The largest wildlife reserve in Zimbabwe said it may be forced to cull 200 of its lions after the predator’s population “exploded” due to hunters being scared off by international outrage over the killing of Cecil the lion last year.
Bubye Valley Conservancy, which is home to more lions than anywhere else in the south African country, said that the population of over 500 was too much for the reserve, the National Post reports.
The big cats have been decimating the population of antelopes and giraffes, and even wild dogs, cheetahs, and leopards, which have become easy prey after a dry summer left the grass short.
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Bubye Valley now fears that it will have to kill more than a third of its lions to ensure the survival of other species. The conservancy has appealed to other reserves across Africa, asking them to take the predators in to avoid a worst case scenario.
