By MICHAEL McCARTHY in London
The number of African lions being shot by trophy hunters must be radically cut if the species is to survive, a leading British conservation scientist said yesterday.
Research is showing that removing just a single lion from a population can produce a cascade of effects which leads to numbers falling much further, said Professor David Macdonald, director of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at Oxford University.
Quotas for hunting - usually by rich Americans, in the style of Ernest Hemingway - have been set hitherto on a well-meaning but non-scientific basis, he said, and they need to be cut right back as quickly as possible.
Concern is rapidly growing that lion populations across Africa are now in free-fall as a result of spreading human development, habitat destruction and hunting, both official and unofficial.
Latest estimates suggest there may now be no more than 20,000-23,000 lions left across the continent, from a population that may have been 10 times greater only 20 years ago.
Although lions occur in more than 30 African countries, they are thought to be fully protected in no more than 12, and in at least another 12 states, trophy hunting takes place with the full approval of the local governments.
The numbers being taken are too high to be sustainable, said Macdonald, who is one of the world's leading experts on mammals and on carnivores in particular.
A five-year WildCRU research programme on the trophy hunting of lions around the borders of the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe has shown that lion "sociology" is very complicated and that the population dynamics of lion groups can be damagingly destabilised once individuals start to be taken out.
Lion prides of 12 or more females live in association with "coalitions" of perhaps three of four males, who act as protectors. But if one or more of the males suddenly disappears - shot by trophy hunters - a rival coalition can move in and take over. And the new males will then kill all the cubs in the pride (as this automatically makes the females ready to mate again) sending numbers down still further.
Macdonald said banning hunting completely was not necessary the best way to conserve lions.
"We need a formula that gives as much money as possible to communities to enable local people to value their lions. A lot of it can be done with photo-tourism but it is possible that strictly regulated hunting may be needed as well."
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