Kenya Pushes for Ban on Hunting Lions

Kenya is looking for a ban on all hunting of lions. The records show that the numbers of African Lions are still declining at an alarming rate. In 1980 there were seventy-six thousand lions and in 2002 the numbers had dropped to thirty-nine thousand lions. Kenya is hoping to get maximum protection for these lions, prohibiting any hunting, from the volunteer treaty called, CITES. The lions from Europe and the Middle East are already extinct, and of the subspecies left in Africa, only a few hundred remain. Right now the treaty allows regulated hunting of the lion, so other areas like Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia are able to sell some licenses to trophy hunters. Many of these areas feel if lion hunting is banned it will hurt their economy. Only fifty percent of the lions left are protected by national parks, the ones outside the parks are in serious danger. Kenya explains that the reputation of the lion being such a powerful creature makes it a target for hunters and the only way to make sure the lion has a chance of survival outside the parks is a complete ban. The meeting is scheduled for October second to the fourteenth.