Today is annual World Lion Day, and conservations across the globe are celebrating the occasion.
World Lion Day (WLD) is a day to celebrate and raise awareness of the conservation as well as sustainable solutions to protect and save global wild lion populations from extinction.
Dereck and Beverly Joubert founded WLD in 2013.
Bringing together both National Geographic and the Big Cat Initiative under a single banner. To protect the remaining lions in the world.
To commemorate the day, many conservations and charities are celebrating their lions.
In Rajkot, India, the forest department announced that WLD is going to celebrated virtually and started campaigning on social media early this month by posting wildlife conservation-related content and raising awareness as well.
While in Israel, the Ramat Gan Safari treated its lions to a new way to try and gather food.
They gave three boxes to the big cats. Which contains special food items. which allows the animals to engage in their natural behavior. They act as how they would in nature.
However, though there are many celebrations. The conservation status for lions is vulnerable due to the decreasing population.
The primary reasons for that include habitat loss and the growth of agriculture to feed Africa’s growing human population. Another reason also consists of the rise in trophy hunters, who hunt and shoot down the animals for human recreation.
“We need norms and standards which are aligned to APA and that speak to the absolute best welfare practices available,” said Douglas Wolhuter. The national senior inspector and manager of the NSPCA Wildlife Protection Unit, in a statement on the organization’s website.
“There are over 8,000 wildlife facilities in South Africa. It’s clear that without funding to secure inspectors, vehicles, and accommodation, we are in a precarious position. We need the support of the public to make a difference to animals in South Africa.”