"When you think of a lion, does the word vulnerable come to mind? That is what they are classed as on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with only 23-39 thousand remaining."
This line opens the information reel that starts every tourist visit to the Victoria Falls site of the African Lion and Environmental Research Trust (ALERT). It has always stuck with me as a reminder that no matter how powerful as animal is, even the King of the Savannah cannot stand against the destruction of humanity. I'm not quite sure how I've managed to have this going for over 6 months and never have written about lions. I want to introduce the project I was working on properly, and discuss why I consider it to be a fantastic charity, despite some very controversial reviews and opinions of others who have visited them.
I first joined ALERT for my industrial placement that was the third year of my undergrad. I was unique in my course for two reasons: firstly, being interested in ecology and conservation amongst all the chemists and pharmacologists, and secondly that I paid for the experience, rather than being paid for my time. Flying to Livingstone, Zambia, was a bit scary, having never flown anywhere alone before, but it was all totally worth it once I arrived. The first night when I got there, we drove from the volunteer lodge up to Dambwa, the area where the lions live, and we stargazed to the noise of the lions roaring to one another just 200 m away. If that's not a welcome to Africa, I don't know what is.
Zulu and his family, King of the Dambwa Pride. The adult lions are collared with VHF trackers so that researchers can enter and leave the semi-wild release site and perform maintenance tasks safely, knowing that the lions are not nearby.
There are two groups of lions at Dambwa: those in enclosures, and the Dambwa Pride. Antelope Park in Gweru, Zimbabwe, has a similar set up, with enclosures containing the majority of their lions and then the Ngamo Pride. Those in enclosures are a mixture of rescued lions and those which were bred but were not sufficiently good hunters or showed health problems meaning they couldn't form part of the prides. The two prides are the reason for the entire charity. Captive-born lions have never been really successfully released, always eventually succumbing to starvation because they couldn't hunt properly or being killed, either by other lions whose territories they enter, or by humans when they don't show proper fear of people. ALERT therefore came up with a unique system to attempt to breed lions that could be released into the wild.
The concept is actually incredibly simple, the practicalities of the system are rather more complex and expensive, so the Dambwa and Ngamo prides were formed as much for proof of concept as to actively contribute to the dwindling lion population. First, captive born cubs are taken for walks by human handlers, introducing them to the bush in a place where they are safe from people and other wildlife. This gives them the opportunity to exercise their muscles and become strong, learn how to hunt, and ultimately grow into the predators they are supposed to be. Unfortunately, because people are guarding and leading them on these walks, they are too accustomed to human presence and cannot be released themselves. This is where the prides come in: the best cubs are put together in a huge enclosure where they become essentially wild but they remain protected from people and other lions and do not pose a threat to livestock. In this enclosure, they can form a true pride, and breed for themselves. Their cubs can then be raised completely naturally, without any human contact, but still in a safe location. Once they reach 5 years old, this next generation can be released as truly wild lions. Further, by releasing them as a group, who have been raised together and are related, they are much less likely to separate and be killed when they wander into the territories of pre-existing lions.
Out for a walk in Victoria Falls. I will admit, I don't remember if this is Lila or Lala - I never could tell them apart!
All through their lives, the behaviour of these lions is being watched and monitored, and compared to that of wild prides to ensure they are developing correctly. The prides are also monitored for social network stability, checking that their interactions are natural and healthy. If I'd known then that my PhD would be studying social network analysis, I might have paid more attention to how they actually analysed the data I was collecting! Up to this stage the project was going brilliantly, and both Dambwa and Ngamo were behaving exactly as they should and it was looking extremely promising. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances beyond ALERT's control, this was as far as the programme ever got: the release had to be cancelled and the prides remain in their semi-wild enclosures. The project has successfully proven the concept in theory, but sadly the practical release could not be tested. Dambwa is now a sanctuary for these lions, and is run by Livingstone Lions, independently of ALERT.
Zulu showing off his magnificence ❤️
I cannot fault ALERT, nor any of the people working for them. It is an absolutely fantastic charity that I am incredibly proud to say I worked for, both as an intern and then when I returned a year later to run the elephant project. However, as I alluded to at the start, not everyone agrees with me. Personally, I found everyone to be incredibly welcoming and caring, and most importantly, absolutely driven by the concept of preserving lions, the welfare of the lions in our care, and protecting the people who live alongside these dangerous predators. Another immensely important part of our work is about working with the local community to promote human-wildlife coexistence, rather than against them, but as usual, that is a story for another time. More than just the people I was working with though, the programme itself I consider to be both ingenious and absolutely critical. Lion populations are getting smaller and more fragmented by the year, and any opportunities for captive breeding to rescue this and add to the gene pool must be grabbed with both hands.
Pax and Penga playing with elephant poo - nothing more entertaining to a young lion!
It does however involve the incredibly controversial activity of lion walking. This project is extremely expensive by its very nature: it's long winded and there are a lot of lions to care for and house. This is partly funded by donations, but most of the funding (don't ask me what proportion because I have no idea) comes from a combination of tourists coming to walk the lions and from volunteers and interns paying to get experience of animal care and wildlife research. My placement year was very expensive, but it was the only option I could find at the time that would give me hands on practical conservation and animal behaviour research, and I don't regret a penny of it. Without that year, I have no idea where I would be today but certainly not about to start a PhD in elephant behaviour and human-elephant coexistence. Lion walking has now stopped at all of ALERT's locations, both because it was creating too much bad press for the project and because breeding had to stop when the release couldn't go ahead. Lion walks create enormous debate and lead to a lot of anger in the conservation community, and for good reason. There are many places where lions are bred purely for the purpose of being walked for money, and once they are too large and become dangerous, they are either kept in tiny cages or sold to zoos or trophy hunters. Often they may only ever be walked on leads, or kept sedated so that they are more willing to lie and be petted for photographs. This is a barbaric and pointless practice, causing the lions pain and suffering for no reason other than human enjoyment. At ALERT however, the lion walks were an integral part of the programme, providing a stimulating and enjoyable time for the cubs in which they could learn to be functional and successful predators. While I would prefer that the lions could be walked entirely by the professional handlers, walks with tourists were a critical source of income that helped to keep the lions fed. The lions certainly didn't seem to care, and simply enjoyed being out and playing with each other, regardless of who was walking them!
We may not walk the lions on leads, but it seems Lila and Lala like to walk each other that way!
All I can really say is that if you are ever looking to join in with conservation experiences that involve getting hands on with wildlife, please do all the research you possibly can. Find out what the end goal is, and exactly what will happen to these animals in the future. If there is no apparent benefit, please be very wary of providing your support.
If you have any questions about the programme, you can find out more at their website (www.lionalert.org) or Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/lionalert), or those of their partner companies Livingstone Lions, Antelope Park, and Volunteer Encounter. Otherwise, ask a question in the comments and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
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