http://www.news24.com/Green/Ne...in-Africa-20121204-3

Johannesburg - The lions that roam Africa's savannahs have lost as much as 75% of their habitat in the last 50 years as humans overtake their land and the lion population dwindles, said a study released on Tuesday.

Researchers at Duke University, including prominent conservationist Stuart Pimm, warn that the number of lions across the continent have dropped to as few as 32 000, with populations in West Africa under incredible pressure.

"Lion numbers have declined precipitously in the last century," the study, published on Tuesday by the journal Biodiversity and Conservation, reads. "Given that many now live in small, isolated populations, this trend will continue. The situation in West Africa is particularly dire, with no large population remaining and lions now absent from many of the region's national parks."

Fifty years ago, nearly 100 000 lions roamed across the African continent. In recent years, however, an ever-growing human population has come into the savannah lands to settle and develop. That has both cut down the amount of land lions have to roam, as well as fragmented it, researchers said.

Using satellite imagery, the researchers determined the amount of land now available for lions that remains wild and minimally impacted by human growth. Those lands are rapidly diminishing, and more territory will likely be lost in the next 40 years, the report said.

Five countries in Africa have likely lost their lions since a 2002 study was run, the report said. Only nine countries contain at least 1 000 lions, while Tanzania alone has more than 40% of the continent's lions, it said.

"An obvious caveat is that areas for which we detect little conversion of savannahs to croplands may still suffer human impacts that make them unsuitable for lions," the report said. "Over-hunting for trophies, poaching - of lions and of their prey species - and conflict with pastoralists may not have (present) any visual signal to satellites. Even where there are low human population densities and areas designated as national parks, there (may) not be lions within them."

The report calls for more mapping and studying to be done to ensure the lions' protection.

And of curse the ONLY thing that has a chance of keeping land open is hunting.

In today (5 Dec) Washington Post.

Regards
--------------------------------------------------

Study: African lion population shrinks to 32,000

By Juliet Eilperin, Published: December 4

The savannah habitat that ­sustains African lions has shrunk by 75 percent over the past ­half-century, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation, a dramatic loss that could threaten the species’ survival.

The new analysis by American, African and British researchers — which suggests the continent’s lion population has declined from 100,000 to roughly 32,000 over 50 years — provides a clear picture of where the animals now live and how major land-use changes and population growth have put them in jeopardy.

“It’s a shock,” said Duke University professor for conservation ecology Stuart Pimm, one of the paper’s co-authors. “Savannah ­Africa has been massively reduced. . . . As [people] moved in, lions have been hunted out.”

The findings come just one week after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will study whether African lions should be listed under the Endangered Species Act, a move that would end the importation of trophies into the United States. Several groups petitioned the agency last year to list the species, though some conservationists ­argue trophy hunting provides a source of revenue to local communities, which helps keep savannah habitat intact.

Thomas E. Lovejoy, University Professor in Science and Public Policy at George Mason University, said the paper’s authors “have made a historical contribution” by showing how dramatically Africa’s viable terrain for lions has declined in recent decades. Lions used to roam much of Africa and Eurasia but are now limited to sub-Saharan Africa. A small population of a separate species inhabits the Gir Forest National Park of India.

Lovejoy said the fact that savannah habitat loss is outpacing the decline of the world’s tropical rain forests “is terrifying when combined with the prospects of population growth and land-use change in Africa.”

To reach their assessment, the paper’s lead author, Jason Riggio, who received his master’s degree from Duke, assembled a team of graduate students to examine high-resolution satellite imagery of Africa from Google Earth to determine what could qualify as suitable lion habitat. They then compared that information with existing lion population data, concluding that there are only 67 isolated areas in Africa where lions might survive.

Part of the challenge lions face is that when they venture outside national parks, they may kill livestock and come into conflict with humans, Pimm said.

Lovejoy said he was optimistic that sufficient public pressure will build for U.S. officials to take action. The officials will decide within a year whether to list African lions as endangered.

“This is something the public can easily get,” he said, adding that lions are the kind of “animal cracker animals” everyone has revered since childhood.

The study does not, however, answer one of the central questions federal officials must answer: whether trophy hunting helps or undermines the species’ ultimate survival.

Jeff Flocken, Washington office director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said Americans are responsible for importing 64 percent of the lions hunted for sport in Africa, and that the practice destabilizes prides.


But hunting groups such as Safari Club International, and some environmental organizations, say a trophy ban could have unintended consequences.

Luke Hunter, president of the wild cat conservation group Panthera, said even though he finds lion hunting “ridiculous and abhorrent, as a scientist I have to ask myself whether it can be a tool for conservation.”

While current studies suggest African lion hunting “is unsustainable,” Hunter added, ending it could accelerate the large-scale land conservation that poses the greatest threat to lions. “The danger is you stop that revenue stream, all those areas are up for grabs.”

And there you have it. Scientific wildlife management replaced by "This is something the public can easily get" because of "animal cracker animals" that everyone has revered since childhood.

If not mistaken, elephants also come in "animal crackers". Stand by!

What a load of crap.

Unfortunately people believe what they want to hear even if it's complete BS.

Even more unfortunate is that this statement:

"Luke Hunter, president of the wild cat conservation group Panthera, said even though he finds lion hunting “ridiculous and abhorrent, as a scientist I have to ask myself whether it can be a tool for conservation.”"

could be valuable albeit unintended support will instead be twisted into anti-hunting sentiment.

I wanted to take my father to Africa for lion for his 75th birthday but that seems an impossibility now.