By beth duncan | Program Manager
Dear Donor,
Your support continues to enable us to bring Western and Indigenous knowledge systems together for big cat conservation and for this we are extremely grateful.
Currently, there are only 13 White Lions in the wild and approximately 300-500 in captivity. First seen in the wild in the 1970s, they were extracted from their ancestral lands as humans believed these big cats were albinos that would never survive in the wild. Nothing is further than the truth.
Most White Lions at that time were sent to zoos and circuses or worse, to trophy hunting facilities where cubs are routinely removed from their mothers, and then handled and bottle fed by humans only to be used as breeder lions or for trophy hunters who wish to pay large sums of money to “hunt” and bring a trophy home. However, in 2004, four White Lions were rescued from a trophy hunting facility by one of our Big Cat Alliance Partners, the Global White Lion Protection Trust. These lions not only proved they were able to hunt on their own, they also provided the genetic information which determined definitively to scientists that the white lions are in fact a genetic subspecies of their tawny relatives. Within a few years, three new White Lion cubs were born. However, it has been ten years since any other White Lion cubs were born. Until two months ago. We wanted to report to you donors that four White Lion cubs were just born to two of the White Lions two months ago. WISN supports the White Lions in a number of ways, including bringing groups to the site which raises awareness and funds for the project. We also support community projects in the area.
WISN continues to support our Big Cat partners, including the Global White Lion Protection Trust through your support, which is critical right now. These cats, like all apex predators, are important not only in their own right, but because our very survival depends on theirs!
We are immensely grateful to you, to the ancestors, and to the spirit of the big cats.
Thank you!
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