Episode 08: The Tsavo Maneaters Part 1 - Don’t Hug the Wildlife

Between March and December 1898, two male lions went on a killing spree, slaughtering dozens of railroad workers in Kenya. The maneless male lions tore through the camp’s mobile tents and dragged the helpless workers out into the bush, where they devoured them. The severity of these attacks completely halted work on the rail line. The workers called the lions demons, devils or vengeful spirits and lived in fear of their bloodthirsty savagery until they were finally killed by British Army Colonel John Henry Patterson. To this day, they remain one of the most memorable examples of the push and pull of human technological expansion and the bestial ferocity of nature.