Happy World Lion Day!

Hi PetPals!

Today is World Lion Day. It's a day to celebrate and raise awareness of there magnificent animals.

Lions are iconic species and their picture or structure are often found guarding our temples, adorning our flags, decorating our coins and capturing our hearts. On almost every continent, and in thousands of cultures, the lion can be found demonstrating man’s fascination with this magnificent beast.

Despite the lions’ symbolic importance throughout the ages, today they are suffering from a silent extinction across Africa and India.  Knowledge of the King of Beasts’ plight is little known.

The lion population in Africa has been reduced by half since the early 1950s. Today, fewer than 21,000 remain in all of Africa. It's estimated that Lions could be extinct by 2020- that's in just 5 years time! Crazy! The reason for their decline is habitat loss, prey loss and poaching. Poaching and Trophy Hunting of Lions is a huge problem at the moment. Just over 2 weeks ago, the world was shocked by the unlawful hunting of Cecil who was lured away from the safety of his reserve park, shot and left to suffer for 40 hours before having his head cut off. Absolutely disgusting. Sickening. 

That is why it is so important to support World Lion Day. We don't want a repeat of Cecil. 

World Lion Day is the first global campaign to celebrate the importance of the lion worldwide. Since the dawn of man the lion has played an integral role in our lives: symbolically, religiously, culturally, economically and biologically. To lose the lion from our world would be to lose part of our global heritage. 

To support lions and their conservation, share a picture of a lion and let everyone know the struggle they are facing. Donate if you can, any amount can help save their lives. 

Also read this interesting article:

http://www.defenders.org/magazine/fall-2010/can-we-save-lions