This is an excerpt from an article written and published online by BBC News on 02 May, 2021

South Africa has revealed plans to clamp down on breeding lions for hunting or so tourists can pet cubs.

The move comes after the results were published from a two-year study into the controversial practice of captive lion breeding.

It found that the practice risked conservation efforts and harmed wild animals.

South Africa’s government accepted the panel’s recommendations which could anger the hunting industry.

“What the majority report says, with regards to captive breeding of lions: it says we must halt and reverse the domestication of lions through captive breeding and keeping,” environment minister Barbara Creecy said.

“We don’t want captive breeding, captive hunting, captive petting, captive use of lions and their derivative.”

This is an excerpt from an article written and published online by Reuters on 02 May, 2021

South Africa will clamp down on captive lion breeding after a review panel concluded the industry risked the conservation of wild lions and harmed tourism, the environment minister said on Sunday.

In the nearly 600-page report, the panel appointed by the ministry in 2019 recommended that South Africa end the breeding and keeping of captive lions for economic gain, including hunting them and tourist interactions such as cub petting.

The panel also recommended an immediate moratorium on the trade of lion derivatives such as bones, which they found to pose major risks to wild lion populations in South Africa.

Barbara Creecy, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, responded to the report by saying the ministry would adopt all recommendations in the report which were supported by the majority of the 26-strong panel.

This is an excerpt from an article written and published online by Yahoo! News on 02 May, 2021

South Africa on Sunday revealed plans to ban the breeding of lions in captivity for trophy hunting or for tourists to pet, advocating a more “authentic” experience for visitors.

The decision was in response to recommendations contained in a government study into the controversial practice.

The panel studied the rules governing the hunting, trade and keeping in captivity of lions, elephants, rhino and leopards.

Environment Minister Barbara Creecy told a news conference that the study recommended a halt to the “domestication of lions through captive breeding and keeping.”

“We don’t want captive breeding, captive hunting, captive (cubs) petting, captive use of lions,” the minister said.

The decision, which is yet to be formulated into policy, is likely to set the government on a collision course with the powerful multi-million-dollar industry of captive lion breeding.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Morgan Winsor and published online by ABC News on 02 May, 2021

LONDON — South Africa announced Sunday it plans to end its multimillion-dollar captive lion industry and said it won’t oppose the international ban on the rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory trade.

The announcement was made alongside the release of a nearly 600-page report by a special government-appointed advisory committee tasked with reviewing the country’s policies, legislation and practices related to the management, breeding, hunting, trade and handling of elephants, lions, leopards and rhinos.

“The panel identified that the captive lion industry poses risks to the sustainability of wild lion conservation,” South African Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Barbara Creecy said in a statement Sunday. “The panel recommends that South Africa does not captive-breed lions, keep lions in captivity, or use captive lions or their derivatives commercially. I have requested the department to action this accordingly and ensure that the necessary consultation in implementation is conducted.”

This is an excerpt from an article written by Don Pinnock and published online by Daily Maverick on 02 May, 2021

In a seismic shift that will send shock waves through many areas of SA’s wildlife industry, the Cabinet has endorsed a report calling for the end of lion farming, captive lion hunting, cub-petting and the commercial farming of rhinos.

In an unprecedented move to reposition South Africa as a world leader in wildlife conservation, the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries has called for the protection of iconic wild animals to be prioritised over the cruelty of commercial exploitation.

The 580-page High-Level Panel (HLP) report is the result of nearly two years of often heated discussion and research by a panel of specialists assembled by Minister Barbara Creecy, with more than 70 written submissions from individuals and organisations. 

The minister accepted a panel majority finding that the treatment of, particularly, lions and rhinos was unacceptable and detrimental to the image of South Africa as a prime tourist destination. The report now awaits endorsement by Parliament.

The report will be applauded by a tourism industry battered by Covid-19 and worldwide criticism of canned hunting, and will be hotly contested by those involved in the exploitation of wildlife for reasons other than conservation.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Don Pinnock and published online by Daily Maverick on 02 May, 2021

The High-Level Panel report on Lions, Rhinos, Elephants and Leopards marks a tectonic shift from apartheid-era exclusive ownership and use of wildlife to a more inclusive and transformative approach that acknowledges community stewardship of conservation and the sentience and welfare of animals. It’s not all the way there, but it’s a remarkable start.

