Iagvereniging kan bande verbreek met dié boere

Die Professionele Jagtersvereniging van Suid-Afrika (Phasa) gaan moontlik sy bande verbreek met boere wat leeus in gevangenskap teel, deels omdat van die diere in hag- like omstandighede aangehou word.

Herman Meyeridicks, president, het Sondag gese Phasa is nie gemaklik oor die leeubedryf nie, maar sal nie “brue verbrand nie”. Openbare druk speel ook ‘n rol in die besluit, het hy erken.

Meyeridicks het Vrydag in ‘n verklaring gese Phasa se net meer as 1 000 lede sal in Novem- ber ‘n finale besluit daaroor moet neem.

Die veldtog teen trofeejag, met die klem op “geblikte-1eeujag”, het sterker geword.

“In my gesprekke met die me- dia en die gemeenskap is dit dui- delik dit is nie net meer ‘n klein groepie ‘spraaksame’ diereregte- aktiviste wat teen die jag van leeus in gevangenskap gekant is nie.

“Selfs in eie geledere en in die res van die jagbedryf laat geres- pekteerde stemme hulle in die openbaar hierteen uit.”

Linda Park, direkteur van die Campaign Against Canned Hun- ting (Cach), het Meyeridicks se verklaring verwelkom.

Sy het gese die stryd om die ge- blikteleeubedryf tot niet te maak duur al 17 jaar.

• Daar is tussen 6000 en 7000 halfmak leeus in gevangenskap op teelplase in Suid-Afrika.
•  ‘n Rolprent, Blood Lions, wat die bedryf oopvlek, word nou in teaters in Suid-Afrika vertoon.

Even professional hunters join a swell of public opinion against predator-breeding

Professional Hunters’ Association of SA (PHASA) president Hermann Meyeridricks has asked the association to re- consider its position on lion hunting. He said last week the campaign against trophy hunting had intensified around canned, or captive-bred, lion hunting. The association’s policy on lion hunting was adopted at its AGM in 2013.

“We took the view our position was a stepping-stone to clean up the captive-bred lion hunting industry and made it clear it was certainly not our final word on lion hunting,” said Meyeridricks.

“Those against the hunting of lions bred in captivity are no longer just a small, if vociferous, group of animal-rights activists.

“The tide of public opinion is turning strongly against this form of hunting. Even within our own ranks, as well as in the hunting fraternity as a whole, respected voices are speaking out publicly against it.”

Director of the Campaign against Canned Hunting, Linda Park said PHASA had seen the movie Blood Lions in Durban on Thursday and could no longer pretend nothing was wrong. “The ‘con’ in conservation is out on the table for all to see.”

Blood Lions exposes “the realities of the multimillion-dollar predator breeding and canned lion hunting industries in SA”.

In an unprecedented move, the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa (PHASA) has been told that its “position on lion hunting is no longer tenable”.

In an email sent to PHASA members on Friday, the organisation’s president, Hermann Meyeridricks, asked for a review of its policy on the matter ahead of its next annual general meeting.

He notes that PHASA has made “little demonstrable progress” in getting government and predator breeders to “clean up” the country’s lucrative but controversial captive-bred lion hunting industry and “to improve its standards and conditions to a generally acceptable level”.

More than 95% of the lions killed by trophy hunters in South Africa are not wild, but ‘produced’ specifically for the purpose. Some 6000 to 8000 lions are currently estimated to be held in captivity in between 150 and 200 breeding facilities, most of them in the North West Province and the Free State. The animals are released into relatively small camps as little as four days prior to being hunted.

While PHASA has traditionally supported the industry, a growing number of professional hunters have expressed their disapproval of its practices.

Meyeridricks’ letter comes in the wake of a stakeholder meeting called by the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, to discuss the industry, and the release of a hard-hitting documentary on the issue, called Blood Lions, which premiered to a standing ovation at the Durban International Film Festival last week.

He acknowledges that opposition to the hunting of bred lions is no longer confined to “just a small if vociferous group of animal-rights activists”, but that “the tide of public opinion is turning strongly against this form of hunting” regardless of whether it is referred to as ‘captive-bred hunting’ or ‘canned hunting’.

European allegedly paid €50,000 for chance to kill tourist attraction, who was found headless after being shot with a bow and arrow and tracked for 40 hours

Authorities in Zimbabwe are trying track down a Spaniard who allegedly paid park guides €50,000 (£35,000) for the chance to kill Cecil, one of Africa’s most famous lions, who was the star attraction at the Hwange national park. The creature was found skinned and headless on the outskirts of the park.

