Threatened White Lion Cubs Born in the Wild
Many video aggregation sites and South African TV recently carried the Global White Lion Protection Trust’s announcement of the birth of three white lion cubs in the wild.
The cubs were the offspring of a white lioness, one of four white lions released into the wild in 2006 and a white lion from a different genetic lineage. They are the first white lions to be born in a reintroduction program within their natural endemic range in the Greater Timbavati region.
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White lions have been reported to exist for hundreds of years and have an important place in many African tribal beliefs. In the 1970s Chris McBride, identified white lions in several prides in Timbavati. He published the book that first brought white lions to the attention of the global public. Some of the lions he identified were captured while the wild populations died out. White lions taken out of the wild have been bread and distributed to zoos, hunting camps, game farms and even circuses.
The genetics of the white lion are not completely understood, although all agree that the whiteness is due to a recessive gene. Because the gene is recessive the hunting of tawny lions in the white lion’s endemic area has and will continue to reduce the white lion gene pool. Therefore, white lions–while already rare–are further threatened because no additional conservation laws protect them. They are only protected by the same laws as “normal” lions. Work is underway to establish the unique genetic traits of the white lion, so as to be able to ensure that appropriate specific laws are enacted for it’s protection.
The birth of these three cubs is a triumph for Linda Tucker, the founder of The Global White Lion Protection Trust (WLT), as it supports her premise that “rearing and reintroduction” is one of the measures that can help protect the white lions from extinction. The WLT is a South African-based non-profit conservation and community development organisation that campaigns for the protection of White Lions. It partners with local communities to re-ignite the indigenous cultural values that hold white lions sacred. To this end, the WLT supports a scientific white lion reintroduction programme, lobbying, genetic research, and community revival activities.
However, other conservationists promote a more hands off approach. They note that white cubs, borne in the wild to tawny parents, have been sighted over the last few years and argue that the survival of the white lions should be left to natural processes.
What is urgent is the different parties work together and with the assistance of the authorities implement the necessary short and long term steps to ensure the minimum of negative human impact on the white lion.
Sources: Global White Lion Protection Trust ,Wikipedia, Sunday Independent.
Image: Global White Lion Protection Trust website, used with permission.
when were the lions born?