The Wild Africa Fund has urged stronger protection of the lions’ dwindling habitat and a decrease in the unlawful consumption of bushmeat.
The group also urges support for anti-poaching efforts.
On Thursday in Lagos to commemorate World Lion Day, Mr. Kelechukwu Iruoma, the Nigerian representative for Wild Africa Fund, made the request in a statement.
Iruoma claimed that in contrast to Southern Africa, “where these majestic cats are generally well protected, maintaining stable populations,” only 120 to 374 lions or so currently reside in West Africa.
He asserts that West African lions are in danger of going extinct after losing 98% of their former territory.
He claimed that in addition to habitat degradation, lions frequently died in reprisal for preying on cattle and suffered a drop in prey species, such antelope, as a result of the bush meat trade.
He said that snares and traps used to capture bush meat frequently killed and maimed lions.
He said that in Nigeria, Kainji Lake National Park and the Yankari Games Reserve, both in Northern Nigeria, were home to the country’s less than 50 remaining lions in the wild.
Iruoma claimed that numerous researchers had unsuccessfully searched for lions in Ghana’s bush.
He mentioned that lions had totally vanished from numerous West African nations, such as Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, and Mali.
If we don’t promptly address the risks they confront, West African lions may vanish forever.
Festus Iyorah, the Nigeria representative for the Wild Africa Fund, remarked that if we could maintain their habitats more efficiently, they might recover and increase our tourism.
Iruoma stated that Wild Africa Fund thought it was possible to stop the lion population’s decline and increase it by following the example of nations that have successfully rescued lion populations from extinction.
He claimed that because of the civil war and the genocide in 1994, lions in Rwanda were exterminated in the 1990s.
He claimed that after that, farmers who had moved onto area where lions had once lived poisoned the animals to keep them away from their herds.
He said that in 2015, seven lions were returned from South Africa to Rwanda’s Akagera National Park after a more than ten-year absence, and two more male lions were restored to the park in 2017.
He claimed that there were currently 58 lions living happily in the park.
He claimed that the experience of Rwanda demonstrated that it was never too late to save and restore West Africa’s critically endangered lion population, particularly in nations like Ghana where lions may have gone extinct.
“Lions have significant cultural significance and are arguably the most recognisable African animal.
According to Peter Knights, co-founder and CEO of Wild Africa Fund, “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.”
Iruoma stated that the fund had begun a month-long public awareness campaign utilising radio, television, newspapers, billboards, and social media to educate people about the challenges to West African lions and the necessity of lowering their desire for illicit bush meat.
The campaign, he continued, would include statements from prominent celebrity ambassadors, including as Davido and Alex Iwobi, as well as brief documentaries outlining ongoing initiatives to safeguard lions and their habitat.
