Lions — Africa

“Across West Africa, there are only between 121 and 374 mature lions, according to Philipp Henschel, Panthera’s director for the region and head of the project in Niokolo-Koba, who began surveying lions in the park in 2011. . . “We’re in danger of watching one little population after another blink out,” Henschel says of West Africa’s lions, “then we’ll only be left with a few in southern Africa.” During the past two decades, the continent’s overall lion population has dropped by half. Exact numbers are hard to pin down, but there are probably somewhere between 20,000 and 25,000 wild lions today."

A study by the IUCN states that there are only around 400 lions in West Africa, including 250 adults. The main population of West African lions are in the WAP-Complex, a large system of protected areas formed largely by Arli, Pendjari, and W National Parks in the states Burkina Faso, Benin, and Niger.

"Cecil, a 13-year-old lion, wandered out of his sanctuary in a national park in Zimbabwe this month, following the scent of a potential snack. At the other end of Cecil’s search was a lure... Cecil, well known to those who visited the Hwange National Park in western Zimbabwe for his jet-black mane, was beheaded [by a trophy hunter], according to conservation officials." "Cecil had been closely studied by researchers at the University of Oxford since 2008 as part of efforts to study a decline in Africa’s lion population and to better understand the threats the animals face... A 2009 study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimated that trophy hunters killed around 600 lions a year. Last October, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the African lion as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a move that would also establish guidelines for permitting the importing of lion trophies. That proposal is under review."

Seven lions from South Africa were relocated to Akagera national park in Rwanda after a 15-year absence. "Cattle herders poisoned Rwanda’s last remaining lions after parks were left unmanaged and occupied by displaced people in the wake of the 1994 genocide... Peter Fearnhead, the chief executive of African Parks, which manages Akagera and seven other national parks on the continent, said: 'The return of lions to Akagera is a conservation milestone for the park and the country.'"

Major threats today facing East African Lions, West African Lions, Katanga Lions and Transvall Lions are large-scale habitat conversion & loss, retaliatory killing of lions due to human-lion conflict, trophy hunting and prey base depletion through unsustainable hunting. Visit Panthera, LionAid, Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force and the African Wildlife Foundation for more information and tips on what you can do to help.

A report published today concludes that the African lion is facing extinction across the entire West African region.... The team discovered that West African lions now survive in only 5 countries, Senegal, Nigeria and a single trans-frontier population on the shared borders of Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso.... Panthera’s Dr. Philipp Henschel explained, “When we set out in 2006 to survey all the lions of West Africa, the best reports suggested they still survived in 21 protected areas... Our results came as a complete shock; all but a few of the areas we surveyed were basically paper parks, having neither management budgets nor patrol staff, and had lost all their lions and other iconic large mammals.”

“Since 2007 a program there [Kenya] called Lion Guardians has recruited Maasai warriors—young men for whom lion killing has traditionally been part of a rite of passage known as olamayio—to serve instead as lion protectors. These men, paid salaries, trained in radiotelemetry and GPS use, track lions on a daily basis and prevent lion attacks on livestock. The program, small but astute, seems to be succeeding: Lion killings have decreased, and the role of Lion Guardian is now prestigious within those communities.”

"Trophy hunting continues to grow in popularity. Statistics show that ‘approximately 18,500 foreign hunting clients now visit sub-saharan Africa annually, compared with 8,000 in 1990.”

"The number of free ranging African lions Panthera leo has never been comprehensively assesed... This [study] gives a conservative estimate of 16,500 - 30,000 free ranging lions in Africa."West & Central Africa — 1,800 lions;East Africa — 11,000 lions;Southern Africa — 10,000 lions”

Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford University begins a research study at Hwange National Park to learn about the decline in Africa’s lion population and to better understand the threats the animals face and "...to measure the impact of sport-hunting beyond the park on the lion population within the park, using radio-telemetry and direct observation. The research found that 34 of 62 tagged lions died during the study period; 24 were shot by sport hunters. Sport hunters in the safari areas surrounding the park killed 72 percent of tagged adult males from the study area. This caused a decline in numbers of adult males in the population."

Niokolo-Koba National Park is one of the last strongholds for West African lion populations.

Kainji-Lake National Park is one of the last strongholds for West African lion populations.

"One evening we came upon a magnificent lioness on a rock, gazing out across the plains. She was sculptured by the setting sun, as though she were part of the granite on which she lay. I wondered how many lions had lain on the self-same rock during countless centuries while the human race was still in its cradle. It was a thought which made me reflect that although civilized man has spent untold treasure on preserving ancient buildings and works of art fashioned by the hand, yet he destroys these creatures which typify the perfection of ageless beauty and grace."