Why Destroy Lions for Bones?

The destruction of wildlife for lion bones.  The lions were the target, but the other animals that ended up being poisoned were just collateral damage. 

The ongoing Asian demand for lion bones has led to an horrific wildlife poisoning in the Limpopo National Park, just over the Mozambican border from Kruger Park.

A mere two kilometres from the Machampane tourist camp, a research team came across the carcases of two nyala, a warthog and an impala laced with what they describe as a black granular poison. Lying nearby were two lions, 51 vultures, three fish eagles, a yellow-billed kite and a giant eagle owl. There was evidence of a leopard but its body was not found.

The lions had been dismembered, their bones removed, and 22 vultures had been decapitated, their heads presumably to be used for muti. Snares had also been set around the poisoned carcases. The team from the Limpopo Transfrontier Predator Project burned all the poisoned carcasses.

The Limpopo research team found the two lions had been carried 200 metres away from the epicenter of the poisoning onto a nearby ridge and butchered. The skins, a portion of the abdomens with significant layer of fat and the intestines were left.

The two male lions were both estimated to be about two years old. All their bones had been removed and meat had been cut into strips, dried and mostly removed.