I recently posted this on the LionAid Facebook site - “Have a look at these pictures of male lions being shot as trophies in Cameroon. They are all subadults, ranging in age from about 2-3 yrs. There are only about 100-200 lions remaining in Cameroon, and the trophy hunters are shooting animals without any regard to conservation. 78% of all lions hunted in Cameroon are shot by European hunters, most from France.” Now have a look at this lion shot in Burkina Faso – it is no more than 1.5 years old, so little more than a cub. The lion is so young it even has spots – and no mane whatsoever. Clearly, hunters are taking younger and younger lions as the populations of lion in Benin, Burkina Faso and Cameroon are in freefall decline. The image comes from the most recent edition of French magazine called Voyages de Chasse (Hunting Travel) and was described as a “magnificent lion”…. We have provided these images to the EU, and we trust action will soon be taken to prevent any further imports of lion trophies from western Africa. There cannot be any justification for shooting such young animals…. Picture credits – various Cameroon hunting operator sites and www.voyages-de-chasse.com If you have not already signed up to our mailing list, you can add your name here and keep up to date with our ongoing work and, most importantly, DONATE to support our work to conserve the remaining fragile lion populations. Thank you.