Tragedy in Nairobi: 14-year-old girl killed by lion, Kenya turns to AI for solutions

A 14-year-old girl lost her life to a lion in a deadly snatch by the beast at Kenya’s Nairobi National Park. The incident took place on Sunday and while shedding light on the incident, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) stated that the girl was snatched at the ranch bordering the southern edge of the national park.  

As per reports, the animal entered the residential complex near to the national park on Saturday night by jumping off the fence. The lioness then allegedly entered one of the households and attacked the girl, who was inside with another teenager.  

The KWS stated that they received a call from the second teenager regarding the alleged incident and claimed that there was no evidence of provocation from the victims. Upon investigation, KWS stated that they followed the bloodstains which led them to the Mbagathi river and found the girl's body with severe injuries on her lower back.  

KWS affirmed that the lioness is still out, and a search has been launched for the animal. As per them, the KWS has set a trap and deployed teams to search for the lioness and the team is also trying to implement even stronger security measures. As per them, a new electric fencing is set to be installed. The KWS also stated that they are deciding to implement an AI powered early warning system to notify the nearby communities of any suspicious animal movement.  

As per the information shared by KWS, the AI powered early warning system will play a critical role in managing animal movement. These smart systems will use motion sensors, camera traps, and machine learning algorithms to detect and identify the presence of wild animals including lions and elephants.  

Once a threat is detected, the system will automatically send real time alerts via mobile phones sirens and community networks to alert the residents. Notably, such systems have been tried before in other parts of Africa including Botswana and parts of India, where these systems turned out to be extremely helpful as they reduced the number of deadly encounters.