In the last 30 years lion populations have declined by 80 - 90% across Africa. Given the recent, rapid reduction in lion populations across Africa it is ALERT’s opinion that habitat protection methods implemented at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars over the last 30 to 40 years have so far failed the lion and many other species. Further, as stated by the IUCN, “the causes of this reduction are not well understood, are unlikely to have ceased, and may not be reversible.” ALERT fully believes in habitat protection for the long term sustainability of the species, and there have been some success stories to applaud, but given we are clearly failing the lion we believe that a range of solutions must be found before the lion becomes critically endangered. Those habitat protection methods that have worked in the past should be extended and ALERT, through our CCWA division, is already involved in this; funding anti-poaching units for example. We hope with greater funding to further enhance our role in this area in the near future through education, research and working with communities to reduce livestock lion conflicts. But new ideas are necessary to compliment those existing methods if we are to have any real long term success in habitat protection. ALERT, through our ACT division, supports the notion that only through local community support can the lion, and other species in Africa survive. If the livelihood of communities bordering conservation areas is intrinsically linked to the health of that environment then the community will have reason to protect it, motivated by Africans to the benefit of Africans. But can the lion wait for us to get habitat protection right? Will the numbers be so low; populations so fragmented and genetic diversity so narrowed within the next twenty years leaving the species in crisis? We, as well as many others believe there is a very real possibility of this nightmare scenario. ALERT therefore feels it is our responsibility to provide a solution to the problem of how to reintroduce lion into areas that need them when that need arrives; and we feel that we should work on that solution now before it is too late. But where will these lions come from? There is a current belief that the protected areas in many African countries can either be re-colonized by remnant lion populations that still manage to exist, or can be augmented by translocation of wild lions from other areas. We believe that this is highly hopeful and considerably misguided. First, recovery from a small population of lions to re-colonize large areas will be slow and susceptible to many chance events. Second, given their drastic decline, there are few areas remaining that might be considered as sources for new colonists. And third, many wild lion populations are infected with diseases that would preclude involvement in reintroduction or reinforcement programs – such endemic diseases include tuberculosis and lion lentivirus. Therefore, we are of the opinion that disease-free, captive bred lions can be a viable option.