A sub-adult lion that wandered outside the Nairobi National Park has been captured by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers and safely transferred back to the park.
The big cat was spotted stuck between a concrete wall and iron sheets by residents of Ongata Rongai, Kajiado county.
"KWS was alerted by members of the public and promptly dispatched rangers and the veterinary team to the scene," revealed KWS.
On arrival, the rangers and police officers immediately barricaded the area and chased away onlookers who tried to catch a glimpse of the lion.
It was not immediately clear when the big cat escaped from the 117 square kilometre park, however, this is not the first time animals have escaped from the park.
In 2016, One lioness and her two cubs and two other animals escaped the park but were safely captured and returned by rangers. Two of the lions were spotted not far from Kibera earlier that morning.
KWS senior warden Nelly Palmeris revealed that the three lions were found in a housing complex at a military barracks near the park.
It emerged that the 2016 construction works on the standard gauge railway which cuts close to the park was the reason behind frequent cases off lions straying from their usual home.
A senior official at KWS admitted that construction workers accidentally tamper on power supply to the electric fence that is supposed to deter lions and other animals from sneaking from the park.
As a result, when there is no power supply, lions easily breach the barrier and wonder into neighbouring residential areas thus posing a risk to human life.
The reserve hugs the southern perimeter of the city, with a fence running round three of its four edges, north, east and west.
Only to the south does it connect to the Athi-Kapiti plains, a huge semi-arid area covering 2,200 sq km. On this side the wildlife is free to come and go as it pleases.
There has been constant human-wildlife conflict because the park is home to lions and leopards and is in close proximity to the city in the north and herds of cattle and goats in the south where it borders the sprawling Kapiti plains where livestock is the mainstay of Maasai communities.