In the ancient volcanic landscape of Tanzania's Ngorongoro Conservation Area, ten lions were found dead, suspected victims of poison — a quiet but devastating act that speaks to one of conservation's most enduring struggles: the collision between human survival and the wild world. This is not merely a local incident but a signal flare rising from a broader crisis across East Africa, where shrinking boundaries between pastoral life and protected land have made large predators increasingly vulnerable. The deaths invite a reckoning with whether the frameworks built to protect wildlife can hold ag