How endangered are lions?

Recently shocking research indicates that wild African lion populations are more endangered than we thought.

"We're deeply disturbed about the lion-bone trade. Permits for

lion bones have been issued and these bones are now being sold into the

East. Lion bones are in such demand because they look so similar to

tiger bones, which is a huge trade, but there are only 3200 tigers left

in the world and that supply is drying up. The minute there's a healthy

trade in animal parts, be it rhino horn or lion bones, these animals

become more valuable dead than alive.

It's a cultural belief and all about the individual gaining

so-called power through a wine made from tiger bones. Logging,

slash-and-burn and the bushmeat trade are also killing wild lions, as

well as safari hunting, which, genetically, takes out the best

specimens, the males - and when one male is shot, between 12 and 20

lions are killed, because a new male comes in to take over the territory

and kills all the cubs the dead male has sired. Often some of the

females fight to the death to protect their cubs. ..

If you imagine that there are 20000 to 30000 lions left, that

implies there are only between 3500 and 5000 male lions and yet the US

imports about 550 trophies a year. Another scourge we must be careful of

is FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus), which has infected 90% of

Africa's lions. A good portion of the lions you and I may have seen in

the Kruger National Park are affected with bovine TB, so we have a very

vulnerable lion population here. "