Lions are one of the so-called Big Five, along with elephants, buffaloes, leopards and rhinos, that is the primary tourist attraction in Kenya's game parks.
The Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) warned that the country’s lion population has been dropping by an average of 100 each year this decade in a trend that could cause the big cats to disappear in the wild there within 20 years.
Many of the fatalities have been due to cattle herders who kill the lions after their livestock have been attacked.
KWS spokesman Paul Udoto told reporters that the lions are dying “due to a combination of factors, including human wildlife conflict, destruction of habitats, climate change, disease and increase in the human population.”
The lion population has dropped from an estimated 2,700 in the year 2002 to the current level of 2,000, KWS says.
Famed conservationist Richard Leaky, who heads Wildlife Direct, says lions are also dying from eating animal carcasses laced with toxic carbofuran pesticide.
He has asked that government agencies ban the pesticide's use.
Photo: Wildlife Direct