WORLD LION DAY (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Env & Eco)

Context: World Lion Day is observed on August 10 each year.

Key Points

• World Lion Day is observed annually on a global scale to raise awareness about their conservation and protection. 
• The day serves as a platform to educate people about the challenges faced by the lions across the world and to promote efforts to conserve them as well as to celebrate these majestic big cats and their significance in ecosystems and cultures around the world.

• Protection Status:

• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
• Asiatic Lion - Endangered.
• CITES: Appendix I for populations of India, all other populations are included in Appendix II.
• Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: Schedule I
• India is home to the Asiatic Lion, who inhabit the protected territory of Sasan-Gir National Park (Gujarat).

Asiatic Lion

• About: The Asiatic Lion (also known as the Persian Lion or Indian Lion) is a member of the Panthera Leo Leo subspecies that is restricted to India. 
• The Asiatic Lion is one of the five pantherine cats native to India. The others being: the Bengal Tiger, the Indian Leopard, Snow Leopard and the Clouded Leopard.
• Habitat: Its previous habitats consisted of West Asia and the Middle East before it became extinct in these regions.
• Today their range is restricted to the Gir National Park in Gujarat.

• Protection Status:

• IUCN Red List: Endangered
• CITES: Appendix I
• Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: Schedule I
• Conservation Efforts: The “Asiatic Lion Conservation Project” has been launched by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
• It envisages scientific management with the involvement of communities in coordination with multi-sectoral agencies for disease control and veterinary care for overall conservation of Asiatic lions.