The Director-General: Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment
FAO: Mr Khuthadzo Mahamba
Private Bag X447
Pretoria 0001
Delivered by email to: lionprohibition@dffe.gov.za
25th October 2023
Comments on the Draft Notice Prohibiting certain activities involving African lion (Panthera leo)
Dear Mr Mahamba,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Draft Notice prohibiting certain activities involving African lion (Panthera leo), gazetted under notice 49383.
We are in full support of the Minister’s decision to implement appropriate and necessary measures to avoid the establishment of new captive lion facilities whilst the development of a policy, strategy and legislation are under consideration to phase out the captive lion industry in South Africa.
The Blood Lions film and global campaign was launched in 2015 and has worked tirelessly to end the cruel and unethical captive lion industry and its spin-off activities. The announcement in May 2021 by Minister Barbara Creecy following the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee Lion Colloquium and the subsequent release of the HLP report, the publication of the White Paper on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of South Africa’s Biodiversity, and the recent draft Policy Position on the Conservation and Ecologically Sustainable use of Elephant, Lion, Leopard and Rhinoceros demonstrate highly significant steps towards enabling the restoration of South Africa’s reputation as a leader in the conservation of wildlife and as a responsible tourism destination with iconic wild lions.
We welcome the shift in thinking to include animal well-being as an objective in NEMBA, and the recognition of lions as sentient beings demonstrates the progressive nature of the Department’s stance on conservation of wildlife and biodiversity. As stated in the draft Prohibition Notice, lions are sentient and social animals with complex needs that are best served in wild habitats in which their social structures, hunting behaviour, and territorial nature can be met. The recognition that controlled environments cannot adequately account for these complex needs of these apex predators is an important and necessary step towards phasing out the commercial captive lion industry.
We are hugely encouraged with the publication of this draft Prohibition Notice and are in full support of the following issues:
- To prohibit the establishment or registration of new captive lion breeding facilities, commercial exhibition facilities, rehabilitation facilities or sanctuaries.
- The explicit focus on the promotion of well-being, recognition of animal sentience, recognition of natural behaviours associated with wild lions and social groups, and their physiological needs.
- Recognition that it has become critical to implement appropriate measures to avoid the establishment of new captive facilities for lions, whilst the development of a policy, strategy and legislation are under consideration to phase out the captive lion industry.
We are however deeply concerned to see the inclusion of exceptions for prohibition of the establishment or registration of new captive lion facilities, namely those facilities that: –
- Provide a public function: To our knowledge, “public function” is an expression that is currently not defined in any existing conservation legislation. A public function can be defined as an activity that benefits the vast majority of society and is as such an extremely broad concept. It generally relates to activities, services, or events that have a public or community-oriented focus, either through government provision, non-profit organisations, open accessibility, or engagement with the public.
When making exceptions under such an all-encompassing concept, this inevitably creates legal loopholes for facilities to operate under the pretence of fulfilling a public function. We are hugely concerned this will allow for the establishment or registration of new captive lion facilities and pseudo-sanctuaries that may operate under the guise of providing for example an educational function. Furthermore, there is currently not sufficient scientific evidence to support the notion that lions in controlled environments can serve a strong enough educational function that may warrant their captivity.
Furthermore, it is necessary to question what functions could potentially justify the establishment of a new facility that keeps lions in a controlled environment and how can we guarantee that such a facility adheres to its narrow function? This leads to our additional concern of the future regulation and enforcement of such facilities by the provincial authorities with already limited resources and capacity.
- Operate on a non-profit basis: To operate a captive lion facility on a non-profit basis, whether the entity is registered as an NPO, NPC or NGO, is not the equivalent to being run based on ethical standards, standards that put the well-being of the lions as a priority, and may not even be sufficient in determining a non-commercial entity. There are numerous examples of commercial captive lion facilities that have registered a non-profit as a sideline, in particular facilities with public access, voluntourism, and/or research interests.
We are extremely concerned that this may again open up a legal loophole in which facilities operate on a non-profit basis as a means of circumventing the prohibition of establishing and/or registering new commercial captive lion facilities.
If the Department wants to leave the opportunity open for the establishment of true lion sanctuaries or lion safe havens that can rehome some of the surrendered lions coming out of the voluntary exit process and/or the future prohibition, such facilities should be identified solely as being run under internationally recognised best practices that allow for the welfare and well-being of these apex predators to be guaranteed.
At present, the exception of facilities that provide either a public function or operate on a non-profit basis leaves the system wide open for abuse.
We sincerely hope that you will take the above comments into consideration when developing the final Prohibition Notice.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Louise de Waal
Blood Lions | Director and Campaign Manage