The rescue of the king

Once considered the king of the savannah, today it is highly endangered. The lion population has plummeted by 43% in the last 21 years and the big cat has disappeared from 94 percent of its historic range. Experts estimate that fewer than 20,000 lions live on the African continent today.

Löwenbräu Brewery took this dramatic development as an opportunity to get involved in the survival of the lions – after all, the lion is the trademark of the traditional Munich brewery.

The project that Löwenbräu is launching together with the SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund at the beginning of 2023 is called “Next Generation.” The aim is to join forces to protect a new generation of lions in Botswana. Their survival cannot be taken for granted, because lions are still poisoned or shot when they attack livestock.

The Next Generation project area on the edge of the Okavango Delta is a sad hotspot of lion killings. The SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund, Löwenbräu’s partner organization, has long been active with lion conservation projects in this conflict-prone region.

Now, thanks to Löwenbräu’s commitment, another highly effective conservation measure is being implemented with “Next Generation”: a GPS-based lion alarm system. It is designed to prevent conflicts between lions and residents in advance so that no lion has to die anymore.

The cooperation between SAVE and Löwenbräu is initially set for three years. The brand will donate an annual sum of 15,000 euros to the joint project. In addition, one euro per crate of Löwenbräu sold goes to the project. This way, an additional 60,000 euros will be raised to actively protect Botswana’s lion population. Everyone can become a part of the project. By making a donation on the SAVE project page https://save-wildlife.org/de/next-generation/ or by diligently drinking Löwenbräu. “We are proud of this project and are already looking forward to many new, real lion cubs in Botswana,” says Peter Cermak, Managing Director of Spaten-Löwenbräu GmbH.

SAVE is happy to now have such a committed partner and traditional brand at its side in lion conservation.” In order to protect subsequent generations of lions, we must first protect the adult animals from being shot and poisoned so that they can reproduce at all,” says SAVE founder Lars Gorschlüter. “It has been shown that the early warning system works. Thanks to the support of Löwenbräu, we can now also use it on the Okavango Delta and actually save many “Next Generations” of lions!”