In honor of  World Lion Day on August 10, I will be dedicating the week to all things Lion, a magnificent and endangered big cat.

“Saving the King of Beasts to Save Ourselves”

World Lion Day is “An independent, campaign working to highlight the importance of the lion globally and to raise lion conservation awareness worldwide.” Visit their Facebook page to find out more about the campaign, events, how to help and who to support.

There are many factors contributing to the demise of the one of the world’s most iconic big cats. Sadly they have become the poster child for all the wrong reasons and their very existence now rest in our hands.

Habitat loss, canned hunting, poaching, retaliatory killings from local communities where Lions hunt livestock, trophy hunting, cub smuggling are all taking their toll on Lions at a rapidly increasing rate. The good news is many of the threats can be addressed and we can lobby, educate and take steps to help or to ensure that we do not directly or indirectly participate in or contribute to, their demise.

National Geographic will be kicking off World Lion Day with Big Cats Initiative Co-Founders and Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert. The Big Cats Initiative offers many ways to get involved with helping Lions and you can participate in a twitter chat with Beverly and Dereck on August 6 at 12:00 p.m. EST. If you have questions get them ready, these are two people who know what they are talking about!

The countdown begins! 7 Days left….