In a statement on Thursday to mark World Lion Day, 2023, The Wild Africa Fund said, with only 120 to 374 lions remaining in West Africa, lions were near extinction, with their living space reduced by 99 percent.
According to Peter Knights co-founder and CEO of Wild Africa Fund, “Lions are perhaps the most iconic African animal and have massive cultural significance. Their disappearance in West Africa would be tragic and squander an opportunity to foster wildlife tourism that has provided millions of jobs in east and southern Africa.”
Festus Iyorah, Nigeria representative for Wild Africa Fund explained that beyond habitat loss, lions have suffered a decline in prey species such as antelopes, owing to the bushmeat trade. These lions are frequently killed in retaliation for preying on livestock and are often injured and killed by snares and traps set for bushmeat.
He added that in Nigeria, the fewer than 50 lions left in the wild are found in Kainji Lake National Park and the Yankari Games Reserve, in northern Nigeria. In Ghana, several researchers have tried to find lions in the wild without success. These lions had disappeared completely in several West African countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Mali, and Sierra Leone.
“West African lions might disappear forever if we don’t urgently address the threats they face. If we can protect their habitats more effectively, they could bounce back and boost our tourism,” he said.
“In Rwanda, lions were wiped out in the 1990s during the civil war and the 1994 genocide. Subsequently, farmers who settled on land previously inhabited by lions poisoned them to protect livestock. After over a decade of absence, seven lions were reintroduced from South Africa to Rwanda’s Akagera National Park in 2015, followed by two more male lions added to the park in 2017, today the park has a thriving population of about 58 lions. This shows that it is never too late to protect and rebuild West Africa’s critically endangered lions, especially in countries like Ghana, where lions are possibly extinct.” the organization said.
