FAQs About LionAid

 Lion trophy hunting is a complex issue is some ways and a very simple issue in others. The hunting arguments are basically these:

• Trophy hunting operations (not just shooting lions) say they lease very large tracts of land across Africa, and by so doing protect wildlife that would otherwise be confined to nationally protected areas. In fact, the lease areas exceed the protected areas in additive size in many countries.
• The hunting community says that if commercial value through hunting is not placed on wildlife, such land will revert to cattle and/or crops, and much wildlife will be lost.
• The hunters say they aid communities and governments with substantial income by their sustainable activities, and therefore engender a conservation value for wildlife.

 Our facts are these:

• Trophy hunting has not led to the conservation of lions in Africa. In fact, if we take the example of Tanzania, where there used to be 154 big game hunting areas, 72% have now been abandoned because they are no longer profitable for hunting organisations.
• Trophy hunting of lions and many other species has only shown minimal commercial returns to governments and communities, e.g. in Tanzania communities receive an average income of 8 CENTS per hectare per year to allow their land to be used for trophy hunting. This contrasts with the Masai Mara conservancies who earn 40 dollars per hectare per year to allow their land to be used for photographic safaris.
• While some African governments have pledged to disallow the shooting of any lion under six years old, this has never been enforced and most male lions shot these days are much younger and will never have reproduced. Such excessive and unsustainable use has led to severe decreases in reproduction among lion populations, not only in hunting areas, but also in neighbouring National Parks.
• It is becoming increasingly clear that because of the over hunting in trophy hunting concessions, the operators are now almost completely reliant on luring trophy quality lions out of nationall protected areas - Cecil was not the first and certainly will not be the last of these lions.