Lions — Europe, Asia & The Middle East

"The range of the Asiatic or Gir lion Panthera leo persica formerly stretched across the coastal forests of northern Africa and from northern Greece across south-west Asia to eastern India. The advent of firearms in the region led to their extinction over large areas. By the late 19th century, lions had been eradicated from Turkey. One of the last sightings of a lion in Iran was in 1941. In India, lions once ranged over most of the continent, but severe hunting by Indian royalty and colonial powers led to a steady and marked decline in their numbers. By the turn of the 19th century, they were confined to the Gir Forest and protected by the Nawab of Junagadh in his private hunting grounds. The current population of these big cats now consists of one isolated population in the Gir Forest Preserve of Gujurat in northwestern India. The wild population of Asiatic lions derived from just a dozen individuals that survived in the early 20th century." Conservation initiatives are striving to revive the legacy of the Asiatic lion, emphasizing habitat protection, anti-poaching measures, and community engagement to potentially reintroduce lions to parts of their historic range.

"Asiatic Lion," International Society for Endangered Cats (ISEC) Canada, 2013.