Kenya on Thursday joined the rest of the world to commemorate World Lion Day with calls for more efforts to protect the iconic big cats.
With the increased cases of human-lion conflict and escalating intolerance due to the negative interactions, the theme of this years’ commemoration is, “Reducing human-lion conflict through enhanced collaboration with communities.”
The tenth World Lion Day was meant to raise awareness about lion conservation and protection.
Kenya Wildlife Service in a statement said the population of the big cat has been declining at a worrying rate.
"The lion population in Africa has declined by 96.5 per cent over the past 100 years, with estimates placing their populations at between 20,000 to 35,000 individuals. Lion populations in Kenya have been on a downward trajectory, with current estimates being just over 2,500 individuals," KWS corporate communication said in a statement.
The day offers an opportunity to educate people about the challenges faced by lions across the world, to promote efforts to conserve them, as well as to celebrate these majestic big cats and their significance in ecosystems and cultures around the world.
Dubbed King of the Jungle, African lions (Panthera Leo) are facing numerous threats in the wild, such as: habitat loss through deforestation or threats of poaching, climate change, depletion of their natural prey and conflict with humans, among others.
The African lion is listed on Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix II, classified as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List and classified as endangered in the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act (WCMA) 2013.
KWS said the country is currently implementing the second edition of the National Recovery and Action Plan for the Lion and Spotted Hyena.
It said the strategy seeks to sustain viable populations of lions and spotted hyenas in healthy ecosystems as a world heritage valued by the people of Kenya.
"The action plan’s goal is to restore and maintain viable populations of lions, spotted hyenas and their wild prey while minimizing conflict and maximizing value to local communities."
The lion is an apex and keystone predator; although some lions scavenge when opportunities occur and have been known to hunt humans, lions typically do not actively seek out and prey on humans.
KWS said lions are recognised worldwide for their importance, not only from a nature conservation and ecological perspective, but also symbolically, culturally and in terms of tourism – as a member of the Big Five.
Lions are difficult to count accurately as they naturally occur at low density, are nocturnal, cryptic and wide-ranging.
Kenya has adopted the use of scientifically robust spatially-explicit-capture-recapture (SECR) methods to provide population estimates in lion source populations.
