Lions have always been a powerful symbol and majestic image of mysterious Africa. Scientists continue to be concerned with their ongoing extinction, however. Particularly in West Africa.
Lions have always been the majestic and powerful symbol of Africa. Lions continue to vanish from the Earth and many scientists even believe that they will soon be extinct. The situation is so dire, that lions have all but disappeared from Africa in general and from West Africa in particular.
Philipp Henschel, 40, has been roaming the wilds of West Africa for over three years and has not seen one lion. Until recently. He actually saw one in Nigeria which struck the animal conservationist as extremely odd. While Nigeria is the most populous of all the African countries, its wild game preserves and national parks are rather small. Henschel has gone on to survey, according to The New York Times, all 21 of the protected wildlife sanctuaries in West Africa. In all, he has counted only 400 lions in all of the West African nations.
That lions have all but disappeared in a huge swath of Africa has many animal conservationists concerned. The lions no longer exist in 99 percent of their normal, and historical, ranges. The lion is, now, on many endangered species lists. Over the next two decades, it is estimated that lion populations in Africa will be cut in half. Currently, only about 20,000 lions remain on all of the Dark Continent.
Lions once roamed the Earth everywhere including the wilds of early North America as well as Europe and all of Asia. Today, lions can only be found in Africa and India. In India, however, there are less than 500 of the majestic animals left there. Lions have no natural predators to worry about except humans. The two groups constantly compete for resources and the King of Beasts is not winning the competition against humans. They are routinely hunted for trophies and to eliminate them from killing domestic animals and, sometimes, humans.
Europe has since outlawed trophy hunting on lions. Prior to that, however, it was the world’s largest market for dead lions. Lions, many African natives are finding, are easy enough to kill. Often, farmers will poison the carcasses of farm animals, such as cows, so the lions are quickly found dead. Many experts believe the lion will vanish from the planet soon at the hands of its human predators.
