UWEC’s roaring cat

Letaba the lion arrives, at the airport . Right, the cat gets treatment at Uganda Wildlife Education Centre and extreme right, the UWEC team pose with Letaba. PHOTO BY Michael Kakumirizi

What you need to know:

Prized trophy. As big cats go, Letaba does not disappoint. His roar is deep and lusty, and he does not take lightly to humans moving into his personal space as Gillian Nantume found out.

Ideally, I am at Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) to see Letaba the lion. Letaba, means happiness in the Zulu language. It is a lovely morning cool and very quiet. The only interruption comes from birds in the trees that occasionally scream into the air.
The distance from the reception to the National Wildlife Hospital and Quarantine, is about half a kilometre, and very lonely. At 9am, on a Tuesday, I am probably the first visitor in the zoo.
It is a wide murram road. On one side, thick vegetation and on the other, an exhibition area for ostriches, zebras, and a shoebill stork, a large beaked-like bird.
Ahead, I spot two camels and an antelope walking freely; causing me to stop in my tracks. I am torn in between things; to go back or to continue? Fortunately, a car is driving towards me. James Musinguzi, UWEC executive director, gets out and asks a ranger, Juma to walk me the rest of the way.
“Those animals cannot harm you,” Juma tells me. “We can never put our visitors at risk.”
At the hospital, I meet Dr Abdul Hamid Kateregga, the veterinarian, and after a few minutes we are joined by Robert Olupot, Letaba’s caregiver and my guide.
Before entering the restricted area, we step on a rag soaked in disinfectant.
“The animals here are new arrivals at the zoo,” Olupot says. “Some are patients and others are babies, so disinfectant prevents us from carrying infections into the area.”
A bird in a cage to the left, is making lot of noise. At the first room, a baby chimpanzee poses for a picture in the window. I oblige. Next to Letaba’s holding, we turn into a small corridor.
My attention is distracted by a squeaky ‘hello’ behind me. It is Robert, a parrot, greeting us. He pushes his head out of the wire mesh as far as it can go. He is joined by Marius and Bruce, his companions.

Meeting Letaba
As Olupot feeds them, we strike up a conversation about birds imitating humans. So engrossed are we that when the roar sounds, I am caught off guard.
I have heard a lion roar before, on TV. This roar is loud and deep and coming from a lion less than two feet away, I drop my notebook. I feel my heart skip a beat, literally.
“The locks are secure, he cannot get out,” Olupot reassures me, but Letaba lets out another roar, and then another one. My heart cannot take the sound. My instinct is to run.
“We are in its space,” Olupot explains. “The roar communicates its displeasure.”
Tawny and lean, at six years (about 25 in human years), Letaba fits the image of the king of the jungle. He is not friendly.
“We were used to Kibonge, whose roar was feeble. Suddenly here was a youthful lion with a very deep roar. He looked almost strange.”
Olupot says Kibonge died at 18 years in November last year. In human years, that is about 80 years.Incidentally, Kibonge was a donation from the Kenya Wildlife Society.
Because of airline regulations concerning the transportation of live animals, Letaba had been starved before the flight and tranquilised. The chemicals and the hunger weakened him greatly.
“On his first day at the zoo, he was not fed, but on the second day, he responded heartily to the meal.”

Origins
“When seeking to replace Kibonge, we needed a younger lion, but we feared that it might fail to dominate the four lionesses already in the zoo,” says Kateregga. When the process started, Letaba was four years old. Kateregga adds, “most cats live up to 15 years so Letaba is strong, inexperienced, but with just enough to help him integrate into a new environment.”
Kibonge died without offspring because Zara, one of the lionesses he impregnated was not a good mother. Her cub died at three months.
“Feeding cubs is not easy because the milk replacement – basically formulas – has to be imported. It has components of milk and other additives.”

Why South Africa
Letaba was reared in a sanctuary in South Africa, The Lion Park, where lions are bred for shows, trade, restocking zoo populations and for reintroduction into the wild.
“Last year, at the Pan African Association of Zoos conference, the director of The Lion Park pledged to donate a young lion after seeing Kibonge.”
On why a lion could not be picked from our National Parks, Kateregga says this would distabilise the lion population there.
“In the future, UWEC may consider breeding lions for reintroduction into the wild. But currently, Letaba is not here for breeding purposes. He is here to educate the public about lions and their nature.”
Zara and Bisa, the lionesses, are kept on contraceptives because of the economic implications of breeding more cubs. Zara is the friendlier one. Bisa has two daughters, Mutagambwa and Flavia, who is currently in quarantine. She is destined for Japan on a breeding loan.
His life now
In quarantine until May 18, Letaba spent the day lying on the floor. His cage has a tyre swing and a platform. Of late, he paces the floor sometimes sitting on the platform.
“Initially, he was shy but now he responds to his name,” says his caregiver. “But he will roar when you look him in the eyes. He considers eye contact a challenge.”

Quarantine
Before his journey, Letaba was vaccinated according to the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries and international control measures.
“We have to monitor him for any infections,” says Kateregga. “We basically operate on a precautionary principle with the caregivers observing the lion for peculiar behaviours.”In a closed setting, it is not easy to judge the character of an animal much like a human being. It is only after Letaba is let out into the pride that his character will be determined.

HIS DIET
We starve the cats on Monday and Friday. On other days, Letaba eats eight kilogrammes of beef daily, accompanied by supplements to make a good diet. Once in two weeks, a kilogramme of liver is added. Liver is rich in nutrients,” says Robert Olupot, Letaba’s caregiver.
In South Africa, there were six lions in the park and they were fed on an antelope carcass every two days.
Letaba lives in a holding comprising two rooms separated by a metal barrier. Each room has a metallic door that opens into a corridor. The caregiver places the meat in one room and locks the door. He then moves to a hollow section on the outer wall and works a lever.
The lever opens the metal barrier and he calls to Letaba to move into the room where the meal is. Once he moves, the barrier is shut again. Olupot can then access the second room to clean it.

Quick facts about lions
• Uganda has less than 400 lions in the wild
• Letaba was donated to Uganda by the director of the South African Lion Park, Mark Fynn, who was impressed with the work of UWEC.
• African lions are the most social of all big cats and live together in groups or “prides.” A pride consists of about 15 lions.
• A lion’s roar can be heard from as far as five miles away.
• A lion can run for short distances at 50 mph and leap as far as 36 feet.
• Male lions defend the pride’s territory while females do most of the hunting. Despite this, the males eat first.
• A lion’s heels don’t touch the ground when it walks.
• The African lion is 4.5 to 6.5 feet (1.4 to 2 metres) long from its head to its rump, and its tail measures from 26.25 to 39.5 inches (67 to 100 centimetres) long. African lions typically weigh 120 to 191 kilograms.
• A lion may sleep up to 20 hours a day.
• Lion’s mane develops at 10 months
• A group of lions is called a pride
• In the open, a lion can run up to 32 mph
• They have a life span of 12-16 years
• A lioness gestates for 120 days