Kenyans and South Africans expressed their anger on social media on decisions taken by wildlife officials to kill stray lions that have been escaping from parks and finding their way to residential areas.

While the decision by the wildlife officials in the two countries was not arrived at together, their timing coincided  with a spate of escaped by lions from the Nairobi National Park, which is the only park in the world in a capital city, and Karoo National Park.

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers killed a male lion, named Mohawk, that had strayed from the Nairobi National Park on Wednesday, drawing anger and condemnation from Kenyans and conservationists alike.

According to Standard Media, Mohawk had injured a motorcycle operator in a suburb town of the city before rangers and police officers used at least twenty live bullets to shoot him down.

Kenyans took to social media to vent their anger and questioned why KWS did not use tranquilizers to sedate the cat and safely take it back to the park.

A similar decision by wildlife officials in South Africa to kill a stray lion, named Sylvester, that had escaped from Karoo National Park last week was met by public outcry as conservationists called for its capture and relocation.

This is the second time Sylvester had escaped from the park.

According to Telegraph, he escaped last year and ended up killing 30 animals before he was captured after three weeks.

Spots and Stripes Conservation in Britain has urged authorities in the South Africa to sedate Sylvester and relocate him to a big cat sanctuary instead of killing him.

The killing of Mohawk baffled many because unlike, Sylvester, he had not killed any livestock, a fact that KWS ignored, insisting that he had posed danger to residents.

According to The Washington Post, Kenyan park rangers lacked tranquilizers and this raises concerns why KWS rangers went to capture Mohawk, armed with bullet filled rifles only.

Since January 2016, at least six lions have strayed from the Nairobi National Park and entered nearby residential places. This has been attributed to human encroachment as residential and business facilities have sprung up along the park’s perimeter.

The two cases of African lions on the loose highlight the difficult balance between protecting people and conserving lions, whose numbers have declined dramatically over the past century because of unregulated hunting, a loss of habitat and growing conflict with livestock herders.

Concern about the threatened species intensified last year when an American dentist killed a lion named Cecil in a hunt in Zimbabwe that officials said was illegal.