Targeted poaching for lion body parts is rising across Africa — and the numbers tell a troubling story. Africa’s lions have always lived on the edge of human worlds. They roam landscapes shaped by farms, roads, villages and borders — admired, feared and contested in equal measure.
They face shrinking habitats, declining prey and conflict with people living alongside them. But a new danger is emerging — one that could undo hard-won conservation gains if it is not confronted quickly. A majornew study, led by Dr Peter Lindsey and Dr Samantha Nicholson and supported by 19 other lion specialists, shows that targeted poaching of lions for their body parts is increasing across Africa and may now pose an existential threat to the species.
Unlike other pressures on lions, this one is difficult to detect, poorly reported and often linked to organised wildlife crime. However, Nicholson stresses, this is not a story of inevitability. It is a warning — and an opportunity.
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“We’re seeing a serious threat emerge,” she told Maverick Earth. “But we’re also still at a point where action can make a real difference.” The Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) wasrecently updated, classifying lions as Vulnerable. According to Nicholson, who manages the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group’s African Lion Database, the decision reflects a steady decline across much of the species’ range over the past two decades.
“There are somewhere between 22,000 and 25,000 adult and subadult lions left in Africa,” she says.“Significantly fewer than when you consider where the species once was.” The decline has been driven by a familiar mix of habitat loss, reduction of natural prey and conflict with people. But illegal wildlife trade is now becoming a significant additional pressure – one that conservationists are racing to understand. Traditionally, they were mostly killed in retaliation — after attacking livestock or threatening human lives — or accidentally, caught in snares intended for bushmeat species.
These remain major problems. Lions are particularly vulnerable to snares, which are cheap, indiscriminate and widespread. What has changed in recent years is intent.
“In the last five years or so, we’ve seen a shift,” says Nicholson. “Lions are now being specifically targeted for their body parts.”
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