for National Geographic News Conservationists issued an appeal
today to protect lions surrounding Kenya's Amboseli National
Park, saying the big cats are declining at an alarming pace and
may even be extinct in the region within a few years. At least
one group estimates that fewer than a hundred lions remain in
the Amboseli area, down drastically from the 1980s. The lions
are often victims of Maasai tribespeople who kill the big cats
out of fear for their cattle. Land subdivisions and a population
boom in the region have also harmed the lions' habitat. (Watch
video.) "When I first came here in '85, you would see lion
tracks every time you went on a road ," said Richard Bonham, who
owns a tourist lodge near Amboseli and runs the Maasailand
Preservation Trust conservation group. "Then we went two years
without seeing a lion. We started actively looking for them and
we still couldn't find them." The National Geographic
Society—which owns National Geographic News—announced today it
will provide a U.S. $150,000 em