…Researched and contributed by Jack Sylva.
Conservationists are celebrating after a lion was spotted in Chad’s Sena Oura National Park, an area where the animals were thought to have gone extinct.
The photograph, released on Thursday, shows a “prime, very healthy adult lioness, around five years old,” according to Luke Hunter, executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Big Cat Programme.
Hunter believes the lioness is not alone and that her presence is an early sign of lions recovering in an adjacent national park in Cameroon.
The animals have not been seen in Sena Oura National Park since 2004, and in 2014, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species declared them extinct in the area.
The significance of the rediscovery lies in the fact that prime females are critical to the survival of any lion population, and they prefer to inhabit areas with prey and safety to raise their cubs in.
The WCS attributes this recovery to the strong commitment to conservation by both the Cameroon and Chad governments, which has resulted in better protection for national parks and wildlife populations starting to recover.
Dr Hunter estimates that there are only 22,000 to 24,000 lions left in the wild, with the majority classified as the southern lion sub-species native to southern and eastern Africa.
There are less than 1,000 northern lions in central and west Africa, making them especially endangered and precious.
Commentary:
This rediscovery of a lion in Chad is a moment of hope for conservationists who have long been concerned about the declining numbers of lions in Africa.
It shows that with the right conservation measures in place, it is possible to bring back species from the brink of extinction.
However, there is still much work to be done to protect lions and their habitats, as they continue to face threats from poaching, habitat loss, and human-wildlife conflict.
It is important to continue investing in conservation efforts to ensure the survival of these magnificent animals.