A Britain-based organization that champions for the protection of lions has partnered with the Zambian government to conduct a head count of the cats in the southern African nation to establish the true population following increased killings by poachers, the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.

According to preliminary figures, the population of lions in Zambia has drastically dwindled to just below 1,000 from a high of more than 10,000, Daily Mail said.

Lionaid, the Britain-based lion watchdog, says it has partnered with the Zambian government to help establish the true population of the king of the jungle at a cost of 400,000 U. S. dollars. The census, to commence next year, will also help "map" a way forward to save the animal from further depletion, according to the organization's director and founder Pieter Kat.

He said lions were at risk of extinction mainly due to trophy hunting and other factors like loss of habitat, conflict with growing human and livestock populations and declines in the number of functioning protected areas.

"Trophy hunting doesn't benefit the country and conservation of wildlife but the hunting companies. We don't even know how many animals are left in Zambia, some people say there is about 4, 500 lions but we think there could be 850," he told the newspaper.

Lions, he said, were becoming a big source of trophy hunting income not only in Zambia but other African nations as well, adding that over the last five years, 60 lions were being shot each year as trophy.

The organization has since embarked on raising awareness on how endangered lions are and to help people understand the reasons for conserving the species.

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