A recent report by Conserving Large Carnivores: Dollars and Fence, has revealed that nearly half of Africa's wild lion populace may face extinction in the near future if urgent conservation measures are not taken.The report which has been carried by the University of Minnesota's Professor Craig Packer and co-authored by a large team of lion biologists, including Panthera's President, Dr Luke Hunter, and Lion Programme director, Dr Guy Balme, states that nearly half the unfenced lion populations may decline to near extinction over the next 20-40 years.
The report asserts that lions are now extinct in 26 countries, with only seven countries, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania having an estimated number of more than 1, 000 lions. They have been listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as "vulnerable" and threatened species while in west and central Africa they are classified as "endangered". Over the past two decades the world's lion population is said to have shriveled by 75 percent which is from 50, 000 to 15, 000, due to numerous reasons such as human-lion conflict, poaching, poorly regulated sport hunting and spread of diseases for isolated inbreeding lions. Panthera says that there is over hunting of lions in Africa, which has led to their depletion as rich foreigners are said to pay attractively to trophy hunt lions in Botswana.
