Skip to content

Targeted Poaching for Lion Body Parts Appears to Be Expanding Across Africa

Two African lionesses resting in green grass in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique
Conservation · Trade & poaching

A 2026 review identifies targeted poaching of African lions (Panthera leo) for body parts as a growing threat that is distinct from retaliatory killing, cultural hunting and accidental capture in snares. Reports have become more frequent in parts of Africa and recent incidents appear to be increasing in geographic scope. The authors stress, however, that the available records are incomplete and that the motive behind a lion killing is not always possible to establish.

Lions are targeted for products including claws, teeth, skins, bones and fat. Demand occurs within Africa as well as through international trade, including markets in Southeast Asia. Culturally motivated use of lion parts has been documented in at least 37 African countries. Some trade appears to involve increasingly organised, cross-border criminal networks, although the authors note that greater detection effort may partly influence that impression. They also identify the relative importance of African versus Asian demand as a major remaining knowledge gap.

Mozambique Shows a Clear Rise in Known Cases

Mozambique provides one of the strongest quantitative examples. Between 2010 and 2023, researchers recorded 326 incidents in which human activity caused the deaths of 426 lions, and 25% of the events involved deliberate poaching for body parts. Known cases rose from an average of about one per year in 2010–2017 to seven per year in 2018–2023.

The review places this increase within a wider pattern of recent incidents across Africa, including reports from areas where targeted poaching was previously less prominent. But the authors are explicit that their map of incidents from 2019 to 2025 is not an exhaustive census; it was assembled to illustrate the severity and geographic scope of the threat. They also caution against simple explanations for the increase. For example, the relationship between changes in South Africa’s legal trade in captive-bred lion parts and poaching of wild lions remains unclear.

The Authors Warn of a Potentially Existential Threat

Targeted poaching adds mortality to lion populations already affected by habitat loss, prey depletion, conflict with people and incidental snaring. The authors warn that unchecked expansion of the trade could cause rapid local extirpations and major reductions elsewhere. Their description of the threat as potentially “existential” is therefore a warning about what could happen if targeted poaching becomes entrenched, not a claim that trade has already driven the species to that point.

The review identifies six priorities: stronger protection of wild lions, effective involvement of local communities, better understanding of trade routes and demand, disruption of illegal trade, stronger legal frameworks and demand reduction. The authors argue for acting before poaching networks and illicit markets become more firmly established, because the available evidence already indicates a serious and expanding threat even though its full scale remains underreported.

Sources and image credit

  1. Lindsey, P., Nicholson, S. K., Coals, P. G. R., Taylor, W. A., Becker, M. S., Rademeyer, K., Briers-Louw, W. D., Almeida, J., Chase, M. J., Dore, A., Henschel, P., Kwiyega, J. L., Loveridge, A., Mandisodza-Chikerema, R. L., Mandinyenya, B., Nampindo, S., Roodbol, M., Whittington-Jones, G., Uiseb, K., … Williams, V. L. (2026). Increasing targeted poaching of lions for trade has the potential to pose an existential threat to the species in Africa. Conservation Letters, 19(1), e70014. https://doi.org/10.1111/con4.70014Primary open-access review; first published 7 January 2026; CC BY 4.0.

Image: Judy Gallagher — wild African lions in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, photographed 24 May 2018; representative image from the country used for the review's detailed mortality trend example. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY 2.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

Trade & poaching

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Lion Panthera leo Explore species

Independent research and conservation news archive

Did you find this information useful?

Wildlife Vagabond is independently built and maintained. Voluntary support helps cover source verification, hosting and continued work on research and conservation news.

Support Wildlife Vagabond

The news archive will remain freely available.