The trophy-hunting industry is making many farmers rich – but the process of domesticating the king of the jungle is destroying the species for the amusement of thrill-seeking tourists .

THE LIONS ARE PACKED SO CLOSELY that they’re touching each other. In their enclosure they “move like snakes”, says environmental journalist and safari operator Ian Michler, his voice strained with the affront. Territorial by nature and requiring vast open spaces to survive, these big cats have been tamed, habituated to humans and many hand-reared by international paying volunteers who are led to believe they’re doing a service for conservation in Africa by raising orphaned cubs.

Somewhere overseas, a thrill-seeking man with some spare cash goes online to pick out the creature he’d like to kill; the darker the mane, the better, because the more powerful-looking the lion, the more thrilling to vanquish. He’s got limited time (and he’s cheap) so he doesn’t want to spend weeks – or too many thousands of dollars. (A real lion-hunt in the wild can take up to 21 days of tracking and stalking.)

He wants a guaranteed kill, needs to do the shoot quickly and take home his trophy to mount on the wall. His lion, bred in captivity for the express purpose of being shot, will have clean good looks. These animals have no bush history, so there are none of the scars of animals in the wild.

He comes to South Africa, where there are 6,000 to 7,000 predator lions born in captivity on about 200 farms and breeding facilities. (There were fewer than 1,000 in 1990, and about 3,000 in 2005, indicative of the growth of the industry.) Here he meets his lion and is shown exactly where to aim to be most effective. Every day, in South Africa, two or three male lions die this way, shot from perhaps 20 or 30 metres away, unable to escape. After a speeded up and intensive reproduction cycle, the females, whose offspring are taken away when still cubs, are usually sold in the “bone trade” for Traditional Chinese Medicine.

He’s warned by the farmer, a hunting operator, to be careful but this is part of the game, part of making it feel like real hunting – unpredictable, a challenge, and as though he is pitting himself against a genuine foe, the king of the animal world.

He feels ethically quite good about what he does, harbouring the idea that the US dollar (50% of hunters are American) or other foreign currency he’s paying translates into many, many South African rands which will go toward the conservation effort for this magnificent endangered species.

Michler says: “They have no consideration or appreciation of the irony that they are domesticating lions. If you look at the marketing of the entire trophy hunting industry, it’s based on the notion that these are wild, noble dangerous creatures and that they are pitting their skills in a fair contest against this noble beast. That he who downs or slays the beast is a brave man and made his contribution to saving the species. The absurdity is that every aspect of that marketing line has been completely shattered. They’ve tamed and human-imprinted the lions and there’s nothing noble or fair about the chase and they have nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with conservation whatsoever.”

Michler, protagonist of and special consultant for an eye-opening documentary on the canned lion industry, Blood Lions: Bred for The Bullet, says their gene pool is useless because they are inbred, and they’re too habituated to humans to be used for breeding in the wild. Only animals bred under the auspices of an authentic team of scientists and conservationists can be used for conservation.

Nor does he buy the argument that the captive lions take pressure off those in the wild; it’s a different market and in fact, wild lions, whose number continues to decline, are taken to support dwindling gene pools in the captive market. And their very existence is detrimental to the conservation effort, artificially bumping up numbers.

It is only in South Africa that this occurs, says Michler, who is often asked why there are no black people interviewed in the documentary. He says he has never met a black person who owns one of the breeding facilities or hunts predators. His theory is that the mentality driving the industry is an extension of the brutality of South Africa’s apartheid past. Running the show are “mostly people out of the apartheid era which had no regard for human rights either – it is an offshoot of that period in our history.”

Blood Lions, locally produced by Regulus Vision in collaboration with the Wildlands Conservation Trust, and directed by Bruce Young and well known filmmaker Nick Chevallier, was launched at the Durban International Film Festival in July. It has since been aired by MSNBC in the US, will be screened at the European Parliament, at the Royal Geographic Society in London, and is doing the rounds of international film festivals. Its production was funded by philanthropists. For now, the campaign plan involves a release to schools and other educational institutions, carefully selected television stations and film festival They’ve tamed and human-imprinted the lions and there’s nothing noble or fair about the chase screenings so that the film’s message is controlled and funds for the campaign are generated from ticket sales and donations. Eventually, says Michler, it will be free to air on YouTube.

