Fewer than 35,000 African lions roam the wild today, down from at least 100,000 in the 1960s. Their range has contracted as well, and currently encompasses only 20 percent of their former territory.
The response from the mainline conservation and animal rights communities has been predictable, and is focused on listing the lion as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. This would make it illegal to bring lion trophies into the United States -- and presumably, remove a primary incentive for the killing of the big cats.
Great idea, right? Well -- no. The main threat to the African lion isn't from wealthy trophy hunters. Big game hunters value wild lions. Yes, there are unethical hunters and unethical outfitters who accommodate them. Underage male lions -- even lionesses -- are sometimes killed on safari, and some professional hunters take more lions on their concessions than their quotas allow. In South Africa, there have been several scandals involving "canned" hunts -- so-called hunters shooting semi-tame lions in fenced enclosures.
But in terms of the imminent extinction of the species, trophy hunters aren't the biggest problem. Rather, the greatest threat comes from two other sources. First up: professional poachers, who are slaughtering lions in increasing numbers for the value of their constituent parts. Tiger bone is a traditional Chinese "medicine" that remains much in demand; with the near total extirpation of wild tigers, lion bone is increasingly used as a substitute. Lion claws, teeth and hides are also much sought for decorative purposes.
Second, lions are being snared, poisoned, speared and shot by the people who must live with them but derive no benefit from them: poor pastoralists and farmers. This is understandable. When lions are killing your goats -- and at times, your children -- you are unlikely to expend a great deal of effort parsing their status as an endangered species.
What to do? In a nutshell, improve hunting practices. That, of course, implies the continued killing of lions. This isn't my epiphany, by the way. It's the consensus of the people who are doing the most to save lions: conservation biologists and reserve managers on the ground in Africa.
Consider the opinion of Tanzanian Director of Wildlife Alexander Songorwa -- whom I met while researching a book on the growing conflict between animal rights advocates and conservationists in Africa. In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, Songorwa observed that Tanzania has a stable population of lions numbering almost 17,000 individuals -- roughly half the continent's total. Trophy hunting is a robust sector of the nation's economy, bringing in $75 million annual revenues. This money largely supports Tanzania's 26 wildlife reserves and a growing number of community wildlife management areas. About 200 lions are shot each year -- usually (but not always) males well past their breeding prime.
An ESA listing, observes Songorwa, would remove any incentive for protecting lions, assuring their eventual extinction in Tanzania. Songorwa's opinion is shared by the majority of people who have legitimate bona fides in wildlife conservation -- as opposed to "animal lovers" who are reflexively opposed to the killing of any animal at any time for any reason.
Indeed, his views are echoed in greater detail in a white paper produced by multiple authors representing most of the world's wild felid conservation organizations, including Panthera, the Zambian Carnivore Programme, the Selous Lion Project, the African Wildlife Foundation, the Niassa Carnivore Project, Living With Lions, and the Zambia Lion Project.
Happily, the prolix title -- Urgent and Comprehensive Reform of Trophy Hunting of Lions is a Better Option than an Endangered Species Listing; a Science-Based Consensus -- doesn't reflect the clear and pragmatic measures proposed in the text. The paper notes that the fees from trophy lion hunting are essential sources of revenue in an era of deep funding strictures for conservation projects. Further, they observe that community-managed game conservancies are a growing trend in Africa, and are dependent on trophy hunting. If the taking of lions is proscribed, many of these de facto reserves would go under.
That said, the authors make several recommendations:
- Implement and enforce a no-kill policy for any lion less than six years of age.
- Improve monitoring of lion trophies and quotas.
- Restrict hunting to males. (Lionesses currently can be taken legally in Namibia and Zimbabwe.)
- Develop a unified approach to lion hunting across their entire range.
- Put priority management emphasis on West and Central Africa, where lion populations are critically low.
The impulses driving animal rights activism are laudable. But animal rights cannot be conflated with conservation; they are different things. Africa is not a Disney movie, and the African lion will not be saved by good intentions. Animal rights advocates are being led astray by their hearts. They need to start using their heads.