Rare white lion cubs captured by photographer working to protect little big cats from hunters

• Nov 27, 2014
• By Rebecca Lewis

THE birth of three white lion cubs takes the wild white lion population to the grand total of 13 in the whole world.

Barcroft

Scott Ramsay spotted the three white lion cubs - the trio bring the world population up to 13.

THEY are some of the rarest, most beautiful – and most vulnerable – creatures on the face of the earth. Three white lion cubs have been born to a white mother in the only place in the world where white lions are found. Their birth takes the total global wild white lion population to 13, with only six of them born outside captivity.

Wildlife rangers and conservationists are overjoyed by the new arrivals. But they also know they are in deadly danger, mainly because of twisted humans who pay huge prices to shoot wild lions for fun.
They hope the world will help them keep the cubs alive.

The babies were born in the Greater Timbavati region of South Africa, where the lion population have a unique gene which means a few of them are born snow white. It’s the first case known to science of a white lion mother giving birth to white cubs.

Game ranger Chad Cocking, 31, was first to spot the youngsters. He said: “We rounded a bit of vegetation and there in front of us were six lions, and two of the lionesses were white. “When I put my binoculars on, my smile got even bigger – if that was possible. There, nursing from their white mother, were three white cubs and their tawny sibling.”

Photographer Scott Ramsay took these amazing shots of the cubs and their mum two weeks later. He said: “They are hypnotic creatures. “One of the white lionesses has piercing blue eyes to go with her white coat. She was supremely photogenic.” Former model Linda Tucker, who has dedicated her life to saving white lions, is thrilled with the new cubs.

They take the total number of living white lions born in the wild to six. Linda’s Global White Lion Protection Trust rescued the other seven from captivity. Linda said: “The birth of these cubs is fantastic news. It brings huge hope.”

Scott Ramsay / Barcroft

One of the white lion cubs looks straight through the reeds at the photographer

 But as she celebrated, she warned of the real threat the cubs face from the callousness of rich hunters and those who profit from their so-called sport. White lions are the ultimate trophy for rich men who will pay £100,000 for the chance to defy the law and kill one. Timbavati lions often fall victim to the grotesque practice of “canned hunting”, where poachers steal male cubs, raise them, then let them loose in fenced areas for foreigners to shoot. And cubs left behind are not safe either.

Hunters also operate in the wild, killing males. And if the leader of a pride is shot, his place will be taken by a younger male who will kill all the cubs he has not sired himself. Linda said the cubs’ mother herself survived after her pride’s leading male was killed and another took over. And she warned that the last litter of white cubs, born in 2006, died soon after hunters killed their father.
Linda said: “The survival of these cubs, and the future of white lions in the wild, is in jeopardy if trophy hunting continues.”

source