Video Recommendation

Thanks to Ms. Corriveau (who called and told me that the show was on PBS on Saturday morning), I discovered a great video about lions in Kenya this weekend. The Nature series on PBS has an episode called "Vanishing Lions" that is all about conservation efforts centered around lion populations in Kenya. It was so great to watch it and get some idea of the issues that the researchers I'll be working with face in their work. A lot of the video focuses on the Laikipia region, where I will be, and on the efforts made their to keep lions from killing livestock. In areas where there is not enough game, lions will sometimes turn to attacking livestock, which are kept in pens called "bomas" at night to protect them. The small herders (like the Samburu or Maasai peoples) tend to kill any lions that attack the bomas; commercial livestock owners on large ranches tend to tolerate a few more losses, but if a lion becomes used to the easy prey in the bomas, the ranchers also kill the lions. This is part of the problem that the Carnivores in Conflict project in Samburu is trying to stop, because the lion population in Kenya decreased dramatically in the last couple of decades. The Nature episode does a really good job of highlighting these problems and showing the efforts that are being made to save the lions. I think it really helped add to my background knowledge for this trip, and I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately, WGBH won't be airing the episode again any time soon, according to the station's website. You can find out more about the episode and order the video or DVD at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/vanishinglions/. Hopefully, my parents taped all of it for me when it aired in Maine yesterday (I missed the first 15 minutes), so I might be able to show it in classes if we have time. The episode was only produced this April, so the local libraries do not carry it at this point. Still, I recommend watching it if you're interested.

Another upcoming Nature episode that I'm hoping will give me some good information is called "Chasing Big Cats." (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/bigcats/) According to the website, WGBH will be airing this on June 21 (ch. 44, 10pm) and June 22 (ch. 2, 1am).

Happy viewing, everyone!