The lion remains listed as vulnerable at a global level, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature said in an update to its “Red List” of threatened species (AFP Photo/Marco Longari)
Kigali (AFP) – Lions will return to Rwanda for the first time in more than two decades, wildlife officials have said, after the endangered animal was wiped out following the country’s 1994 genocide.
Seven lions — two males and five females — are being transported from South Africa and will arrive by air in Rwanda on Monday after a 36 hour journey, where they will be taken and released after at least two weeks quarantine into the eastern Akagera National Park.
Park officials in Akagera, a 112,000 hectare (27,6800 acre) park bordering Tanzania, said the reintroduction was “a ground-breaking conservation effort for both the park and the country of Rwanda.”
Lions in Rwanda were stamped out after the 1994 genocide, which left an estimated 800,000 people dead.
Lions are coming from parks in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, from “relatively small, confined reserves where it is necessary to occasionally remove surplus lions,” a statement from Akagera added.
The seven were chosen “based on future reproductive potential and their ability to contribute to social cohesion”, with animals including a mix of ages and genetic makeup.
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