World Lion Day is annually observed across the globe on 10th August to create awareness about the Lions(Panthera leo), and to educate people about the challenges faced in the conservation and protection of lions.
The idea of World Lion Day was initiated by wildlife filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert, the co-founders of National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative.
Lions across the globe:
i.At present, the lions are found in Africa, south of the Sahara desert and in Gir National Park in Gujarat, India.
ii.Tanzania has the highest number of Lions with 8176, followed by South Africa with 2,070 lions, Kenya with 1,825, while Zimbabwe has 1,709.
iii.The lions became extinct in 26 African countries.
The recent survey on the lions estimates that the number of lions has declined from 30000 to around 20000.
Status:
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species has listed the Lions as ‘Vulnerable’ and in West Africa, they are classified as “Critically endangered”.
Lions in India:
Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is the only abode of the Asiatic lion.
As of 2020, The population of the Asiatic lions in Gir forest has increased by 29% from 523 in 2015 to 674 in 2020.
Conservation of Lions in India:
i.The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change(MoEFCC) launched the “Asiatic Lion Conservation Project” in 2018 to protect the Asiatic lions and their habitat.
This aims to strengthen the efforts for conservation and recovery of Asiatic Lions with state of the art techniques, disease management and surveillance techniques.
ii.Project lion was created by the Wildlife Institute of India, in association with the Gujarat Forest Department. The project was created for the conservation of the Asiatic lion found in Gujarat’s Asiatic Lion Landscape(ALL).
