Nye tal viser, at den vestafrikanse løve kan være tæt på total udryddelse. Med kun 250 individer tilbage er der drastisk behov for en øget indsats for at sikre løvens overlevelse fremover.
Despite sitting on top of the food chain, the lion is a vulnerable species and a new report concludes that the African lion is facing extinction across the entire West African region, reports Environmental News Network Friday.
The new study reveals that the West African lion is down to a population estimated at 250, and these individuals are restricted to four isolated populations.
The paper is the result of a six-year survey, covering 11 countries where lions were presumed to exist over the last 20 years.
The team discovered that West African lions now survive in only five countries: Senegal and Nigeria, with a single trans-frontier population on the shared borders of Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso.
They are genetically distinct from the better-known lions of famous game parks in East and southern Africa.
Recent molecular research shows they are closely related to the extinct ‘Barbary (Berber) Lions’ which once roamed North Africa, as well as to the last Asiatic lions surviving in India.
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The authors emphasize the need for international funding and support for West Africa’s protected areas.
Co-author Dr Lauren Coad said: “Our findings suggest that many of the West African protected areas still supporting lion populations are chronically underfunded and understaffed”.
“Many protected areas evaluated for this study did not have the capacity to undertake anti-poaching patrols, and as a result lion populations within their boundaries are under threat from poachers, who target both lions and their prey (byttedyr).”
Today, fewer than 35,000 lions remain in Africa in about 25 per cent of the species’ original range.
In West Africa, the lion now survives in an area smaller than half the size of New York State – that is only one per cent of its original historic range in the region.
Læs nyheden her: http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/46885
