Kafue National Park lies at the heart of a massive 25,600 square mile wilderness. That’s an area nearly 3x larger than Yellowstone National Park. Kafue holds a significant population of lions, but one that could be much larger if the principal threats were controlled. In fact, Kafue represents one of the sites with the greatest potential for recovery in lion numbers in Africa. Lions are greatly limited in Kafue by poaching of their prey for meat. Additionally, lions are sometimes caught as by-catch in the wire snares used by poachers to catch antelopes and buffaloes.
The LRF is proud to announce a grant to Panthera to help them in their efforts to tackle bushmeat poaching. Panthera are working to support the law enforcement efforts of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife. Adopting a strategic approach, they are focusing on the parts of the park that have the greatest poaching pressure, that are of the highest value for predators and to tourism. Protecting the tourism cores is essential, because tourism revenue contributes to the operational costs of the park.