The film’s serendipitous launch was just two days before the shooting of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe hit headlines, sparking outrage worldwide. The two fed into each other, says Michler. The response should put breeders and hunt organisers on notice: “[l’m saying] forget about defending your positions, just look at what happened and understand that there’s a significant proportion of the global population who do not agree with what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. The response to Cecil is for me representative of an outrage toward this continued abuse of our fellow species and the planet.”

Noseweek watched a screening of Blood Lions at Bishops School in Rondebosch (where Michler, who grew up on a farm in the southern Cape, boarded in high school). The front rows were occupied by junior boys, warned beforehand that what they were to see was “grossly unfair” and would be shocking. And shocking it is.

With great pride, Michler is described by the Chairman of the Old Diocesan Union, Brian Robertson, as someone who’d gone “from a life of success to a life of significance. He is, other speakers say, a keystone person, someone who gives a damn… N go to war with him.” He’s definitely more alternative than most of the audience, and was welcomed with something like adulation by other old boys, along with many jokes about his good looks and how they tagged along behind him because he was popular with girls.

In a previous incarnation, Michler was a successful stockbroker, running the Cape Town office of Ferguson Brothers, which later became Investec. Then, when he was 30, or 31, in 1989, he had some sort of epiphany and went to live in the Okavango Delta in Botswana and re-invented himself, buying a lodge (since sold) and immersing himself in wildlife photography and environmental journalism.

“Broking was fantastic. My leaving was both a push and a pull: the pull was my love of being in wilderness, and the push was this notion that your relationships in your work environment were based purely on financial equations. If the market was up, everyone was your friend and if the market was down, everyone was grumpy… it was a little disturbing that you could chart that on a daily basis.”

In Botswana, he soon realised that “living in paradise” was not enough, and that he “needed to make a meaningful contribution”. Back then, Botswana was still a big hunting destination. “We used to ride horses for photography tourists, but we shared that concession with hunters. We’d stop and then they would come in… there were too many shots, and outside the season we would hear shots and light aircraft. It didn’t add up and that very quickly took me to those hunting farms and breeding facilities in South Africa.” He’s visited scores of them and has been following the story since 1999.

Today, he’s based in Plettenberg Bay and his main income is from high-end wildlife safaris in 15 countries, including Zimbabwe, Namibia and Madagascar, where he sees lions living a natural life in the wild, and deals with conservationists and ecologists. The juxtaposition with the canned hunt when he comes home to South Africa is almost intolerable. “You’re dealing with real conservation challenges, with animals in the vast open landscape in very intricately evolved ecosystems, then you come back and see them broken down in cages. It’s this complete perversion…

“Most shocking to me, more than individual cases, is the notion that there’s a group of people who have collectively come up with an economic or social justification for taking an apex predator like a lion, which requires in its natural world large amounts of space, and confining it to small enclosures.”

Lions, he says, not only command a very powerful presence in our spiritual beings, in our poetry, in our mythology, but in an ecological sense are a charismatic species at the apex of our ecosystems. “If we can’t look after them responsibly, then what hope is there for anything? Here in South Africa, we are completely denigrating that standing and justifying it on an economic basis.”

South Africa’s tourism industry is worth about R95 billion annually. Of that, about 1.5% is generated by hunting – of which only a fraction comes from canned or captive hunting. Of the nine million international visitors to South Africa every year, only about 9,000 go on a hunt. It is, he says, illogical to claim that it is significantly good for the economy. “They’ve overplayed their hand and everyone has bought into it. We are saying to the government: Why are you pandering to a few hundred people who are contributing a fraction of 1% of the tourist dollar and damaging Brand SA?

“One of the main reasons is that it’s a sport for wealthy and influential people – businessmen, politicians, military men from all over the world come here.” In fact, a section of the film that was cut after legal threats were issued was that of a “very well Everyone’s survival, rich or poor, is based on conservation and healthy ecosystems Ian Michler known” person shooting a lion.

