World Lion Day 2027 is on Tuesday

About World Lion Day

Lions once ranged across most of Africa and into Asia, but their range and numbers have shrunk dramatically. The big cat conservation group Panthera estimates that about 24,000 wild lions remain in Africa, down from roughly 200,000, and that the species has lost about 95 percent of its historic range. The IUCN Red List classes the lion as vulnerable. The main threats are habitat loss, killing linked to conflict with livestock owners, the loss of the wild prey lions depend on, and poaching for body parts.

The first World Lion Day was held on August 10, 2013. It grew out of the African Lion & Environmental Research Trust (ALERT), a lion conservation charity based in Zambia. In a 2013 interview with Voice of America, ALERT's chief operating officer David Youldon explained that the idea came from the group's experience that few people realized lions were a species under serious threat, and that the day was meant to raise awareness and draw support for organizations working to save them.

World Lion Day is not a UN observance and has no government status, but it has been taken up widely. Conservation groups such as Panthera use the day to raise funds and explain their field work, and zoos and universities hold talks and keeper events. Animal welfare groups including World Animal Protection also use it to call attention to commercial lion breeding in South Africa and the international trade in lion bones.

Sources: Voice of America: Effort Launched to Save Africa's Lions (2013), Forbes: Live Interview From Africa To Prepare For World Lion Day (2013, archived), Panthera: World Lion Day, Panthera: Lion, World Animal Protection UK: World Lion Day 2023. How we check dates.

How to mark World Lion Day

• Learn how lion conservation works in practice, from protecting livestock with predator-proof enclosures to paying communities for keeping wildlife on their land.
• Support a lion or big cat conservation group with a donation or by sharing its field updates.
• If you travel to Africa, choose safaris and lodges that support conservation and avoid any attraction offering cub petting or walking with lions.
• Visit a zoo with lions and ask keepers about the conservation programs it supports in the wild.
• Watch a wildlife documentary about lions with family or students and talk about why their numbers have dropped.

World Lion Day dates