WASHINGTON (AP) — The circle of life is closing in on the king of the jungle.
When Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer killed Cecil the lion, the Internet exploded with outrage. But scientists who have studied lions say the big cats have been in big trouble for years.
They’ve watched the African lion population shrink by more than half since 1980 and dwindle even faster in East Africa, where lions used to be most abundant. They’ve seen trophy hunting like Palmer’s — promoted as a way of raising cash to preserve wildlife populations— fail to live up to its promise.