Durban - There were now fewer than 20 000 wild lions left in Africa, scientific experts reported on Tuesday.
This meant that if every wild lion could be transported to Durban there would not be enough to fill even half the seats in the Moses Mabhida Stadium (56 000 seats) or Kings Park (52 000 seats) – that is presuming a lion could squeeze into a seat.
That’s the grim scientific estimate by lion researchers in the latest Red Data List of Threatened Species.
Compiled for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Red List serves as a health barometer to measure the conservation status of the world’s animal, plant and fungi species.
Overall, the scientists conclude that wild lion numbers have fallen by at least 42 percent over the past 21 years (equivalent to three lion generations).
However, this continent-wide estimate masked dramatic regional variations – with lion populations crashing by as much as 60 percent in the past 21 years in some parts of the continent.
Counting lion numbers accurately had always been difficult, but when the previous Red Data List assessment was published in 2012, scientists estimated there were roughly 32 000 left throughout the continent.
The latest estimate released yesterday suggests that there were now “fewer than 20 000”.
With the exception of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, where numbers were thought to be stable or growing slightly, lion populations were in decline in almost every other country.
Artificial boom
One of the only unfenced populations thought to have grown was in the Niassa region of Mozambique, where lion numbers had increased by about 250 percent since 1993 – ironically benefiting from the massive slaughter of elephants.
The IUCN report suggests this temporary and artificial “boom” in Niassa was due to the fact that there had been “sizeable quantities of elephant meat” left over in the savannah by ivory poachers.
In the Okavango region of Botswana, lion numbers were believed to have fallen by about 46 percent in the past 21 years, whereas smaller lion sub-populations in Gonarezhou (Zimbabwe) and Kunene (Namibia) had increased dramatically.
Known as the King of the Beasts, lions once roamed throughout Africa, west into Europe and large parts of south-west Asia. They became extinct in Europe about 2 000 years ago and there is now only one small remaining lion population in Asia, in India’s Gir Forest.
More recently they have become extinct in 12 African countries.
The IUCN notes that lions remain one of the most popular animals on the must-see lists of tourists and visitors to Africa, contributing significant income for park managers and local communities.
“The continued decline in lion range and numbers shows that political priority and funding are not sufficient.”
The main threat to their future was indiscriminate killings by livestock herders and loss of living space.
This included feeding from poisoned carcasses.
The increasingly commercialised bush-meat trade also meant there were fewer antelopes and herbivores for lions to feed on. Herbivore numbers had crashed by nearly 52 percent in east Africa and by 85 percent in west Africa since 1970.
The Mercury