On the 10th of August, World Lion Day, the Wild Africa Fund encouraged the public to stop eating illegal bushmeat, help protect lion’s habitat, and support anti-poaching measures to help protect lions
The total amount of lions remaining in West Africa ranges from about 120-374, and the rate of their extinction is rapid unlike those found in Southern African countries where these wild cats are protected. This transcends the loss of their habitat, they also suffer a decline in animals to prey on because of the bushmeat trade and they are sometimes killed for preying on farmers animals; the traps meant for catching bushmeats sometimes injure the lions and even kills them too.
In Nigeria, there are less than 50 Lions in the wild, and they are found in Kainji Lake National Park and the Yankari Games Reserve, both in northern Nigeria. In Ghana, researchers could not find a single lion since they’ve all disappeared, this does not only occur in Ghana, many other West African countries also have loss or no lions at all in their country like- Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Mali, and Sierra Leone.
Festus Iyorah, Nigeria’s Representative for Wild Africa Fund says in the quote “West African lions might disappear forever if we don’t urgently address the threats they face”. He further emphasised that if more practical steps are implemented, the Lions bounce back increasing the tourism rate in the country.
A lot of countries have been able to revive the extinction of the lions in their country- Rwanda for example, was able to revive the numbers of their lions after the civil war in 1990 and the Genocide in 1994 claimed them all, after several decades of no lions in the country, seven lions from South Africa brought to Rwanda’s Akagera National Park in 2015, followed by two more male lions added to the park in 2017 were used to revive the populations of lions in the country. Today, Rwanda’s Akagera National Park has about 58 lions. Wild Africa Fund believes that protecting and rebuilding West Africa’s critically endangered lions is possible, especially in countries like Ghana, where lions are possibly extinct.
Peter Knights, OBE, co-founder and CEO of Wild Africa Fund says that the disappearance of lions in West Africa would be tragic because it would mean no more tourist visits and there won’t be jobs in this niche like there are in southern and eastern African countries.
Wild Africa Fund is set to enlighten the public using mass media like the radio, TV, newspapers, billboard, and social media to inform people about the threats facing West African lions and reduce demand for illegal bushmeat. This Awareness campaign also features popular Afrobeat star Davido, Nigerian footballer Alex Iwobi and a short documentary film showing the great efforts that are implemented to protect lions and their habitat.
