Knowsley Safari's six-strong African Lion pride is reminding us who's king of the jungle on World Lion Day. Listed as a vulnerable species, the animals are threatened by habitat loss, food shortages due to natural prey decline and illegal wildlife trade, among other factors and with the global population around 40% less than three generations ago, World Lion Day is an opportunity to raise awareness of how we can help protect this majestic big cat.
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00:00 Nosely Zavare's six strong African lion pride is reminding us who's king of the jungle on
00:07 World Lion Day.
00:08 The lions were actually the first animals we had at Nosely in 1971. We've had them ever
00:13 since in various prides over the last 52 years. My favourite thing about the lions here is
00:19 that they are unpredictable sometimes and I've worked with them for a lot of years and
00:23 they do make you work for your money. Because of Nosely, the way we keep them, they have
00:27 so much freedom. They have a six acre reserve that they're in and out of every day. So managing
00:31 them in that environment can be really challenging sometimes. They do exactly what they want
00:37 to do and we just have to work around them a little bit, which sometimes is challenging
00:40 but more often than not is just loads of fun.
00:42 Listed as a vulnerable species, the animals are threatened by habitat loss, food shortages
00:47 due to natural prey decline and illegal wildlife trade amongst other factors. And with the
00:53 global population around 40% less than three generations ago, World Lion Day is an opportunity
00:59 to raise awareness of how we can help protect this majestic big cat.
01:04 The lions here are as different as me and you. You have mischievous ones, ones that
01:08 are just a little bit more headstrong and will make you work for your money a little
01:11 bit more and ones that are just more concerned with chasing bumblebees and things like that
01:16 than getting into rucks. It takes a little bit of time to get to know them. Obviously
01:19 they don't really get to know us. They know our size and shape and smell often and sound
01:24 and things like that but it's always a tolerance you get, it's not an affection. If I left
01:29 tomorrow and got another job and never came back, they'd be fine, they wouldn't care,
01:32 which is a bit sad for me but great for them.
01:34 Lions are the only species of big cat that live in social groups. Prides are formed by
01:39 females and their offspring.
01:41 The lions are immensely adaptable and resilient and lions as a species used to occupy about
01:47 90% more of a region than they did all through Europe and even historically in the Americas.
01:51 It's not often you see an African mammal with a big furry coat so they really are pretty
01:57 hardy. A lion's roar can be heard up to five miles away so we have to have people in the
02:02 Prescott area that quite tentatively tell us now and again, "We can hear lions at night."
02:07 I suppose when they first moved in it was a bit of a jarring noise to hear coming through
02:10 the kitchen window.
02:11 The current African lion population is estimated to be as few as 23,000. They're currently
02:18 listed as vulnerable so without changes to their circumstances, these apex predators
02:23 are likely to become endangered.
02:25 To contribute to the efforts in the wild and in situ conservation is just important. It's
02:34 an obligation really for anyone that works with lions. These are captive ambassadors
02:38 for their wild cousins who are and have suffered a massive decline and if we don't act on it
02:44 now we will lose them. We do contribute to many active charities that do some really
02:49 good work in that department and we are seeing a slow increase and improvement in things
02:53 like that so we might have just caught it in time.
02:55 As part of Noseley Safari's commitment, they support an African lion conservation programme
03:01 at Nkolo Koba National Park in Senegal.