial compensation did not make sense, did not stop lions from killing cattle and would not stop ilmurran from killing lions. His response suggests the emotional dimension of hunting a lion that has killed one’s cow (2008):
My son’s boma had two cattle killed and one olmurrani hurt [by a lion]. I cried, so the lion must cry. [Let’s say] another lion then comes to the settlement another day. The government says ‘don’t go [kill the lion] and we will pay [compensation]’. But we cannot do it. We cannot stop the ilmurran because we already lost our cattle and this loss hurts deep in our soul [roho].
A junior elder and member of the village government in Oltukai revealed that an American tour operator approached the village about starting a compensation project to pay families that lost cattle to lions in exchange for allowing the lion to live. ‘But the people refused,’ explained the elder. ‘They complained that the lions would learn that it is all right to eat cattle. And so for now, you will pay, but what happens when you and your organization leave? Who will pay then? And the lions will have learned already to eat cattle. No. We refused’ (2008).
These statements suggest the limitations of monetary compensation programmes designed to prevent ‘retaliatory’ hunts. Our informants suggest that post-predation hunts also address the emotional loss felt by herders, while eliminating an individual lion and preventing it from killing cattle again.
Lion hunting seems to have lost some of its prestige and reward in winning girlfriends for ilmurran in this area, with only 16% of informants naming pride/prestige as a reason for killing lions. This sentiment was expressed in a group interview (six ilmurran, 2008), at which one man stated (and others agreed) that, ‘today, for an olmurrani, having money and cattle is more important for obtaining status than having killed a lion.’ However, several individuals spoke about the continued importance of olamayio for ‘warriorhood’ (13%), with 4% naming the start of a new age-set of ilmurran as a reason for lion hunts and 9% stating that lion hunting was part of ‘the work of the ilmurran.’ When a new age-set is initiated the older ilmurran teach the young ones how to hunt, leading to an increase in lion hunting that continues for a few years after the older ilmurran graduate, leaving the younger, new ilmurran on their own (as was the case at the time of this research). At this time the new ilmurran feel they need to prove themselves as proper warriors, capable of protecting the community’s cattle. As one Tanzanian olmurrani remarked (2008), ‘We just do it [hunt lions] because we were given responsibility of the cattle.’
Today, because of changes occurring within Maasai society and the tolerance of killing lions after predation in Tanzania, olamayio is said to occur primarily after predation on livestock. However, this does not diminish the importance of olamayio as a socio-cultural practice. When we asked if olamayio was still important today, 96% of informants said yes. When olamayio occurs after a predation incident the celebration occurs as usual. Forbidding this to occur can have negative repercussions, as discussed below.
