WildAid says Nigeria lions are on the verge of extinction. This is contained in a statement signed by Kelechukwu Iruoma, WildAid Representative in Nigeria and made available to The Tide source in Lagos.
\nWildAid said that it launched a weeklong campaign to raise awareness about the threats facing Nigeria\u2019s lions to mark World Lion Day.
\nWildAid said that over the last 50 years, the number of wild lions across Africa had plummeted from 200,000 to roughly 20,000.
\n\u201cThe crisis is most acute in West Africa, where there are only about 400 lions left, surviving in a few small isolated clusters.
\n\u201cIn Nigeria, lions are on the verge of extinction, with scientists estimating that there may be fewer than 50 adult lions left in the wild.
\n\u201cIn the past, lions roamed northern Nigeria in large numbers, primarily residing in the Kainji Lake National Park and the Yankari Game Reserve in northern Nigeria,\u201d WildAid said.
\nThe statement quoted Simon Denver, Senior African Representative for WildAid as saying:
\n\u201cHunting for bush meat has seriously depleted lions\u2019 natural prey base, while population growth and the expansion of agricultural land has badly eaten into their habitats.
\n\u201cLions in Nigeria and across West Africa need urgent help to prevent them from disappearing forever.\u201d
\nDenver said that the intense pressures on lions\u2019 natural prey caused by bush meat trade and the erosion of their habitats often force them to kill cattle for food.
\nAccording to him, the phenomenon brings lions into conflict with humans, who kill lions in retaliation, sometimes using poison.
\nHe said that snares and traps set by bush meat hunters also often inadvertently cught lions and other predators.
\n\u201cLion populations in East and Southern Africa are feeling the same pressures \u2013 even in Tanzania, which is considered to be the stronghold of Africa\u2019s remaining lions.
\n\u201cTanzania has the largest population of lions in Africa with about 8,000 animals left in the wild.
\n\u201cThey provide an important draw for Tanzania\u2019s tourism industry, which generates around 1.5 million jobs and contributes around 17 per cent to the nation\u2019s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WildAid says Nigeria lions are on the verge of extinction. This is contained in a statement signed by Kelechukwu Iruoma, WildAid Representative in Nigeria and made available to The Tide source in Lagos. WildAid said that it launched a weeklong campaign to raise awareness about the threats facing Nigeria\u2019s lions to mark World Lion Day. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-302045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=302045"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302047,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302045\/revisions\/302047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=302045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=302045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=302045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}