Thanks to all the people who came out on March 15th braving the cold Toronto weather. It was an amazing evening of education, awareness and community all coming together to help support Lions. Together we gave out hundreds of flyers, talked to lots of people and obtained 287 signatures on our petition that will be sent to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the South African Government and the Canadian representative responsible for issuing permits for hunting Trophies coming into Canada to ask them to protect lions.

We helped bring awareness to Canned Lion Hunting in South Africa, a deplorable practice that has gone on long enough. The world has spoken, people everywhere united to make a stand, we are demanding an end to it.

However, this is only the beginning of the battle. We cannot walk away from this event without realizing that it will require more work on our part, continuing education of potential tourists, volunteers and emails and letters to the decision makers who will ultimately decide the fate of these Lions.

Next steps?

• Keep in touch with the Global March For Lions Toronto Facebook Event page
• Write the South African Government asking them to ban Canned Lion Hunting
• Contact the US Fish and Wildlife Service to ask them to ban the importation of Lion Trophies and to list the Lion as Endangered. (From what I understand the final decision on this matter is still pending?!)
• Follow Canned Lion for detailed info on the issue
• Sign petitions like the one by Avaaz to end the export of Lion parts and educate, educate, educate!

We have to be more persistent than those who want Canned Lion Hunting to continue as it’s going to be key in winning this battle…stay tuned for more.