What future for lions?

The lives of lions are now inextricably linked to those of humans.

This portfolio highlights some of the ways in which humans regard lions and utilize them. At one extreme is ‘canned-lion’ hunting, where lions are bred on farms specifically to be killed by wealthy hunters and their bones exported to Asia. Elsewhere in Africa, where the risk of a lion attack is a reality, communities are finding ways to live alongside these predators and may even engage in conservation initiatives. Lion conservation is a subject riddled with ethical and practical challenges, conflicts and compromises, all within the wider contexts of habitat loss and global economic and political pressures. The fact is, though, that lion numbers continue to fall and that the species faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.