Golden Crowned King, May He Forever Reign!
Imagine yourself in the heat of the afternoon sun, bumping around the back of a safari truck on the roughly paved path, eyes wide to the majestic scenes of nature. But during your journey you notice the air is missing a distinct cord, the feel of your surroundings is a little off balance, and to your surprise by the end of your travels you find the “king of the jungle” dethroned and the golden reign of the majestic lion lost. Today, the lion (Panthera leo) is down in number by 30%, having only around 30,000-32,000 individuals concentrated in Eastern and Southern Africa (Fitzherbert et al., 2014). These animals belonging to the core five species of sub-saharan ecosystem (along with the leopard, the buffalo, the elephant, and both the white and black rhino), have been placed under the vulnerable list by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
In addition to habitat loss, disease, and trophy hunting, direct killing by locals for defense and ceremonial reasons contributes to the continental decline of the population. Defending their pastoral lands and livestock, locals retaliate and even seek out lions in protected areas to kill. A well-studied case of conflict can be found in Eastern African with the Maasai people. For generations ritualistic killing by warriors had become the cultural norm, and now with the people raising livestock for their livelihood much trouble has arisen as they attempt to defend their investments. Being it impossible to change the lion’s natural instinct to hunt for prey, we can only find a solution in diverging the native people from hunting the predators and fortifying them with the knowledge and resources to defend their property.
The beautiful parallel is that the Maasai people from their ancestral blood are rooted into the cryptic symphony of the savanna that many scientist spend a lifetime atoning to. With their unique knowledge they actually can be the best advocates in the cause for conservation. Lion Guardians, a conservation program that works with the Maasai people in the Amboseli ecosystem, actually recruits well respected elders that take role in preventing further hunts. The elder leaders also are responsible in retrieving livestock lost in the brush, inform the community about carnivore movement, and monitor lion movements on the land through radio tracking. Through incentives LG (Lion Guardians) compensates the leaders' work which benefits the entire community and the lions which they help conserve.
Research conducted by Hazzah et al. (2014) has shown that since the installation of LG’s program in 2007 there is a “near-total cessation of lion killings in the area where it was implemented.” Their participatory conservation with the Maasai people drives a deep responsibility between the communities and alters their perspective of how beneficial the lion can actually be in the ecosystem. The continued mission of LG and their vision of “sustainable coexistence between people and lions in Africa” requires the support of concerned advocates like us to donate. Even the tiniest amount will help LG towards its success in keeping the golden crowned king forever reign.
Please visit: http://lionguardians.org/donate to donate
Sources: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24527992
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320714001207
