By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson

Lions, wherever they live, play an important ecological role, and they deserve better at our hands. We need to learn to coexist with these rare and magnificent animals and do our best to end their persecution wherever it occurs. Photo by Audrey Delsink

Today, on World Lion Day, we celebrate lions as an iconic wild cat species, and we recommit to our campaigns to halt their exploitation and destruction in the United States and abroad. We are giving it all we’ve got.

In the wild, of course, this iconic species is among the most imperiled of all with as few as 20,000 left in range nations.

In South Africa, a particularly grim industry has emerged to take advantage of tourists’ affinity for lion cubs. An estimated 11,000 lions are held captive there in more than 300 facilities, and…