The report began with the 2018 Parliamentary Colloquium on lion farming and would probably not have happened without that historic kickstart. It’s merely a report of course, albeit a massive and comprehensive one, and many reports have been buried and forgotten in the past. What started in Parliament must now end in Parliament as law, and that still lies ahead. 

But the momentum that propelled the report goes much further back than 2018 and this is more likely to accelerate than to slow. 

The report has followed the wheel tracks of documentaries such as Blood Lions, forensic and innovative reports from NGOs like the EMS, Landmark and Born Free foundations, Ban Animal Trading, Humane Society International-Africa, the Cape Leopard Trust, legal challenges by the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA), high and Constitutional Court findings against cruelty and on the sentience of animals, landmark legal opinions by law firms such as Cullinan and Associates and the Centre for Environmental Rights and on exposés by media organisations such as the Mail & Guardian, Oxpeckers and Daily Maverick. And more recently, impetus was added when responsible tourism and the mainstream conservation sectors got involved.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Paul Ash and published online by Sunday Times on 02 May, 2021

Acting on a wide-reaching report, Barbara Creecy concedes that canned hunting doesn’t contribute to conservation.

SA’s controversial lion breeding industry may soon be history.

On Sunday, forestry, fisheries and environment minister Barbara Creecy released a long-awaited high-level panel report on the management, breeding, hunting, trade and handling of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros…

This is an excerpt from an article written by Susan Njanji and published online by IOL on 02 May, 2021

Pretoria – Environment Minister Barbara Creecy on Sunday revealed plans to ban the breeding of lions in captivity for trophy hunting or for tourists to pet, advocating a more “authentic” experience for visitors.

The decision was in response to recommendations contained in a government study into the controversial practice.

The panel studied the rules governing the hunting, trade and keeping in captivity of lions, elephants, rhino and leopards.

Creecy told a news conference that the study recommended a halt to the “domestication of lions through captive breeding and keeping.”

This is an excerpt from an article written by Anton Crone and published online by Getaway on 02 May, 2021

In a move aimed at improving South Africa’s wild lion conservation, and the country’s tarnished ecotourism reputation, the Ministry of Forestry and Fisheries and Environmental Affairs will take action against the breeding, hunting and trade of captive lions.

On 2 May the department’s Minister Barbara Creecy released the report of a high-level panel that was appointed to review policies, regulatory measures, practices and policy positions that are related to hunting, trade, captive keeping, management and handling of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros.

In her announcement she said the panel identified that “the captive lion breeding industry poses risks to the sustainability of wild lion conservation resulting from the negative impact on ecotourism, which funds lion conservation and conservation more broadly, the negative impact on the authentic wild hunting industry, and the risk that trade in lion parts poses to stimulating poaching and illegal trade”.

This is an excerpt from an article written and published online by SA People on 03 May, 2021

It’s great news for wildlife as Minister Barbara Creecy of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) today announced crucial and long-awaited steps towards changing the status quo of the commercial captive lion breeding industry in South Africa.

Speaking at a stakeholder’s feedback meeting in Pretoria, Minister Creecy said that South Africa will no longer breed captive lions, keep lions in captivity, or use captive lions or their derivatives commercially.

Minister Creecy has instructed her Department to put processes in place to:

• halt the sale of captive lion derivatives (including the appropriate disposal of existing lion bone stockpiles and lion bone from euthanised lions);
• halt the hunting of captive bred lions;
• halt tourist interactions with captive lions (including, so-called voluntourism, cub petting, etc).

“The [High-Level] Panel identified that the captive lion breeding industry poses risks to the sustainability of wild lion conservation resulting from the negative impact on ecotourism, which funds lion conservation and conservation more broadly, the negative impact on the authentic wild hunting industry, and the risk that trade in lion parts poses to stimulating poaching and illegal trade”, said Minister Creecy in her announcement today.