This month, the Lion Recovery Fund (LRF) provided three new grants to organizations on the ground that are engaged in protecting African lions: Greater Limpopo Carnivore Program, Lion Landscapes, and SORALO.
In Mozambique, an additional grant to the Greater Limpopo Carnivore Program will enable them to continue the work they began in 2017 (which the LRF funded) —tackling lion poaching in Limpopo National Park through the deployment of a special Limpopo Lion Protection Unit. Lions in Limpopo are severely affected by targeted poaching for body parts and snares set by poachers in search of bushmeat. The Limpopo Lion Protection Unit or “Lion Rangers” protect lions by patrolling the park for poachers and removing wire snares from the areas where they live.
In Kenya, a grant to Lion Landscapes will help to reduce conflict between lions and people in Laikipia County—where human-lion conflict has emerged as a serious issue because of poorly managed livestock. The grant will help train and equip a special unit of Lion Rangers to prevent or respond quickly to incidences of human-carnivore conflict, and to work with local livestock owners to increase their ability to prevent livestock depredation and raise awareness of human-livestock health issues.
In Kenya, a grant to SORALO will help secure and improve connectivity for lions in the rangelands that occur between the Maasai Mara and the Amboseli ecosystems. Working with five sub-divided group ranches, SORALO aims to help secure safe spaces and pathways of tolerance for lions by protecting lion habitat and prey populations, monitoring lion movement, responding to and preventing human-lion conflict, and initiating dialogue that will lead to the development of conservation and land use plans that will facilitate coexistence.
The Lion Recovery Fund (LRF) aims to support the best efforts to stop the decline of lions and recover the half of lions we have lost in the last 25 years. To date, the LRF has invested $4.8 million to 50 projects with 33 different organizations across 17 countries, for the benefit of lion conservation. Fortunately, with sufficient investment to protect them, their prey and their habitats, lions can be saved.