6 October 2026,
Chuilbong villages, Ayod County,
Agency for Conservation and Development (ACD) together with Community Wildlife Ambassadors and Community Peace Advocates held four meetings with 137 community members (chiefs, youths, women, elders, local authorities) after the death of a female lion in the area. On the early morning of 21 September, three armed male youths killed young female lion at Paguom village. She was around 5-8 years of age at the time. ACD, CWAs and the community are enraged by her death. During engagement, one of the young men narrated, “She did not attack us nor our cattle. It was obviously out of fear and past experiences of lions killing our shoats and cattle”.
Elders and local authority claims “presence of large small arms” as the main cause of frequent killing of wildlife. “In the past, it would take months and years to ear of wildlife death because the tools used were not sophisticated and it would call for a larger group of people to kill one lion” – an elder lamented.
With support from Lion Recover Fund ( an initiative of WIldlife Conservation Network), ACD and the communities conduct education programs, workshops, meetings and hold campaigns against poaching, bush burning and killing lions out of fear. This is the first incident happening in the area since ACD`s arrival since June 2025.
Local chiefs, women associations and local authorities are designing modalities to curb such practices. “Wildcat sightings should not be treated as threats to life. They were here before us. They are here. And they will always be here. We survive because of them and we must do everything we can to protect them” – Paguom village head chief