Mystical beliefs are fueling Senegal’s illegal big cat trade

Niokolo-Koba National Park is the last sanctuary in Senegal for lions, which are critically endangered in West Africa.

Early in the morning park director Paul Diedhiou looks on as a group of armed park rangers march single file through the forest, guns at the ready.

They are one of nine brigades that work in the park, looking for poachers and miners who are trying to get their hands on the park’s vast gold deposits.

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