Uganda seeks more than $2.6 million to breed lions as their population is declining in the country, the local media reported on Friday.
“[Committee on] Tourism requires Shs10 billion [around $2.6 million] to start breeding lions through Uganda Wildlife Education Centre [as] [...] the lion population in the country has gone down because of human-wildlife conflict,” Chairperson of the Tourism, Trade and Industry Committee Mwine Mpaka said, as cited by local media.
The animals will be bred in three national parks — Queen Elizabeth, Kidepo and Murchison Falls — where all the necessary facilities will be set up.
“It is basically like a cage within a national park, so [lions] will be monitored and treated to create a conducive environment for them to breed and survive in order to increase the population because we are losing several lions every year due to the human-wildlife conflict, electric fences, poisoning. So we need to bring these lions back to our game parks,” the official reportedly pointed out.
Mpaka added that the country is losing around 120 lions per year, while the committee expects 15 lions to be released into the wild every two years, the media reported.
The East African country is seriously concerned about animal breeding, not only lions, but also goats. Ugandan scientists are currently working on the development of a new fast-growing breed of meat goat that will improve the productivity of local breeds, which often have small bodies and grow slowly.