Re-introduction of the African lion from a captive origin: Zambia & Zimbabwe

Summary

The African lion (Panthera leo), Vulnerable and declined an estimated 30% over two decades from indiscriminate killing, prey depletion and habitat loss, was the subject of an ex-situ reintroduction trial by the African Lion & Environmental Research Trust, testing whether captive-bred lions could be rehabilitated into wild, self-sustaining prides in Zambia and Zimbabwe alongside in-situ conservation. Captive-bred lions were first walked through natural habitat by handlers before being bonded into prides; a first pride of two males and five females released at Dollar Block, Zimbabwe in 2007 proved socially unstable, with the males killing two females before being removed, leaving a stable all-female pride later moved to Ngamo after local land-security problems. A second pride of six females was released into Zambia's Dambwa Forest in 2011, with a male added later. The Ngamo pride produced 19 cubs in seven litters over 2011-2012, but four failed to thrive and ten were killed by pride members, prompting removal of one adult female; the remaining five cubs, raised without human contact, reached sub-adulthood and could hunt, while the Dambwa pride produced six more cubs in two litters, with both prides eventually becoming socially stable and self-sustaining hunters. The program has not yet progressed to releasing this second generation into unfenced wild areas. The project rates itself only partially successful, citing insufficient funding to build adequately large release areas and insufficient accumulated evidence to fully validate ex-situ reintroduction as a conservation strategy for lions.