If you were asked to describe a lion, you wouldn’t be hard pushed to find the right words.
Magnificent, king of the beasts, majestic…Simba.
But there are two words racing towards us faster than we would like to admit.
Distant memory.
It feels as though losing arguably the world’s most iconic species is something that should defy comprehension – but if we continue as we are, there’s a very real risk it will happen.
100,000 used to roam the continent, but in the last five decades we’ve lost 80,000 of those.
Humans have encroached on their territory at an unrelenting speed, ramming together rival lion prides that will fight each other for space and food. Those fights are vicious and bloody, and even surviving lions will sustain injuries that leave them in agony as they battle to keep up with the rest of their pack.
When not in confrontations with each other they are boxed in against human settlements - a truly devastating situation for both sides. Local people have their livelihoods eviscerated while lions are killed in retaliation for loss of livestock.
Poachers make the bad situation impossible. With nowhere left to hide, these predators become an easy target for armed opportunists who can send dozens of lions dropping to the ground with a mere pull of a trigger.
There are not enough lions to resist this rate of decline. We cannot let this pattern continue.
We must halt this devastating freefall in numbers and save the rest of their territory.
Through your donations, we’re helping protect the last remaining sanctuaries where lions have enough space to hunt and roam. We’re ensuring these areas are patrolled to stop and potential poaching in its tracks.
These spaces are huge, and the protection needed ranges from boots on the ground to survey planes in the air, but - with your support - there’s still enough time to save Africa’s lions. That way the magnificent, majestic, king of the beasts will not become a mere memory.