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The increased targeted poaching of lions for the illegal trade in their body parts poses an undeniable threat to the species in Africa. Despite their iconic status, lions are now threatened across much of the continent and exist in only 6% of their historical range, with many populations in decline. A new study, co-led by the Endangered Wildlife Trust's Dr Samantha Nicholson, highlights the deliberate poaching of lions to satisfy the illegal trade in body parts.

While voodoo may mean different things to different people, it means only one thing - death - to the animals used in voodoo rituals. Across Africa, at least 354 bird species are persecuted for rapidly growing international markets to supply wildlife for belief-based treatments in voodoo and related practices. In Bénin, West Africa, although ~50% of the population identifies as Christian, voodoo is recognized by the government as a national religion. Voodoo markets include both live animals offered for use in ritual sacrifice as well as animal carcasses and body parts.

Commercial and subsistence poaching in protected areas is on the rise. The extent of loss sustained by Namibia on account of the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) is not reliably quantified (Anon., 2017). Wildlife populations for some of Namibia’s most iconic species - African Elephant Loxodonta africana, and Black Rhinoceros Diceros bicornis - are currently under threat due to IWT, and increased poaching in recent years is damaging their otherwise healthy populations.