SPEAKER_01: Module 2D Exercise 1B, page 28.

SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show, Dr Richards. Can you tell us why lions are in
danger?
SPEAKER_01: These are in danger because there are between 16,000 and 50,000 of
them left in Africa. Now that will be a nice number of lions if they were all
protected inside national parks and game reserves. But the fact is that many are
still out in the wild facing the dangers of habitat loss, hunting and accidental
poisoning. Even though all these lions can be found in the sub-Saharan region of
Africa, the loss of habitat means that different groups of lions are losing contact
with each other. So each population, because it's so small, is highly endangered.
SPEAKER_00: How many lions should there be in the wild?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we know that 30 years ago there were 180,000 more lions living
in the African wild. Long ago, lion populations existed throughout southern Europe,
parts of North and South America, southern Asia, central India and all over Africa.
Since then, they have simply vanished from most of these places. Europe hasn't seen
a lion since 100 AD and in 1884 there were only a dozen left in the gear forest in
India. In the 20th century, the gear lions were protected and they now number about
300. But that's not enough. So the gear lion is now on the critically endangered
species list.
SPEAKER_00: That's terrible. I didn't know it was that serious. But the lion can
be saved from extinction, can't it?
SPEAKER_01: It all depends. Most experts agree that if we act immediately, we can
save the lion. But we need help to do that because there are too many threats still
out there.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you explain the problem with habitat loss, but I don't
understand why people might still hunt them or how they get poisoned.
SPEAKER_01: They are mostly hunted by the Masai warriors who kill them to protect
their farms. There are many organizations trying to teach the Masai the importance
of conserving these big cats instead of killing them. On the other hand, there are
the dangerous poachers. Many elephant poachers kill elephants by poisoning their
water holes. Unfortunately, many lions become accidental victims. The use of strong
pesticides over land has another deadly effect on lions.
SPEAKER_00: So, what can we do to help?
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, the only way to protect lions is to create protected
areas for them. At the same time, we have to breed as many as we can if we want the
species to survive. We also need volunteers to track and follow the lions in the
wild. You can find links to several organizations raising money for this on my
website.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for coming to talk to us, Dr. Richards. Let's hope the king
of the jungle can be saved.