West African lions on verge of extinction

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian
Staff member
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
16,939
Reaction score
5,320
Location
Near the gargoyles
Website
www.alessandrakelley.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25722058

West African lions, a genetically distinct species from the much-protected East African lions, have fewer than 250 adults of breeding age spread across four nations, according to a six-yearlong population survey by the nonprofit group Panthera.

This is a catastrophically low population.

"Our results came as a complete shock; all but a few of the areas we surveyed were basically paper parks, having neither management budgets nor patrol staff, and had lost all their lions and other iconic large mammals," [report co-author Philipp] Henschel told the BBC's Sivaramakrishnan Parameswaran.