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 habitat loss and prey depletion remain ongoing challenges, researchers are now observing organised criminal networks targeting lions for their claws, teeth, skins, and other parts to meet cultural and medicinal demand in both Africa and Asia. In recent years, there has been a shift from opportunistic harvesting to highly organised poaching incidents. This threat has the potential to drive local population declines and, in some contexts, extirpations. Its emergence is particularly concerning because lion populations are already small, fragmented, and under sustained pressure from habitat loss, prey depletion, and human–wildlife conflict. Targeted poaching introduces a distinct, trade-driven source of mortality that existing conservation frameworks are poorly equipped to detect, deter, or manage. If left unaddressed, it is likely to spread rapidly across the species’ range, undermining and potentially reversing recent conservation gains.