HONOLULU (AP) — The number of savanna elephants in Africa is rapidly declining and the animals are in danger of being wiped out as international and domestic ivory trades drive poaching across the continent, according to a study released Wednesday.
Africa's savanna elephant population plummeted by about 30 percent from 2007 to 2014 and is declining at about 8 percent a year, said a survey funded by Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul Allen.
NEWS Cecil The Lion’s Killing Could See Up To 200 Lions Being Culled In Zimbabwe Due To Overpopulation 23 February 2016 | Updated 24 February 2016 Kathryn Snowdon News reporter, The Huffington Post UK Wildlife authorities in Zimbabwe may kill up to 200 lions due to a drop in the number of trophy hunters venturing to the country following Cecil the Lion’s death last year.
Walter Palmer, the American dentist who paid to kill the 13-year-old beast, was heavily condemned for his actions, which has driven trophy hunters - and their cash - away from the southern African state, claim conservationists.
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Walter Palmer (left) sparked international outrage after killing Cecil the Lion
Bubye Valley Conservancy has more than 500 lions, believed to be the largest number in Zimbabwe’s wildlife areas.
Bubye, which was created and is sustained by sport hunting operations, has dubbed the lack of trophy hunters due to the lion’s killing last year as “the Cecil effect”.
It is now appealing for other institutions or wildlife sanctuaries to take some of its lions.
Blondie Leathem, general manager of Bubye Valley Conservancy, told The Telegraph: “I wish we could give about 200 of our lions away to ease the overpopulation.
“If anyone knows of a suitable habitat for them where they will not land up in human conflict, or in wildlife areas where they will not be beaten up because of existing prides, please let us know and help us raise the money to move them.”
Some 200 lions face being killed if no other location is found for them.
But animal protection groups have raised concerns about the proposed cull, saying that Bubye Valley Conservancy should not have relied on trophy hunting to manage animal populations.
A spokesman from World Animal Protection told the Huffington Post UK: “Culling of wild animals should always be a last resort and only used when evidence suggests that it is needed to protect an ecosystem and all of the animals in it. “Bubye Valley Conservancy should never have relied on commercial big game hunting to manage its wild lion populations. This is not only cruel but entirely unnecessary. “For example, education programmes can help to increase community tolerance for lions, preventing unnecessary deaths of people and their livestock.”
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The protected lion known as Cecil strolls around in Hwange National Park, in Hwange, Zimbabwe in 2012
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) lambasted the Bubye Valley Conservancy’s stance, saying that hunters who the ones responsible for the extinction of so many species.
PETA’s Director Mimi Bekhechi said to the Huffington Post UK: “The idea that lions need humans to control their numbers is arrogance.
“Nature always has maintained animal populations by gauging the amount of food available, not by considering the number of hunters. Hunters are responsible for extinctions of all manner of animals, from mammals to birds, all over the world. Yeah education of locals is the answer. People living on the edge of existence just need education. PETA idiots. I wonder what they would do if family members were killed by a lion or animals got in and ate all their alfalfa sprouts and bean curd? Easy to spout off living in a cushy home and driving in your Prius.
