Status of Wild Lions
Dr Jackie Abell the current Director of African Lion & Environmental Trust (ALERT), works out in Zambia and Zimbabwe, Africa, tackling Wild Lion conservation.
IUCN (2015) revealed that there had been a 43% decline in wild Lion populations in only 21 years. It is difficult to predict exact figures as Lions are often located in areas that lack the expertise, resources or capabilities to undertake good counts, as well as areas of civil war where surveys cannot be carried out.
The largest population of Lions is in Tanzania, it is estimated that around 40% (~16000) of all wild African Lions are found there, and 3500 are located in the Serengeti. The Serengeti populations are the most well studied and the vast majority of what we know about Lions comes from Serengeti studies.
A strong estimate would put Lion populations at around 23000. Although it may not sound too bad, Dr Abell stressed that it is essential not to focus on the number but on the speed of their decline & how fragmented their current habitat has become.
National Geographic Lion population decline map: Top image shows the countries with Lions in the 1800’s, the bottom image shows the countries predicted to still have Lions by 2020.
African Lion
Threats
Main threats to wild African Lion populations include:
– Habitat & Prey loss,
– Human-Wildlife Conflict,
– Disease,
– Unregulated Hunting Pressures,
– Poaching for body parts,
– Inbreeding (due to fragmented habitat),
– Climate Change.
Looking to the Future
Even if protected areas are created often the resources, skills and expertise for successful management of these areas are not there.
Political parties in Africa are also not willing to promote policies that could appear to champion wildlife at the expense of people. This can often go against wildlife conservation strategies.
Dr Abell quoted:
” Nobody in Africa is going to save a Lion because it is cute – you are asking the poorest people in the world to live alongside one of the most dangerous predators in the world – it is very reasonable for them to say ‘under what conditions should I do that?’ “
Two-Pronged Intervention
Dr Abell and her fellow colleagues at ALERT developed a two-pronged intervention that was trialed in 5 of the local villages established within the Matetsi Safari Conservancy.
These villages had experienced livestock losses due to Lions, the intervention focused on two areas in an attempt to solve this problem:
1. Flashing Light Project,
2. Conservation Education Programmes.
Flashing Lights
Inspired by the Flashing Light Intervention created by Kenyan boy Richard Turere in 2010, Solar-powered, red, flashing lights were secured around the perimeters of the Bomas (overnight cattle housing). With a lifespan of 4-5 years and a cost of only $10 this hoped to be an affordable way in which to protect the villagers livestock overnight.
Education
Bespoke conservation education programmes tailored to specific communities were set up with workshops on how to improve Bomas, how to heard cattle more effectively and safely, and Lion behaviour.
To date, there has since been only one attack reported due to lights being positioned too far apart, since this was corrected there have been no further attacks. Attitudes towards Lions and conservation have also changed for the better. Unfortunately there is still an unresolved problem as to how to prevent livestock loss during the day.
Personal Thoughts
Big Cats hold a special place in my heart. This seminar was truly beneficial to my potential future career path in opening me up to new prospective opportunities in which to gain valuable experience and achieve my goals.
I believe the seminar was also rather eye opening to many of the students present wishing to one day be involved with conservation. The harsh realities of what is involved are often not conveyed in Western education.
Dr Abell quoted:
“With the best will in the world, what you learn in a nice western developed country, trying to take that somewhere else is often very difficult”
Alongside the honest picture of conservation she painted, she was also extremely inspiring. As a social scientist and animal behaviourist, she believes that;
“Conservation is actually a multidisciplinary problem and requires a multidisciplinary approach…there is a place for everybody in wildlife conservation.”
My only criticism of the seminar would be that the backgrounds of PowerPoint slides used in the presentation made it very difficult to read the text. All of the slides had a photograph as the background with black, white, yellow or red text over the top that could not always be read. If I had not photographed every slide and recorded the session using my dictaphone I probably would have struggled to get many notes.
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