Sensation in Chad: After more than 20 years, another lion has finally been sighted

Africa without lions? In Chad, lions have been considered extinct for 20 years. In 2004, the last large predatory cat was spotted in the Central African country. Now a photo creates excitement. It was taken by a remote-controlled camera in Sena Oura National Park on the night of February 22, 2023 and shows: a lioness.

“A beautiful lioness, in the prime of her life and apparently in excellent health,” said the New York, US-based non-profit Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). published the photo on Friday, together with the government of Chad. The lioness is testament to how much the region benefits from Cameroon’s and Chad’s strong commitment to conservation.

The photo does not show whether the lioness was alone. But it is possible that there are more big cats in Chad. Unlike other big cat species, lions, especially the females, usually live in family groups.

This circumstance gives hope to animal rights activists. “Our team believes there are more lions”WCS spokesman Stephen Sautner told ABC News.

According to officials, a lion had not been seen in the national park for 20 years. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said the animals were “technically extinct” in the Sena-Oura area.

Lions are on the so-called IUCN Red List and are classified as an “endangered species”. The lions in West and Central Africa are classified as “endangered”, as their population has declined by about 66 percent since the early 1990s. According to the WCS, they differ genetically from the hardier lion populations in East and South Africa.

(t-online, stupid)