Our History

Andrew & Wendy Conolly have worked with lions for over 20 years at their private game reserve, Antelope Park, in Zimbabwe.

"My wife, Wendy, and I bought Antelope Park in 1987. There were already six captive lions on the property, and some of the females had cubs. To give the cubs some exercise Wendy and I used to take them out on walks into the Bush. We started to notice that they were showing behaviours that wild cubs would engage in, something that they could not do when they were in their enclosures; and the more they were out walking the more these behaviours would develop. It was from these observations that I started to think about whether it would be possible to rehabilitate these cubs back into the wild. I watched their natural instincts of stalking animals develop and I believed that these cubs could well survive in a wild environment; we just needed to encourage those natural instincts to develop.

In the following years major headlines appeared around the world in newspapers and various forms of the media about the decline in the numbers of African lion and I started to look into it more and more.

What I realised is that we had a possible part answer to help save the lions of Africa.

As the release program developed I received emails from a number of experts in the field supporting the idea that the lions could be rehabilitated; that they could survive in the wild.

I began to think more about the wider implications of what we were doing and understood that if our re-introduction program was to succeed in the long term we would also have to look at the broader issues in lion conservation. Just releasing lions to offset those populations that are being eradicated through habitat encroachment, loss of prey species, illegal hunting and disease was not enough. As such, I founded ALERT in 2005 to develop a broader view of lion conservation and engage in research and conservation programs in all manner of fields such as; the implications of disease on lions, improved habitat protection methods and measures to mitigate the conflict between wildlife and people.

Only through real community participation in conservation does the lion, or any of Africa’s wildlife, have a long term future. At the moment most communities receive little benefit from the wild areas around them and many over-utilize those resources. If we can assist the African people to develop opportunities to improve their livelihood through sustainable use of those natural resources then those communities will have reason to make rational decisions to protect these wild areas. ALERT, through our developing community programs, is working towards practical ways to empower communities for the benefit of truly sustainable use of land.

A limiting factor in how far we have gotten in our various lion release, conservation, research and community programs has been finance. Up until recently the African Lion Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild Program and ALERT have been totally funded through the partnership with African Encounter; the funds raised by the lion walks and associated voluntourist programs having been ploughed back into the program to develop the various projects. The legal structures in place in Africa to confirm release sites for the lions also make for a very lengthy, but necessary process. Finally the areas in which we release the lions must be acceptable; must be the right environment for the lions to survive in. We’ve got to find those right areas and that also takes time and research; we have already made great progress in finding such areas.

Our program is not something that can happen overnight, it will take considerable time, energy, funds and research but I believe that we are providing real answers to the ongoing problems facing Africa’s wildlife. "

Andrew Conolly
Chairman and Founder of ALERT

Milestones

1999 The Lion Rehabilitation & Release into the Wild Program is developed and operates stage one at Antelope Park in Zimbabwe.

2004 Success in stage one leads to the first applications for land for stage two.

2005 ALERT was founded and a second stage one site is opened in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

2007 The first stage two release goes ahead at the Dollar Block reserve in Zimbabwe. The Conservation Centre for Wild Africa (CCWA) and the ALERT Communities Trust (ACT) divisions are developed to enhance ALERT’s role in conservation and community participation.

2008 The Dollar Block release pride in stage two are pronounced as a self-sustaining and socially stable pride: the two criteria to be met in this stage. Two stage 2 and a stage three release area are confirmed by the Environmental Council of Zambia in the Dambwa Forest near Livingstone.