Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, Africa: There was a time when 30,000 lions roamed freely in Tanzania. They pleased the tourists who came to the country in large numbers to see them and other wildlife, boosting the economy by $4.7 million (9% of GDP) each year.
Today there are about half that number of lions at 15,000 and going forward, the vulnerable lion’s population will inevitably shrink as the human population continues to grow massively from 9 million 60 years ago to 55 million today.
Human population growth inevitably leads to more conflict with lions. The big cats are at risk of being shot, speared or poisoned by farmers in revenge attacks after lions attack villagers and cattle. In truth you can’t blame the lions as they are behaving naturally. People are settling on the lions home range. In the Serengeti NP lion prides have a home range of around 65 square kilometres in woodland areas and over 184 square kilometres on the plains during times when prey is scarcer.
In order to protect lions in the Serengeti NP, 11 have been moved out of the park and a further 25 will be relocated to other reserves within weeks, it is reported in The Times newspaper.
And because President Magufuli wants to please the farmers to get more votes at the next election he has annulled the special status of 12 protected zones on the edges of the park and 7 wildlife and forest reserves. This will result in more conflict between lions and people.
It is a predictable downward trend for the African lion. The species has disappeared from 94% of its historic ranges as a result of farming and development.
Africa is the great battle ground for international investors who want to commercially exploit its riches. China got in first.
To protect the lion and other African species under this growing commercial pressure which gradually destroys their habitat, better land use planning is required to minimise conflict between lions and humans. For people concerned with wildlife conservation these are worrying times. Politics combined with big business will always beat conservation under the global model of economic growth.
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