Tanzania burns to ashes carcasses of the ten lions that died under mysterious circumstances in Ngorongoro
Conservators in Tanzania have burnt to ashes all the carcasses of the ten lions that were recently discovered dead in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Wildlife veterinarians explain the carcasses of the dead must be burnt to ashes in order to ensure that whatever killed the large cats does not spread to other wildlife species.
“We are not sure what caused the death of these lions at the same time,” said a zoological expert.
“Therefore, we must make sure the remains are totally destroyed!”
At first there were speculations that the lions could have consumed poisonous meat, but later this was dismissed because normally, these large cats of the wild eat only what they hunt.
Other reports tried to explain the incident as some sort of disease or infection targeting the lions, but this also did not seem to hold much water.
“The ultimate report from the Chief Government Chemist will come up with answers,” a conservator in the Ngorongoro Conservation concluded.
Ten lions and one giraffe were found dead within the Lake Ndutu plains of Ngorongoro, on Saturday, the 19th of September 2026.
It was a rather strange incident which left conservators and researchers in Tanzania baffled.
However, samples from the lion carcasses have already been extracted and sent to the Chief Government Chemist for testing.
An official statement from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) said the investigations were underway.
Lions that are found on the Ngorongoro Highlands usually also move between the conservation are and the adjacent Serengeti plains.
The Ndutu Lake area to the west of the conservation area has particularly strong lion and cheetah populations.
Those found inside the crater however are well catered for, when it comes to well stocked hunting grounds and normally remain within the caldera.
Apparently, more than 25,000 large animals, mostly ungulates, live inside the Ngorongoro crater, where also the number of lions is around 64.
Being the only conservation area in Tanzania, Ngorongoro is a mixed protected site where the nomadic livestock-grazing pastoralists of Maasai co-exist with wildlife.
In fact, this is the reason why some people tried to insinuate that possibly the lions were poisoned in retaliation for attacking livestock.
There are reports that, a week before, some donkeys belonging to the Maasai were reportedly killed by some wild beasts.
Is the Millennium disease returning to Ngorongoro?
History points out to a similar calamity which occured in Ngorongoro 25 years ago.
At the turn of the second millennium between 2000 and 2001 some strange disease was reported in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, killing over 500 wildlife species.
The wildlife pandemic American, Kenyan and South African wildlife scientists went to Ngorongoro in 2001 to study a strange disease which has been decimating hundreds of animals in the world famous Ngorongoro Crater in the northern tourist circuit of the country.
The team of 11 researchers began its study after Tanzanian wildlife authorities reported that a mysterious disease has killed at least 600 animals within a period of 10 months.
A Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) official said Thursday the mysterious disease had attacked 323 buffaloes, 193 wildebeests, 69 zebras, seven rhinos, six lions and four hippos between May 2000 and March 2001.
“We don’t know the cause of the animal deaths, but early samples show that it is Babesiosis (urinating red samples),” said Emmanuel Chausi, the former Chief Conservator at Ngorongoro, during that time.
According to expert testimony, Babesiosis was suspected and this is a disease that causes breathing problems due to lack of sufficient red cells which supply oxygen in animals.
In 1994, a similar peculiar disease, later identified as Canine Distemper, killed more than 2,000 lions in the world’s famous Serengeti National Park, also found on the north of Tanzania.
Former Conservator Chausi then stated that the deaths of buffaloes, zebras and antelopes in the crater could be due to severe drought which hit the northern part of Tanzania in 2000, causing widespread food shortages among villagers surrounding the national parks.