Last week it was reported by the group Enough is Enough that a male lion was seen with a snare around his mane, unfortunately since his last sighting no one has seen this male again. The male lion turned out to be Mazino from the Charleston coalition.
The Charleston males are a coalition of two male lions, they were born in April of 2011 in the southern parts of MalaMala Game Reserve, no one is sure who fathered these males as some say the Toulon male, while others say the Kruger male.
They didn’t have an easy start to life; in 2012 the Charleston pride was killed by the Selati pride after a battle between the two prides occurred. The only surviving members of the Charleston pride left were the two 9 month old Charleston male lions and their aunt. She took responsibility in raising these two lions.
They were born in an area in the reserve known as Charleston, and they were named according to the territory that their maternal pride held before them, that is why they are referred to as the Charleston Coalition. The two males were easy to identify because the one male, known as Mazino, which means “tooth” in Shangaan language, had a canine tooth which hanged off his lower jaw.
The other male is known as “Big Boy” as he is the bigger male between the two and he is also the more dominant.
Many believe that around 2014-2015, Mazino was kicked in the corner of his jaw by the hoof of a giraffe, causing his tooth to hangout. The event was never witnessed, so the only one to know what really happened is Mazino.
In 2015 the two Charleston male took over the Southern pride from the two Fourways males, and they established a territory in the southern part of Sabi Sands.
Since June-July of 2017, the Charleston males have been seen spending most of their time inside the Kruger Park, around the S1, S65 and Paul Kruger Gate area.
They abandoned their territory in Sabi Sands as well as the Southern pride, which they are the pride males of. The reason they left their pride is to find new females to mate with, as the Southern pride lioness were nursing cubs. The only problem with that is that other male lions from Sabi Sands are most likely to take over the pride. The last time the Charleston males were seen in Sabi Sands was after the three Avoca males were heard roaring around their area.
A couple of months ago when the two males were spotted back in the Kruger, many visitors did not recognize them at first because Mazino’s tooth had finally fallen out.
We hope that he is found soon and they are able to remove the snare. If you happen to spot him please report it to Lize from Enough is Enough her number is 082 458 6227 and she will report it to the appropriate people.