Loving our lions
Today is World Lion Day and it’s with great pride that we celebrate our two marvellous lionesses and all lions around the globe.
Our Asiatic lionesses, Kyra and Asha, will be getting extra treats in their one-acre Lion Ridge paddock today. And we’re asking visitors to enjoy seeing our special sisters and to reflect on the plight of lions in the wild.
DZG is part of a major international conservation programme for the endangered Asiatic lion and works hard to highlight the importance of this worldwide project which is vital for the survival of these magnificent animals.
Today there are only several hundred Asiatic lions surviving in the wild and these are restricted to the Gir Forest Wildlife Sanctuary in Western India, which is an area smaller than Greater London.
Curator Richard Brown said: “To think thousands of lions once prowled the planet, it’s incomprehensible to imagine a world without these majestic beasts.
“They face a number of threats, mainly due to the destruction of their habitat and they’re still hunted and killed by poachers too.”
