Pretoria - With another big cat on the loose in the Centurion region, lion whisperer Charmaine Joubert has called on authorities to display caution in tracking it down and not to randomly kill the animal.
An extensive search operation is under way to track and capture the lion which has been spotted by different people around the R511 road, near the popular Hennops Hiking Trail and areas bordering Gauteng and North West.
Joubert, an old-hand at working with predators at Mystic Monkeys, said people searching for the lion should follow the correct means when they are confronted by the king of the Jungle.
“The lion on the loose should be monitored in a good way. I urgently appeal to the authorities or anyone else not to simply shoot it. The correct people – preferably experts – should be involved in the search operation.
“The correct thing to do will be for a vet to dart it so that the lion can be taken to safety,” Joubert said.
She added that the lion surely belonged to someone and that it managed to escape due to all the recent rain.
“They must remember that they won’t find it during the day as it will lay low or sleep.
“It is only during night time that it will start roaming the territory. If it is hungry, which it must be by now, it will start hunting for something,” she said.
Joubert advised people in the vicinity where the lion was last spotted to be especially cautious at night and to rather stay indoors, as it was unpredictable how the lion might act.
Joubert also offered her services to the authorities if they spotted the lion, but battled to capture it.
Joubert was one of those who voiced their outrage when Sheba the tigress was shot dead recently.
She said that the matter could have been dealt with in a much better manner, by rather darting the animal.
Joubert, who has decades of knowledge on how to deal with these predators, said she has a bond with them that she is often able to hug and play with them.
Meanwhile, Arthur Crewe, on behalf of Strategic Response and Rescue Unit, said the lion remained on the loose, and there had not been confirmation of where it had escaped from.
“What happened is that at two yesterday morning, a security officer that was patrolling the area spotted the lion on the 511 in the Hennops area. He posted on the local group for everybody to be cautious.
“At around 7am yesterday, I dispatched our search and rescue team to try to locate the lion and to bring it back safely. We had not known where she has come from. People in the area would really be keen on shooting the animal, so we dispatched our search and rescue teams.
“A second gentleman said he had seen the same lion. (Hence), we had two sightings of the same animal, and we have been on the search ever since. At around 2.30pm yesterday, we received another sighting in the same area, and that is where most of our attention has been focused, and we believe she is still in that area at the moment,” said Crewe.
He said some people had claimed to have sighted the animal overnight, but there was no new information on the big cat.
Crewe added that the sightings have been near the Hartbeespoort area “on the border of Gauteng and North West close to the Hennops Hiking Trail”.
Pretoria News