Screening of Blood Lions on 21 Jan

The 84 minute documentary, Blood Lions, focussing on the multi-million dollar canned lion hunting industry in South Africa, is causing an uproar worldwide.

Blood Lion’s message was instrumental in leading to the Australian government announcing a ban on the importation of all African lion trophies into Australia. Last month the US Fish and Wildlife Services announced new curbs on the lion hunting trophies into America. And now the Professional Hunters Association of SA (PHAS A) has formally announced that it would expel any members involved in captive lion hunting.

Since the first screening at the Durban International Film Festival in July last year, dozens of screenings followed in South Africa as well as internationally, including the Australian and EU parliament, and this year it will be shown at a couple of American Film Festivals.

The Hermanus Times caught up with one of the producers Pippa Hankinson who was in Hermanus recently. Originally from Malawi she grew up in Swaziland and “a passion for environmental issues is a part of me. I was in tourism for 20 years and served as a trustee with various conservation organizations.”

The seed for the documentary was planted after Hankinson visited a lion breeding facility in the Free State four years ago. She came away with more questions than answers and says she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

She quotes Martin Luther King when asked what drove her to make the film: “I just had to – in a nutshell, Martin Luther King, Jr best sums it up for me: ‘Our lives begin to end the day we remain silent about things that matter’.

Blood Lions is a call to action which follows Ian Michler, a South African conservationist and safari operator, onto the breeding farms to witness the results of battery-farmed lions. It shows highly profitable commercialization of lions – cub petting, volunteer recruitment, lion walking, hunting and the new lion bone trade.

Hankinson explains: “The carcasses of adult lionesses are shipped to Asia as supplements for ‘tiger-bone wine’ (said to help combat rheumatism and arthritis) and ‘tiger-bone cakes” (believed to boost virility). Because tiger numbers are on the decrease lion-bone is the new substitute ingredient. One carcass can fetch as much as R25 000.”

The documentary, in parallel, follows Rick Swazey, an American hunter, who buys a lioness online, and sets out to come to South Africa to shoot it.

The documentary tells the story of how lion breeding, canned trophy hunting and increasingly lion bone trade are intertwined.

“In South Africa there are between 6 000 and 8 000 predators in captivity, most of them lions. Last year alone over 1 000 captive, hand-reared lions were shot in SA, mostly by international hunters. There are around 2500 to 3000 lions roaming in the wild.”

For Hankinson it is about the hope that the film will be the voice for the voiceless, “that it will raise global awareness and encourage all of us who view it to take a good look at our relationships with each other, and our treatment of and responsibility towards these magnificent creatures – indeed all animals – not only for us, but for our children’s children.

“Our wildlife is our heritage and I believe we are all accountable.”

The screening, followed by a Q&A session with Ian Michler and Pippa Hankinson, is at 18:30. Tickets: R8Opp. To book, please call 083 390 5555.

SA’s canned lion hunts could soon come to an end

WASHINGTON: They call it canned hunting.

South African farmers breed lions in captivity from cubs to adults, then release them just after the arrival of a hunter who pays about $15 000 (about R243 000) for a kill. Sometimes the animal is drugged to make it easier game. Sometimes it’s lured by fresh meat to a place where the hunter lurks. Sometimes the felines are so accustomed to humans that they amble up to the person waiting to kill it. Not surprisingly, the success of these hunts is 99 percent.

But the Obama government’s federal protection of lions could end the practice when a new rule goes into effect in about three weeks.

As part of actions listing African and Indian lions as threatened or endangered, the US Fish and Wildlife Service declared it would make it much harder for American hunters to import the slain animals’ heads – their trophies and bragging rights, In addition, the fees for hunting permits will increase substantially.

A recent analysis by Humane Society International said harsher US scrutiny of trophy imports, along with higher fees and refusal of some carriers such as Federal Express to ship them, could drive the South African ranchers out of business. The organisation said almost nine of 10 lions shot in canned hunts there are killed by Americans.

“It’s the responsibility of the hunting industry and the American hunter in particular to do better,” Fish and Wildlife Director Dan Ashe said last month, vowing the agency would pay more attention to how African nations use permit fees intended to benefit wildlife conservation. “Hunt-ing, particularly trophy hunting, is going to have to lead to the enhancement of lion populations. We have an obligation to make sure US citizens are supporting wildlife management programmes that enhance lion populations in the wild.”

Humane Society International studied data compiled by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an agreement involving more than 150 countries, and found that in 2014, a total of 363 lion trophies from South Africa – 85 percent – were imported to the US. Poland was a distant second with 20 trophies, followed by Spain with 17 and the Czech Republic with 10.

Fish and Wildlife officials declined on Monday to comment on the Humane Society’s analysis without seeing the raw data behind it. However, spokeswoman Laury Parramore wrote in an email: “We are aware that most of the sport-hunted lions documented in the international trade are imported into the United States and that most of these lions were exported from South Africa.”

The agency said there were about 3 600 captive lions bred for trophy hunting at more than 170 facilities in South Africa in 2009. The industry often publicises captive breeding as a potential solution to the dwindling populations in the wild. But lions bred in cages rarely have the tools and behaviors to survive on their own, according to scientific research.

Canned or captive hunting, as it’s also known, has been widely condemned by animal-rights groups, including Born Free USA, which has declared 2016 the “Year of the Lion” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the movie, Born Free, that focused worldwide attention on the African species. Blood Lions, a documentary set for worldwide release this year, targets such hunting.

“If you thought Walter Palmer’s killing of Cecil was deplorable, what happens to nameless lions at these facilities is even more appalling and unsporting,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Human Society of the United States. “Along with the new US import restrictions, we applaud France and Australia for banning lion trophy imports and we urge other importing countries, including the Czech Republic, Poland and Spain, to enact similar rules.”

African lions numbered in the hundreds of thousands in much of the last century but now total only about 20 000. They are haunted by a range of issues: people expanding into their habitat, the widespread human slaughter of animals they prey upon for bush meat, and government-sanctioned hunts for permits that fetch up to $400 000 each.

While the death of the Zimbabwean lion known as Cecil drew worldwide attention last year, little is generally known about lion hunts within contained areas where kills are all but assured. South Africa has about 6 000 captive lions. They are born in cages and often rented out to petting operations when they’re young. As adults, their value as hunting targets increase.

“The animals are normally kept in small cages and released just before being shot,” said Teresa Telecky, director of the wildlife department for Humane Society International. “They hang an animal for the lion to kill, and the hunter lays in wait for a guaranteed kill. More people are becoming aware of it.”

South Africa isn’t the only site of canned hunts, which often are promoted at US hunting conventions. Texas ranches breed African antelopes for hunts, while red foxes in Virginia and elk in Colorado also are raised specifically for hunting, according to Born Free USA. “If you look at trophy hunting overall, it’s predominantly Americans engaged in the activity,” Telecky said.

“There are more than a thousand captive hunts in at least 28 states,” the organisation says on its website. “The re are 12 US ranches holding current or recent government-issued endangered species permits.” – Washington Post