Over 2000 Kenyans have signed a petition to have Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) held accountable for needlessly killing the country’s famous lion named Mohawk.

Mohawk was killed in the outskirts of the capital Nairobi by the rangers who justified their action by saying they did not have tranquilizers.

Usually, when such cases happen, the rangers sedate the animal then transport it back into the park where it escaped from.

Mohawk had wandered from Nairobi National Park to Isinya plains where he was cornered by KWS rangers and policemen.

The lion got agitated by the situation to the point of injuring a man. It is then that the rangers opted to kill it.

The rangers are said to have shot Mohawk 9 times.

This incident angered many Kenyans and led to calls for the KWS to be held responsible for Mohawks death.

The more that 2000 people signed the online petition in less than eight hours and were joined by social media users who expressed their anger at KWS through the hashtag #JusticeForMohawk.

In an almost similar scenario, South African animal rights campaigners have been urging one of the country’s game park authorities to reverse a decision to put down a lion that escaped the park on Sunday.

The lion, nicknamed Sylvester, crawled under an electric fence after heavy rains dislodged earth.

Park authorities say they are considering five options, one of which is to kill the lion.

Under the hashtag #SylvesterTheLion, South Africans campaigned against the killing of the lion.

Sylvester the lion was however successfully caught by the search team.