Over the past 22 years there has been a very significant drop in the lion population, as a matter of fact their numbers have dropped about 48-50%, in the 1980s about 150,00-200,00 lions exsisted but during a recent census they found that only about 40,000 lions exsist in the wild today.

Although the African lion continues to exist in 27 countries, most populations are too small and isolated to be viable.

They are facing many significant threats such as, human conflict, habitat, prey loss, disease and poaching. As a matter of fact the United States has become the worlds largest importer of lion parts.  While doing some research I found that between 1999 and 2008, 7,090 lion specimens were traded internationally for recreational trophy hunting purposes, representing a minimum of 5,663 lions. Out of the 5,663 lions poached about 3,600 of those lions were actually imported to the United States.

The only hope the lion has is to be put on the endangered species list. That would insure that the importation of lion parts to the United States would be prohibited.