one thing i would really like to do this summer is take my 10-year-old niece who is visiting her dad here down to the wild animal park at the san diego zoo to see the troupe of maasai who are living there right now, helping to spread the message that the lion - in danger of extinction in their southeastern kenya homeland - deserves to be saved.

i just think it is so awesome that these traditionally bitter enemies can be seen working together in this beautiful setting. the killing of a lion has always been the true test of manhood in masaai culture, not to mention the big cats' plundering of their herds a threat to their very survival...

but under a preservation trust set up by a lion-conservation program, there is now a negotiated fee structure in place which the masaai have agreed to accept in lieu of killing lions in their homeland. if a lion kills a donkey, for instance, the trust pays them $80, $100 for a goat, $200 for a cow and so on. it's very specific. this in a country where more than half the population lives on roughly $1 a day (and a hell of a deal for the lion, too, i would say...).

anyhow, the program that set all this up has brought the visiting masaai troupe over here and is sponsoring their stay in order to promote the trust, no doubt in the hope that the concept will catch on in other parts of the african continent and elsewhere - wherever predatory species are endangered like this. within the group spending the summer at the park, there are seven dancers (all but one of whom have killed a lion); also included are two women who give daily craftwork demonstrations. at least two of the masaai dancers speak english. the dance ritualizes gestures symbolizing the hunt, stalking and killing a lion with either a spear or a poison blow-dart. everyone is adorned in native costume and i imagine it is quite a beautiful and wondrous sight to behold! (unless, of course, you happen to be a lion...) killing this beautiful creature has always been the path to warriorhood in traditional masaai culture and is undoubtedly not an easy thing to change for that reason.

but changing it is. and that is awesome, you guys. in the 3 years since this compensation thing started, only 4 lions have been killed on the mbirikani group ranch where this troupe hails from. compared to 22 in the prior 18 months (per VA-based conservation international, a wildlife protection group)!! in the article i read, a masaai leader was quoted as proclaiming in march "from this day forward, on mbirikani, the warrior and the lion are brothers."

and we think WE have problems sometimes getting along on this forum. sheesh. all our problems should be so small, as my dad used to say..,

there are seven lions living in the wild animal park. they are not just there for the summer. i wonder what they think about all of this.

F'ing tourists. bah!

somebody asked me if this was something my niece sunny would be interested in doing (at the time i was trying to plan a surprise birthday party around the idea).

told him i didn't care. it is goddamned educational and she WILL be interested in it when i got through with her! she probably wants some kind of J-Lo themed something or other...

she's gettin' this. if i can make the haul, that is. ah, therein lies the rub.

dang TOS!!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrr

alison