Give So Generously for World Lion Day 2021, August 10!

World Lion Day 2021 is the Day to Give! I first published this post in 2015, and sadly, the plight of our lions is even worse than it was then. Please learn about our endangered lions and give generously to National Geographic Big Cats Initiative.

FROM NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC:

Lions have disappeared from 92 percent of their historic range, and while that is devastating, there is hope that lion extinction can be averted. The truth is, we humans are the primary threat to most species on the brink, including lions, which means we also have the power to turn things around—to be the heroes they deserve.

I will never forget the first time our family saw lions in the wild. It is hard to put into words. Suffice it to say that it was breathtaking, stunning, and exhilarating. It is incomprehensible to me to think of a world without lions in the wild, but it is happening. Let’s consider the state of our own planet before we look elsewhere. You know, I’d love to see space and the view of the earth from the moon, but not until we insure the safety of our own planet and its creatures.

In 2010 Derek Joubert wrote an article for NatGeo and founded the Big Cats Initiative. 5 years ago he wrote, “People have shot, speared, trapped and poisoned lions relentlessly. We have chopped up their habitat, introduced diseases and, lately, we’ve begun to change the climate they—and the rest of us—live in. Most of all, we are swamping them by our sheer numbers. The 20,000 lions cling to the last remaining habitat our 7 billion people have not yet got to.” (http://www.defenders.org/magazine/fall-2010/can-we-save-lions)

To those who say that trophy hunting a few lions helps their conservation, Joubert points out “Each year an average of about 500 lion trophies or skins enter the United States from trophy hunting in Africa. If you do the math, you quickly see that this is not sustainable. Because male lions operate in coalitions of two or three, each male lion that is shot leaves the remaining male outmatched in the next territorial fight, and he is expelled. There is no future for expelled lions, so one license effectively kills two males. At the same time his eight females (on average) and their 24 cubs are left without defenders. The new alpha males are genetically wired to kill all cubs and start the breeding process again with their genes. So one license is really cleaning out between 20 and 30 lions each time—and if Americans are responsible for 500 of those licenses, they are effectively killing lions at an enormous rate.” Zimbabwe has sighed with relief that Jericho, Cecil’s brother, has allowed Cecil’s cubs to live, probably because they are from the same gene pool.

So, what’s the big deal, you may ask. Why do we need lions, anyway? Lions in Asia are below 300 in the wild, so they will be extinct very soon. Didn’t know lions extended into India? Well, they don’t anymore. If we lose our apex predators in the wild the prey numbers become larger and larger. They overgraze their environment which can cause soil erosion. The habitat is now covered in weeds and not supporting the larger herbivore populations. The population collapses.

And don’t forget, 80 billion dollars a year goes into Africa for safari tourism. Seeing lions in the wild is at the top of the list for tourists on safari. They won’t fork over huge amounts of money if there are no lions to see, which will collapse the economy which many African nations are dependent on. A live lion is worth a lot more than a dead one. An earth rich in biodiversity is healthier than an earth turning into a dust bowl. Please do what you can, while there is still a chance of making a change!