CONSERVATION CRISIS
'Everyone sees lions on safari in Africa...
they can't be dying out!'
The huge and rapid decline in African lion numbers has largely
been overlooked by both the public and conservationists, because
lions are still often seen in National Parks and game reserves,
where most of the remaining lions live.
'So if lions are still quite common in National Parks in Africa,
why is there a conservation crisis?'
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The problem is that most of these
protected areas are not big enough to ensure the long-term
survival of viable populations of lions. Lions need huge ranges
and hunting territories and only a few National Parks in Africa
are big enough to supply them.
This means that lions often
wander out over park boundaries and into human-dominated areas
where they come into conflict with man, and are often killed.
Most National Parks are too widely separated to prevent inbreeding,
causing many ‘protected’ lion populations to suffer
genetic problems such as increased vulnerability to disease.
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Another problem is that in small isolated populations disease
can spread much more easily and quickly, and political unrest or
war could completely wipe out theoretically protected wildlife in
these National Parks. It is therefore crucial to conserve lions
outside protected areas, where currently their numbers are decreasing
rapidly.
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