Our own Gladys Kamasanyu was last week honored to speak about her successes at a virtual Executive Forum on Wildlife Trafficking organized by the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) Roswell – New Mexico and Gaborone – Botswana in partnership with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for African Delegates. Gladys is an alumni of ILEA Roswell where she attended a high level training on Transnational Wildlife Trafficking in June 2019. She was the Head of the Uganda delegation that had delegates from the Uganda Judiciary, Uganda Wildlife Authority, Uganda Revenue Authority (Customs Department) and Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The training was attended by delegates from Uganda, Kenya, Namibia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. This gave Gladys an opportunity to be part of an international network of persons determined to dismantle trade in illicit wildlife products through well planned and coordinated efforts. Since then her efforts in fighting wildlife crime have been immense.

The commemoration of the World Lion Day this year comes just a few months after six lions were poisoned at Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda and suspects are undergoing trial. On this very important day we all should reflect on how we can keep lions safe in order to increase thier numbers.

Lions are listed as vulnerable on the red list of threatened species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Illegal wildlife trade, poachers, and trophy hunters are contributing to the disappearance of lions on the African continent. Habitat loss, poor regulation of legal trade, and climate change are all drivers of the declining numbers of lions.