A lion was killed on March 30 by Kenyan wildlife rangers, who opened fire after it attacked a man outside capital city Nairobi.
Mohawk, 13, was one of Kenya’s most well-known cats in Nairobi National Park.
The nation has invested large sums of money to protect wildlife—which is why Wednesday’s incident sparked a lot of confusion.
Kenya Wildlife Services was called as the lion attacked a man. But the team that responded only had rifles and no tranquilizers to subdue the lion.
A second team, with tranquilizers, was on its way, but was too late—the first team had already killed the animal.
According to a spokesman for Kenya Wildlife Services, the team who killed the animal feared more people would be injured if they had to wait any longer. The lion had injured a 27-year-old man on a motorcycle and a large crowd had formed around the scene.
The Associated Press said the victim sustained bruises and deep lacerations on his back.
Paul Udoto, from Kenya’s wildlife service said: “It had injured somebody … there was a crowd that had formed around it, so it was practically impossible to capture it the way we planned to.”
David Kipkemei, a police spokesman, said the size of the crowd was expanding and “excitement was there, which triggered the animal to be wild.”
The Associated Press said there were as many as 400 people in the crowd.
“I expected KWS [Kenyan Wildlife Service] to disable the animal but not to kill the animal,” Kipkemei said.
“We wish to assure the public that we remain true and committed to serving and protecting our wildlife resources,” park officials said on Twitter. “Our number-one focus has and will always be conserving our wildlife for Kenyans and the world as a whole.”
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