When I arrived to Ngala andBeyond, in the Timbavati region of the Kruger National Park last year, I was welcomed by the news that a new white cub had been born, making it the second white lion cub of the year. I was now in the presence of two of the only three recorded white lions in the wild.
A rarity of the natural world, white lions are not albino, they are also not a different species of lion. Their condition is called “leucism” and is the result of two recessive genes inherited from their parents, which makes their coat look white instead of tawny, like the ones we are used to see. This gene is so rare that it only occurs naturally in the Timbavati area of the Kruger.
White lions were first “discovered” by Europeans in 1938, although there are records of white lions in African tales dating back to almost 400 years. For instance, the Sepedi and Tsonga communities of South Africa, consider the white lion “the most sacred animal on the African continent”, “The King of Kings”. Its cultural relevance makes it an ideal conservation ambassador to encourage local communities to preserve their natural heritage and the unique biodiversity of the Kruger National Park.
Unfortunately, their discovery created such a stir that they were almost completely removed from the wild for over six decades. Sold to trophy hunters, zoos and circuses around the world, the white lion was considered technically extinct in the wild until fairly recently.
Although they are extremely rare in the wild, there are hundreds of white lions living in breeding farms. Priced for its uniqueness, most white lions spend their lives in captivity. One of the problems of the breeding farms is that the risk of inbreeding escalates, severally deteriorating the genetic pool. This holds true specially in the case of the white lion, as it needs both parents that carry the leucitic recessive gene to produce a white cub. This deterioration of the gene pool makes reintroduction to the wildlife a task of epic proportions.
Additionally, breeding farms open an opportunity for unscrupulous practices such as canned hunting. In South Africa, it is legal to hunt lions in the wild and in captivity! Cubs are taken from the mothers and sold to petting zoos where tourists pay a hefty price to cuddle and take selfies with them. As they grow and they become dangerous to handle, many of the animals are transferred to canned hunting facilities to be shot by paying trophy hunters, while their bones and other body parts are sold into the local and international trade.
This is the reality not only for the white lions, but of the species as a whole. While the number of lions in the wild declines at an unprecedented rate, the number of predator farms continues to increase. In the last 20 years we have lost 50% of the lion’s population in the wild. Today, lions are officially extinct in 16 African nations. It may not be long before we have no lions left.
As an Apex predator, lions provide ecological stability to the landscape they inhabit. Think of the explosion of impalas, zebras and wildebeest that would arise if we were to remove lions from their natural habitat. The consequences of their extinction would be devastating not only for the animals, but for the climate and the people.
Today, conservation issues cannot be thought of as a the issues faced by a single species. We are all interconnected, we all play a role. Hopefully the birth of these special cubs and the social media fuzz around them, will continue to put pressure on the relevant authorities to stop these inhumane practices and support a long-term plan to preserve the protected areas and all the wildlife that lives in them.
This article reminded me of the circle of life soundtrack in Lion King. We are all interconnected and balance must be kept to save our planet.