Recently in 2013, Zambia's government lifted the ban on killing wild lions and leopards. They announced that the killing of lions would resume in 2016 (last year) and that leopards would start to be killed in 2015.
This decision may be the cause of the decline of big cats, rather than stabilizing the population. You see, Zambia lifted the ban only because the ban started when the species started declining due to trophy and game hunting. Their government decided there was a steady amount of cats and explained that hunting would resume shortly.
But their calculations were wrong! Zambia's estimated population was 8,000 leopards and 4,000 lions. However, only about 1,500 lions currently were in Zambia. Conservationists were angered to see that although the estimates were wrong, the ban was still in order. However, this was all done for a good cause.
What was the Cause of the Act?
Now I know you're all wondering why a nice, peaceful place like Zambia would once more allow people to shoot the majestic animals that lions and leopards are. Of course, there's a reason. Zambia's government believes that the money they make from the hunting permits will help raise money for poor villages in need of assistance.
However, some people are still against the act. "The decision is not good at all and frankly we have a crisis," says James Chungu of the Lusengwa Conservation Trust. "There are concerns about Africa's big animals in the face of a surge in poaching where well-armed criminal gangs have killed elephants for their ivory tusks and rhinos for horns that are often shipped to Asia for use in ornaments and medicines," says Yahoo News. The main reason that people are a bit angry is that the population of these cats will most likely decrease.
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