The Truth about Lions

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLIOLG…

…will this song soon reflect a Ghost from the Past? ...A Shadow in the Land of the Dead?

The truth…can be shocking…this happens to far too many lion souls...

Lions…you see them everywhere; in art, as icons, in heraldry, statues and even nature documentaries give the impression that savannas are full of lions.
But what hardly anybody seems to know, is that wild lions are in serious trouble. If no successful conservation efforts are made, the wild lion will be gone forever within a few decades.

In 50 years time, 93% of the wild lion population has been killed. They have become the second tiger. Before humans dispersed out of Africa, lions roamed nearly the entire world. At that time, they were the most widespread mammal on Earth. Now there are only ~20.000 African lions left, and the population is declining at alarming rates.

The biggest problem is conflict with local farmers and the exploding human population in Africa. There is less, and less space left and lions -who were there first- draw the shortest straw. They are shot, speared or poisoned and their lands turned into grazing pastures for cattle. Another threat is the increasing bone-trade. Now tigers are so rare, lions are next. Trophy hunting (often in the form of canned hunting) is another sickening practice that can form a serious (but not the biggest) problem.


And no, I'm not buying any argument that states "humans come first". The human population has already claimed and confiscated about the entire planet and has aldready driven countless of species to extinction. Humans have had enough space and I do not justify the loss of many more species, simply because humans cannot control their own cancerous growth. Humanity should step the f*ck back and respect Life rather than destroy it and replace it with just more and more humans. So any comments saying things along the lines of "humans first" - I will delete instantly.

The more I come in contact with people working in conservation of African Wildlife and lions, the grimmer my view becomes. But that doesn’t mean we have to stop fighting.

But I seriously wonder…if even one of the most iconic species in human art goes down under…what will be the fate of all the less familiar threatened species. Biodiversity is currently declining much and much faster than the base-line extinction rate. There is ALREADY a mass-extinction going on. With only one animal species as cause. But can this be halted? Time will show.

SO SPREAD THIS KNOWLEDGE (and to those who also draw big cats…please mention their severe status!) and please donate if you can afford it and care about lions. Many of these projects try to find solutions so that lions and humans can coexist more sustainably. But it demands effort…and help is needed. Without it...there will be no more wild lions left in the near future. Then they will only walk as shadows in the Land of the Dead.

Here are some links if you wish to donate.

lionaid.org/
www.ilovelions.org/en/#slide3
wildlifedirect.org/mission/
kopelion.org/donate-to-kopelio…

Read more here:
www.iucnredlist.org/details/15…