In the last few days we heard the shocking news about what happened to Cecil the lion that lives in Zimbabwe by the American dentist who did this to win a stupid trophy. But actually things went too far after this horrible accident, it made us think more about how many cruel acts that lions face every day, not just lions, also all wildlife animals. Every day, a pure soul is attacked or killed by hunters, or being abused in circuses, and shockingly we find that lions are now dragged into the endangered species that would be fading through the years.
Surprisingly, the African Lions will face extinction by 2050, and they are in need for a special protection. Here in this research we will discussthose horrible things that African Lions face.
1-Hunting Trophies
It was the reason why Cecil the lion was killed, and it was the same reason that makes hunters go to the wild and take the life of those pure souls, only to decorate their homes with their hunted bodies. The way that they gain pride is by killing an innocent animal! Thousands of hunters do their best to improve their skills and gain more trophies, which effects the population of lions and wild animals.
The hunting trophy now is considered as an industry in lots of countries especially Africa, it's a gross income which reaches more than $200 million dollars in Africa. It reached about $18 million dollars in Zimbabwe in 2002.The trophies' prices are different from an animal to another, but the lion trophy is the most desirable between hunters and also the highest in price, it can reach more than $130,000. What happened to Cecil the lion was not the first time, because the CITES had announced that about 4791 lion trophies were exported from Africa from 2002 to 2009, FYI; only 20,000 lions exist in the world in this period. Between that numbers of trophies, only 500 from Zimbabwe, which is categorized as the top five countries that are selling lion trophies.
For a long time, hunters were running after those trophies, and sadly Cecil the lion won't be the last lion to pay his life as a price for this trophy, if there aren't any rules and penalties for those who are destroying the balance of nature.
2-Selling Lion Body Parts and Meat
Do you remember how shocking it was when we knew the truth about Yulin festival? Where dogs' meat is allowed, you saw how dogs live in horrible situation; how they are abused till the moment they are killed. Have you ever thought that the same thing is happening to Lions? Shockingly, lots of restaurants in USA are selling lions' meat, and shockingly, they are allowed to, it's legal in some states to do so. It's imported from zoos and circuses; they live under horrible circumstances and inhumane conditions. Now after theUS Fish and Wildlife Department added lions to the endangered species list, the USA government should illegalize the selling of lion's meat in the restaurant and put the maximum penalty for that. Lions are the kings of the wilds, they should be protected, and they should be saved, not cooked and served as a meal.
3-Circus Abuse
We go to the circus to have some fun, it's kind of an amazing entertainment time, but have you ever thought about how these lions actually live? Especially for the lions. Because of "The Show Must Go On", and because the lions should do specific moves in a specific time, the circus magicians and trainers hit the lions, abuse them, and leave them starving for a long time, besides, lots of horrible and cruel training methods, and the reason is only to "OBEY". These cruel acts that humans do toward lions are showing how mean and selfish humans are, they can do anything to make animals obey them and do what they need to gain money, forgetting about their rights and freedom.
After reading this, you are pretty sure now that the cruel acts towards lions have been in this world a long time ago before the death of Cecil the lion, and will continue existing if we did not take serious steps to save animals and lions. You can help by knowing more about the cruel acts humans do to African lions every day. You can join those non-profit organizations that do their best to save the wildlife animals; you can donate to them too. You can also share this article or any other thing that you read about abusing lions with the people around you to help people know more about it. You can also search the internet for the communities that are specialized in saving lions and have lots of activities like the
Lion Aid organization
You can search for many other ways of how we should help, if we all could find a way to do so, we will make it! We should protect the lions from the heartless people who are only running after money.
