We are grateful to the UK Sunday Express for publishing this important new estimate of the drastically declining wild lion populations.
"Need for action to stop lion extinction
Sunday Express
4 Oct 2020
By Jaymi Mccann
A CHARITY has called for lions to be made an endangered species after estimating that the number living wild in Africa has gone below 10,000 for the first time.
LionAid believes there are 9,610 lions left in conservation units in Africa. This has dropped from 15,244 wild lions in 2012, and 50 years ago it was more than 200,000.
Out of 86 African conservation units, LionAid now estimates populations are extinct or nonviable in 41 areas, meaning there are too few lions to keep the population going, while a further 23 are severely threatened.
The charity says several reasons are behind this decrease, including their habitats being threatened by the expansion of the human population and increased numbers of farmed livestock, as well as poaching and trophy hunting.
The charity has called on Boris Johnson to ban further UK imports/exports of all trophy-hunting products on all vulnerable and endangered species.
LionAid has called for the international community to intervene, and says classification as an endangered species would encourage more investment in growing lion populations, and award them equal attention to that given to other species. Expert Dr Pieter Kat, who conducted the LionAid report, said: “We need people to start realising that the lion is in the same league as the tiger or the rhino.
“We need the international community to declare lions a conservation priority species. This is an international problem.
“We need a wake-up call so that money can start flowing towards programmes that will save this species, and countries around the world need to step up as the African nations can’t afford it. We need to do what is right.”
A petition urging the UK Government to ban further UK imports/exports of trophy hunting products has reached almost 700,000 signatures.
Director of LionAid Christine Macsween said: “The trophy hunting industry is a multibillion-dollar industry and lions are top of the list of animals people want to hunt.
“But they are also at the top of the list of animals people want to photograph and see on safari, so we need to keep them around too.
“We have reached the point now where if nothing is done we will lose them.
“I know there is willingness in government to act on this, but it hasn’t happened yet and time is not on our side.”
SAVE THE SPECIES: There are fewer than 10,000 wild lions, right, and lionesses, left, in Africa
Let us hope that Boris Johnson and the UK Government are now minded to honour their pledge to ban lion trophy hunting imports into the UK - and as quickly as possible. Time is surely running out.