The confirmation was made by an expedition into the Alatash National
Park in northwest Ethiopia, on the Ethiopia-Sudan border. Supported by
the Washington, D.C.-based charity, the expedition in November last year
was led by Hans Bauer, a lion conservationist working for Oxford
University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU).
Bauer and his team found original and undisputable evidence of lions
in the region, successfully obtaining camera trap images of lions and
identifying lion tracks, Born Free said in its statement. The team also
concluded that lions were likely to exist in the larger, adjacent Dinder
National Park across the border in Sudan.
“Alatash is a huge region that very few people have visited,” the
statement said. “Though lions are thought to have been present there for
centuries, and locals knew of their existence in the area, the
international community was unaware. The International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) only considered Alatash a ‘possible range’
for the species.”
Camera trap photo of lion in northwest Ethiopia courtesy of Born Free USA.
WildCRU’s Bauer, the expedition leader, said: Lions are definitely
present in Alatash National Park and in Dinder National Park. Lion
presence in Alatash has not previously been confirmed in meetings at the
national or international level.
“Considering the relative ease with which lion signs were observed,
it is likely that they are resident throughout Alatash and Dinder. Due
to limited surface water, prey densities are low and lion densities are
likely to be low. We may conservatively assume a density in the range of
one to two lions per 100 km2 [38 square miles]. On a total surface area
of about 10,000 km2 [about 4,000 square miles], this would mean a
population of 100-200 lions for the entire ecosystem, of which 27-54
would be in Alatash,” he said.
“The confirmation that lions persist in this area is exciting news,”
said Adam M. Roberts, CEO of Born Free USA and Born Free Foundation.
Lions were thought to be locally extinct in Sudan, so the new findings
are encouraging, he added. “Now that the expedition is complete, the
next step is to communicate with the governments of Ethiopia and Sudan
and look at the needs for conservation in the area so that this
previously undiscovered lion stronghold can be protected.”
Born Free USA leads campaigns against animals in entertainment,
exotic pets, trapping and fur, and the destructive international
wildlife trade. Its mission is to end suffering of wild animals in
captivity, conserve threatened and endangered species, and encourage
compassionate conservation globally. The charity brings to North America
the message of compassionate conservation, the vision of the United
Kingdom-based Born Free Foundation, established in 1984 by Bill Travers
and Virginia McKenna, stars of the iconic film Born Free, along with their son, Will Travers. Born Free USA and Born Free Foundation have just announced its Year of the Lion 2016 initiative and the 50th anniversary of the film, Born Free.
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