LONG LIVE THE KINGS

A decade after Cecil the lion was shot with a bow and arrow, there are encouraging signs of hope for lion numbers across Africa

- SARA EVANS

DO YOU REMEMBER CECIL THE LION, the bold, wild and archetypally handsome big cat at Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park? With a glorious flowing mane and a royal swagger, Cecil was the star attraction at the reserve for more than a decade. He was also a dominant male and established three prides, one of them 22-lions strong. But in July 2015, Cecil, who was named by a University of Oxford research team studying him and his pride, was lured outside the safety of Hwange's border and killed by a trophy hunter.

Some weeks later, US comedian Jimmy Kimmel, with tears in his eyes, spoke about Cecil's death on his popular TV chat show. This lit a touchpaper, sparking an unprecedented global response to a wildlife story. Social media channels and mainstream media outlets were jammed with comments about Cecil. Quite simply, Cecil set the internet alight.

There was, of course, outrage about the manner of Cecil's death, but it also shone a light on lions more widely. People were shocked to learn that lions in Africa were in desperate decline. Panthera leo, the fabled king of beasts, an animal assumed to be invincible, was in trouble - big trouble.

Across most of Africa, lion numbers were in freefall. Lions had actually been listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN since 1996, with estimates that no more than 29,000 individuals roamed the continent. In the north, lions were long gone, and in West Africa lion numbers were so low the IUCN categorised them as Critically Endangered. In all of Africa, the only lions doing relatively okay were some populations in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.