With the number of wild lions plummeting more and more as each month passes, we really do have to find an effective way to arrest this devastating decline.
Trophy hunting continues to mine the remaining lions and we are pushing the UK Government as hard as we can to ban the import of lion trophies. Yet again, they have rowed back on their promise to bring in a ban but we will keep up the pressure on them to bring in this much needed legislation.
However, trophy hunting is not the only source of lion mortality. Human/lion conflict also kills many lions. And we can, with your help, do something about this.
Let me simply explain the cycle of poverty that exists in rural Africa.
Rural communities are expanding onto land where once wildlife roamed free. Often these communities are situated around the margins of nationally protected areas, the National Parks. These pastoralist communities raise livestock as their primary source of wealth.
Hungry lions and other predators wander out of the National Parks (which are unfenced) at night, looking for food, as their normal prey has increasingly been poached. They come across cows, sheep and goats located in cattle enclosures (bomas) within community villages. An easy meal.
The communities retaliate by killing the lions and the other predators in an attempt to protect their livestock from being attacked.
The communities however become more and more impoverished. The cycle of poverty continues.
There is a solution. There is an effective way the wildlife CAN co-exist safely with the rural communities to the benefit of everyone. A WIN WIN.
Africa is very dark at night. Not like you or I know as dark – this is an absolute absence of light and why predators hunt at night. And unlike us, their eyes are equipped to see well in such conditions.
So, if we put blinking lights around the bomas, they can be seen for miles in such dark conditions. Lions and other predators will avoid them.
The livestock in those bomas is not attacked. As a result, lions are not killed in retaliation. Community wealth is thus protected. They are no longer tempted to poach game animals for food.
Communities begin to recover, poverty and hunger start to recede, school conditions improve so children can return to education, the community enjoys light in their houses. Life improves in every way.
Predators retain more of their natural prey and their population numbers stabilise.
Rural communities can develop conservancies on their land where people like you and I can stay to see this wonderful wildlife and enjoy a photographic safari. Another source of valuable income for these rural communities.
Sounds like a pipe dream? It isn’t. Please invest in our innovative project in Merrueshi, Kenya. This project aims to break the cycle of poverty and allows a peaceful, harmonious co-existence between wildlife and the communities.
We are counting on your support. Thank you.
You can DONATE to the project here
Or DONATE to LionAid's work here.
There are also other ways you can support this important project :
If you would like to join a zoom call with LionAid discussing the Merrueshi project on May 11th at 19.00 (UK time), the invitation link is here.