The main threats to Lions are indiscriminate killing (primarily as a result of retaliatory or pre-emptive killing to protect human life and livestock) and prey base depletion. Habitat loss and conversion has led to a number of subpopulations becoming small and isolated (Bauer et al. 2008). Furthermore, trophy hunting has a net positive impact in a some areas, but may have at times contributed to population declines in Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe (Packer et al. 2009, 2011, 2013), Cameroon (Croes et al. 2011) and Zambia (Rosenblatt et al. 2014).
Name
Emma Hemmerlé
Scientific Name
Panthera leo
Common Name(s)
Lion
Type of Use
Extractive (i.e., the entire organism or parts of the organism are removed from its environment)
If extractive, for the target species, is this use
Lethal
Does this use involve take/extraction of
Only parts or products of the organism (e.g., feathers, leaves, branches, eggs, nuts)
Details of parts/products taken
bones
Are specific characteristics/traits being targeted?
Unknown/not recorded
Purpose of Use
Largescale commercial exploitation for trade
What is the main end use for any living organisms, parts or products taken/extracted?
Local people (e.g., individuals, communities, co-operatives)
National external (individual, groups. e.g., hunters, anglers, photographers, tourists)
International external (individual, groups. e.g., hunters, anglers, photographers, tourists)
If more than one box ticked, please provide more details
First, the legal but rapacious E-SEA trade, derived annually from hundreds of captive-bred South African lions and a limited number of wild-origin ones from other African countries (the latter amounting to 0.9% of the total quantity listed on issued CITES permits to 2015, all from Namibia, Table 1). Second, the same trade to E-SEA, but conducted illegally (e.g. no permits, or sourced by poaching) (not quantified here). And third, the relatively more widespread but comparatively modest, but no less threatening, pan-African utilization of bones that is mostly for ‘traditional’ purposes and is typically sourced outside South Africa from wild lion populations killed in human-lion conflicts (‘problem lions’) and poaching [8], or in South Africa from poaching of captive-bred lions or sales from captive-facilities to traditional medicine (‘muti’) traders
Is the use part of a strategy to generate conservation incentives, to finance conservation, or to improve tolerance/stewardship?
Unknown/not recorded
Is there evidence that the use is affecting the conservation status of the species? HIDE
No – no clear evidence of the impact of use compared to other factors influencing
Is there evidence that the use is affecting natural selection?
Unknown/not recorded
Is there evidence that the use is affecting poaching of illegal wildlife trade?
Unknown/not reported
Is there any evidence that this use of the species is having a knock-on effect on the status of non-target species
Unknown/not recorded
Unknown/not recorded
Details of assessment carried out
there is minimal evidence to suggest that the East-Southeast Asian bone trade is presently adversely affecting wild lions in protected areas in South Africa, the extent of this specific trade in other lion range states still requires urgent pro- active monitoring and evaluation to substantiate and clarify these impacts and also those resulting from the trade in lion body parts for other purposes.
Has a valuation of financial flows from this use at the site/national/international level been recorded
Williams VL, Loveridge AJ, Newton DJ, Macdonald DW (2017) A roaring trade? The legal trade in Panthera leo bones from Africa to East- Southeast Asia. PLoS ONE 12(10): e0185996. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185996