Directions: The following paragraphs may or may not be in the most logical order. Each paragraph is numbered in round brackets, and question 15 will ask you the most logical correct order of paragraphs 5, 6 and 7.
Passage
AS TIGERS BECOME RARER, POACHERS ARE TARGETING LIONS
(1)
Four young lions of Limpopo National Park, Mazombique died where they ate their final meal. They were found lying on sandy ground near the remains of a poisoned calf. No one witnessed the silent 1 slaughter; only the gruesome aftermath. The faces and paws of all four cats had been hacked off. According to the law enforcement operations manager at Limpopo National Park, two men are suspected 2 in the crime, 3 to have likely been killing the lions in retaliation for the cats having preyed on cattle. One man has been charged, and the other remains at large.
(2)
In Mozambique, and widely in Africa where lions are found, the continent's most recognized predator, along with African elephants and black rhinos, 4 have been facing a growing threat. 5 As tigers in Asia have become scarcer in the wild (fewer than 4,000 are estimated to remain), other big cats around the world are being targeted for their parts: leopards, jaguars—and now African lions.
(3)
6 Conservation groups in East and southern Africa 7 say that during the past three years, increasing numbers of lions have been killed and mutilated for 8 those claws and teeth, likely to satisfy demand in China and Southeast Asia, where the parts appear to mainly be used as pendants and amulets.
(4)
[1] Across Africa, wild lion populations have plunged by about 43 percent since 1993 to 9 far more than 20,000 in 2014, according to the IUCN. [2] Habitat loss and the reduction of lions' wild prey by the bush meat trade 10 is forcing them into dangerous contact with humans and their livestock. [3] Cats that prey on cattle become the targets of retaliatory killings. 11 [4] And now, increasingly, poaching for lions' body parts is compounding these problems.
(5)
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), 12 that regulates the global wildlife 13 trade, prohibiting commercial trade in the parts of wild African lions. But South Africa, which has thousands of captive-bred lions, can legally export their parts—up to 800 lion skeletons a year. According to CITES, most go to Laos and Vietnam, where the bones are used as a substitute for tiger bone wine, considered a status symbol, and 14 are being used for treating various ailments and giving the drinker the "strength of a tiger."
(6)
At no other time has Africa's king of beasts been so threatened. Conservationists are urging more vigorous law enforcement to tackle the illegal trade in their parts and are pressing for a ban on the legal trade.
(7)
South Africa's legal trade is stoking Asian demand for lion parts as stand-ins for tiger parts and is fueling a growing illegal trade in the teeth and claws of wild lions, further reducing their numbers.