The 13-year-old lion was wearing a GPS collar as part of a research project that Oxford University has been running since 1999, making it possible to trace its last movements when it was tricked into leaving the park and shot with a bow and arrow. The hunters then tracked the dying animal for 40 hours before they killed it with a rifle.

Bait, in the form of a freshly killed animal, was used to tempt Cecil out of the park, a technique commonly used so that hunters can “legally” kill protected lions.

“Cecil’s death is a tragedy, not only because he was a symbol of Zimbabwe but because now we have to give up for dead his six cubs, as a new male won’t allow them to live so as to encourage Cecil’s three females to mate,” said Johnny Rodrigues, head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force. “The two people who accompanied the hunter have been arrested but we haven’t yet tracked down the hunter, who is Spanish.”

The Zimbabwe Professional Hunters and Guides Association admitted that its members were involved and that the case was being investigated. It claims it was a private safari and therefore not illegal, but the government insists that the lion lived on the reserve and came under its protection.

The Oxford University study was looking into the impact of sports hunting on lions living in the safari area surrounding the national park. The research found that 34 of 62 tagged lions died during the study period. 24 were shot by sport hunters. Sport hunters in the safari areas surrounding the park killed 72% of tagged adult males from the study area.

Dr Andrew Loveridge, one of the principal researchers on the project, said that “hunting predators on the boundaries of national parks such as Hwange causes significant disturbance and knock-on effects” such as infanticide when new males enter the prides.

Police are seeking the lion’s remains among the country’s taxidermists. The Spanish conservation organisation Chelui4lions has written to Cites de España, the body that oversees the import of endangered species, asking it to prevent the importing of Cecil’s head as a trophy.

“From 2007 to 2012 Spain was the country that imported the most lion trophies from South Africa. During this period it imported 450 heads, compared to 100 in Germany. Europe needs to ban these lion hunting trophies altogether,” said Luis Muñoz, a Chelui4lions spokesman.

“What hunter, what sort of demented person, would want to kill a magnificent adult lion, known to and photographed by all the park’s visitors?” Muñoz said. “We’re ashamed of the fact that in Spain there are rich madmen who pay for the pleasure of killing wild animals such as lions.”

Bryan Orford, a professional wildlife guide who has worked in Hwange and filmed Cecil many times, told National Geographic that the lion was the park’s “biggest tourist attraction”. Orford calculates that with tourists from just one nearby lodge collectively paying €8,000 per day, Zimbabwe would have brought in more in just five days by having Cecil’s photograph taken rather than being shot by someone paying a one-off fee of €50,000.

The incident, which occurred earlier this month and has only just come to light, has caused outrage in Zimbabwe, coming only days after the ZCTF revealed that 23 elephant calves had been separated from their herds in Hwange and exported to zoos in China and the United Arab Emirates. The Zimbabwean government insists the trade is legal and measures are in place to guarantee the animals’ wellbeing.

This article was amended on Sunday 26 July. An earlier version said Cecil had been wearing a GPS collar since 1999. It should have said that the GPS project has been running since 1999. A reference to elephant cubs has also been corrected to calves.

More than 95% of the lions killed by trophy hunters in South Africa are not wild, but ‘produced’ specifically for the purpose.

In an unprecedented move, the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa (PHASA) has been In an email sent to PHASA members on Friday, the organisation’s president, Hermann Meyeridricks, asked for a review of its policy on the matter ahead of its next annual general meeting.

More than 95% of the lions killed by trophy hunters in South Africa are not wild, but ‘produced’ specifically for the purpose. Some 6000 to 8000 lions are currently estimated to be held in captivity in between 150 and 200 breeding facilities, most of them in the North West Province and the Free State. The animals are released into relatively small camps as little as four days prior to being hunted.

While PHASA has traditionally supported the industry, a growing number of professional hunters have expressed their disapproval of its practices.

Meyeridricks’ letter comes in the wake of a stakeholder meeting called by the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, to discuss the industry, and the release of a hard-hitting documentary on the issue, called ‘Blood Lions’ , which premiered to a standing ovation at the Durban International Film Festival last week.

He acknowledges that opposition to the hunting of bred lions is no longer confined to “just a small if vociferous group of animal-rights activists”, but that “the tide of public opinion is turning strongly against this form of hunting” regardless of whether it is referred to as ‘captive-bred hunting’ or ‘canned hunting’.He notes that PHASA has made “little demonstrable progress” in getting government and predator breeders to “clean up” the country’s lucrative but controversial captive-bred lion hunting industry and “to improve its standards and conditions to a generally acceptable level”.told that its “position on lion hunting is no longer tenable”.