Cape Town – The worlds  wealthiest hunting organisation, Safari Club International (SCI) and  professional hunting groups, met behind closed doors with the South African Department of Environment (DEA) and representatives of other African nations  last week to discuss policies for managing wildlife.

According to a media statement from the DEA, the 14^th African Wildlife Consultative Forum, that was held in Limpopo from 9 to 12 November, is an annual SCI-sponsored initiative which “provides an important platform for African countries to enhance existing co-operation between governments, including hunting industries of participating countries.” The statement continues: “The AWCF is further a platform for sharing experiences in wildlife management and hunting in particular and will “include preparations for the upcoming CITES CoP 17 meeting in South Africa next year.”

In other words, the meeting is about the SCI persuading African governments, individually and through CITES to adopt policies incorporating the conservation ‘benefits’ of trophy hunting.

SCI already heavily influences government policies to a number of African nations. In 2013 Zambia issued a ban on hunting lions and leopards because of declining populations due to over-harvesting by trophy hunters. Zambian Tourism and Arts Minister, Jean Kapata at the time cited that “big cat numbers were too low to have a sustainable hunting industry.”

However, after intense pressure from the SCI, Zambia reversed the ban. Zambia’s Green Party president Peter Sinkamba told The Times of Zambia: “Much as we are aware that the PF [Patriotic Front] government is facing serious budget deficit challenges, it is extremely outrageous to resort to unleashing safari hunters on to limited populations of big cat species, regardless of the fact that safari hunting is allegedly most profitable.”

A similar scenario occurred in Namibia. In 2010 the country issued a hunting moratorium on big cats and placed the hunting industry under review.

It was reported that in some areas whole populations of leopard and cheetah were being wiped out. Hunting operators were running leopard and cheetah hunts with dogs, as well as canned hunts – in some cases canned hunts with dogs.

But the moratorium only remained in place for one hunting season. In 2011 Namibia in partnership with SCI launched a census “to manage the sustainability of the leopard population.”  A questionnaire was distributed to 1 500 farmers to assess the distribution and relative abundance of leopards throughout Namibia. There were only 400 replies. These, however, were extrapolated which produced a flawed national estimate of leopards of over 14 000.

Nambia has a CITES trophy hunted export quota of 250 leopards per year, a questionable figure, according to experts of the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN), because it is based on “insufficient ecological information and lack of scientific data”.

Unsurprisingly the pro-hunting census-takers recommended the quota “remain at the current level.”

The USA will not allow imports of trophies of cheetahs as it has deemed that cheetah hunting is not conducive to the conservation of the species. Namibia together with SCI has repeatedly petitionedthe USA to lift the ban but the country has declined each request.

It is little wonder then that journalists and conservationists, who were not invited to the forum in Polokwane, are concerned that South Africa will succumb to the cash-waving advocates of trophy hunting despite the DEA insisting that “claims of excessive interference by American hunters in South African government policy are not true.”

Ban Animal Trading South Africa (a registered NPO fighting for the rights of animals) demanded that the minutes be made public, something the DEA have since done but the link is simply a summary of the proceedings and lacks any meaningful detail.

Ian Michler, who produced the film Blood Lions, has stated: “Given the non-transparent nature of the conference, it’s hard not to infer a conspiracy between hunters and governments in proposals that will be presented to CITES in the public’s name.”

It is expected that CITES will deliberate on issues such as ivory and rhino horn trade and revision of trophy hunted export quotas at the next Conference of the Parties in Johannesburg in 2016.

Karen Trendler of the NGO Working Wild says “it is of grave concern that issues of this nature and importance are discussed at closed meetings with what appears to be predominantly pro-hunting representation.”

The common-held mantra that trophy hunting benefits conservation has come under fire recently, especially following the death of Cecil the lion.

Many leading wildlife experts like National Geographic Explorer in Residence Dereck Joubert and Kenya’s conservation doyen, Richard Leakey, agree that trophy hunting is not good for conservation because it fuels corruption at the highest government levels, causes the loss of healthy animals that are still key for reproduction and social cohesion but, most importantly, contributes to the decline of Africa’s wildlife populations already in a free-fall from rampant poaching.

It’s time politicians and legislators realise it too.

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s trophy hunting industry said yesterday it “distanced” itself from hunts of half-tame lions in confined spaces, disowning a practice which has sparked worldwide outrage.

The Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa (Phasa) said the majority of its members had voted to “distance the association from captive-bred lionhunting” until lion breeders “could prove the conservation value of this practice’.

South Africa is one of the continent’s main markets for trophy hunting, with foreign — mainly U.S. — hunters spending about R1 billion and exporting more than 40 000 trophies in 2013, according to Phasa.

Nearly all of the approximately 800 lions hunted in 2013 had been bred in captivity. Animal rights activists say most of the hunts are so-called canned hunts, carried out in a small space where the animal cannot escape.

The hunting of half-tame lions has come under increasing criticism with the recent release of the documentary Blood Lions and the killing of the GPS-collared lion Cecil in neighbouring Zimbabwe in July.

Activists say breeding lions does not help to preserve the species, because lions raised in captive conditions cannot fend for themselves and cannot be released into the wild

ANIMAL activists and conservation organisations have declared “a victory for lions” after several groundbreaking decisions that could lead to the collapse of South Africa’s captive breeding and canned hunting industries.

This week, the Professional Hunters’ Association (Phasa) voted to distance itself from captive-bred lion hunting until the SA Predators’ Association (Sapa) could prove the conservation value of the practice.

While tension was reported at Phasa’s annual meeting this week, the vote had been carried, insiders said.

It is estimated that more than 1 000 lions were hunted in South Africa last year, and that there are between 6 000 and 8 000 lions alive in the captive predator industry.

Campaign Against Canned Hunting director Linda Park said she was happy.

“This dreadful industry, which has nothing to do with conservation, has been a blight on the landscape of the country and has certainly done much to tarnish South Africa’s image in the eyes of the world,” Park said.

Filmmaker Andrew Venter – who made a documentary titled Blood Lions – hailed the development and international pressure to ban canned hunting safaris as milestones.

Johannesburg – South Africa’s trophy hunting industry said Thursday it “distanced” itself from hunts of half-tame lions in confined spaces, disowning a practice which has sparked worldwide outrage.

The Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa (PHASA) said the majority of its members had voted to “distance the association from captive-bred lion-hunting” until lion breeders “could prove the conservation value of this practice.”

South Africa is one of the continent’s main markets for trophy hunting, with foreign – mainly US – hunters spending about 1 billion rand (70 million dollars) and exporting more than 40 000 trophies in 2013, according to PHASA.

Nearly all of the approximately 800 lions hunted in 2013 had been bred in captivity. Animal rights activists say most of the hunts are so-called canned hunts, carried out in a small space where the animal cannot escape.

The hunting of half-tame lions has come under increasing criticism with the recent release of the documentary Blood Lions and the killing of the GPS-collared lion Cecil in neighbouring Zimbabwe in July.

Activists say breeding lions does not help to preserve the species, because lions raised in captive conditions cannot fend for themselves and cannot be released into the wild.

Animal activists and conservation bodies have declared “a victory for lions” following a number of ground-breaking decisions that could lead to the collapse of captive-lion breeding and canned hunting in South Africa.

This week the Professional Hunters’ Association of SA voted to distance itself from captive-bred lion hunting until the SA Predators Association could prove the conservation value of the practice to professional hunters and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

This followed the announcement by Matthias Kruse, editor of Germany’s leading hunting magazine, that, as of next year, Germany’s leading hunting show would no longer allow the advertising or sale of any form of canned or captive-bred hunts.

According to insiders at the association’s annual general meeting, battle lines were drawn in the lead up to the vote this week.

There were 147 votes in favour of the association distancing itself from canned hunting.

There are between 6000 and 8000 lions in the captive-predator industry, most of them kept in the Free State, North West and Limpopo.

Australia banned the importing of lion trophies in February, when Environment Minister Greg Hunt sponsored legislation banning all imports of lion body parts.

Hunt called South Africa’s canned-lion hunting industry “cruel, unethical and barbaric, and definitely out of step with 21st-century thinking”.

Linda Park, Johannesburg director of Campaign Against Canned Hunting, said: “This dreadful industry, which has nothing to do with conservation, has been a blight on the country and has tarnished South Africa’s image in the eyes of the world.

“Lions are firmly in the public eye at the moment.”

Andrew Venter, Wildlands CEO and executive producer of the documentary Blood Lions, hailed the decisions as “milestones”.

Pieter Kat, of Lion Aid, a UK animal rights organisation, said that France would no longer allow hunters to bring home lion hunting trophies.

“This is excellent news. France ranks high among the EU member states for the importing of such trophies, ” Kat said.