Lion Guardians Statement on Cecil the Lion

Over the last few weeks, following the death of Cecil the Lion, we have been deeply touched by all those who have reached out to us, supporting us with words of encouragement and donations. His death triggered global outrage that has brought much needed attention to the plight of the African lion. Lion populations have been threatened by habitat loss and retaliatory killing for decades – in just the last 50 years, it is estimated that we have lost more than 50% of African lions. It is well past time that awareness of this precipitous decline is widely shared and positive action taken.

At Lion Guardians, we believe the fate of the lions lies in the hands of the communities that live with them. Our approach involves recruiting young, non-literate Maasai and other pastoralist warriors to learn the skills needed to effectively mitigate conflicts between people and wildlife, monitor lion populations, and help their own communities live with lions. By actively engaging in our solutions-based conservation model, people who were once lion killers are transformed into lion protectors. Today, in our areas of operation, we have managed to reduce lion killing by >90%.

Now we would like to encourage you to turn your outrage at the death of Cecil into positive and sustained action.

Get involved:

• Host your own community film showing – gather friends and family to watch the Lion Guardians’ educational film and our other videos.
• Share the film online – send it to your friends on email, post it on Facebook, Tweet about it!
• Contribute to the discussion – Share stories, pictures and comments on Facebook about what lions mean to you, what it would mean for you to live with lions and what it means to you to have Lion Guardians helping their communities to save lions while preserving culture.
• Share ways that your friends, families and neighbors can engage and get involved in lion conservation
  • For example, support lion conservation at the local level by sponsoring a Guardian for less than $5 a day!
  • Or to support lion conservation on a broader scale, by linking lions, science and technology, donate to our flagship project LINC (connecting lions – connecting researchers)

It takes a community to conserve lions and preserve cultures – joins ours today!