Making the documentary wasn’t easy. The lion trade is a murky world, with shadowy agents as go-betweens to disguise the path from farm to target. While the documentary does feature trophy hunters, breeders, ecologists and conservationists and welfare experts, trying to get evidence sometimes involved deception, including getting a sympathetic American – Rick Swazey from Hawaii – to pose as a hunter. But always they were discovered and in some cases, threatened.

Other than captive hunting, there are some newer revenue streams for the lion-breeding industry. Last year about 1,000 carcasses were used for the bone trade for Traditional Chinese Medicine. China banned the trade of tiger parts in 1993. Welfare standards for these lions are worse still, says Michler, because they don’t even have to look good.

Another revenue stream that fits in nicely is volunteering, which sees young people from all over the world paying significant sums to farmers, lion park owners or so-called sanctuary owners (in one case, there’s a farmer making more than $100,000 in a month in the season) who are taking advantage of their naivety The volunteers are told they are raising orphaned or abandoned cubs, when in fact the cubs have been taken from their mothers at about a week old and will later be sold into the hunting or bone trade. “It’s a double betrayal, betraying the kids and animals and making money from both.”

Michler has a response for every potentially tricky question: Is it not hypocritical to focus on the glamorous lions? What about factory farming, what about the packaged meat we all eat from the supermarket shelf?

The difference, he says, is that hunting is done for fun, for pleasure. With food, there’s at least some logic to it. But anyway, focusing on one issue does not mean others don’t matter, or you don’t understand the rest. It’s a question of being pragmatic and narrowing down to get traction, not always addressing man’s “entire relationship with fellow species”.

Instead, he and his team have taken a position in the middle ground, where the decision-makers and politicians are based. “I explained this to the vegan community in Australia. They take an absolute line and I said I’m in complete sympathy/empathy with what you’re saying but by taking an extremist line, you’re not going to have any impact. Being pragmatic you will. That we take a more defined line in the film doesn’t mean we don’t care, we completely care on [the issue of] domestic animals.”

Finally, how do you justify focussing on animals in a country where people have so much need too? For Michler and his team on the documentary, the answer is simple. Everyone’s survival, rich or poor, is based on conservation and healthy ecosystems, and for that, wilderness needs as much attention as education, health, and policing. “We need clean air, clean water, healthy forest topsoil and carbon sequestration systems… If we don’t have those, we’re all gone, okay? In the sixties, we had an excuse that we didn’t know; now we do, we are in the age of awareness. We know about the ozone hole, climate change, how the oceans have been depleted, about acid rain. We can no longer be ignorant about the way forward. Blood Lions is symbolic on a small scale of a more sensitive, a more ecologically aware approach to the planet and the way we live.

“We talk about sustainability, it’s the catchphrase of the world today, but in South Africa particularly, it’s become definition which focuses on the human sustainability component. Everyone understands that we need to take care of people, but it’s how and why we develop now, after 250/300 years NOSEWEEK November 2015 of unconsidered development.”

Conservationists tread a fine line, and have to be wary of targeting the extremely wealthy or alienating big corporates, because wealthy philanthropists are some of the biggest contributors to the cause. “I want them to understand that they’ve been part of the problem, as have we all, but they need to be part of the solution… It’s not about them, it’s about understanding the impact that 300 years of rapacious greed has had on the planet.”

The eradication of poverty and the way we treat the environment are inextricably linked, says Michler. One of the main reasons for poverty in Africa is that the management of natural resources has been so skewed in favour of the wealthy. Nothing will change until the short-term goals and mandates of industrial conglomerates and politicians/decision-makers are uncoupled and conservation’s long-term goals become the paradigm. And, although they might present it as an either/or jobs or conservation, it’s not as though politicians are taking care of poverty anyway, he points out. Playing one off against the other doesn’t make sense.

Still, there is room for optimism. International pressure is building, he says and, as with sanctions on apartheid South Africa, the international revenue stream will dwindle as the world realises what’s going on. There’s growing pressure inside South Africa too. Recently, the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa, PHASA, after viewing Blood Lions, called the current situation “no longer tenable”. Legislative change, hopefully, will see the closure of predator facilities and stop all breeding. There is no other solution. Breeding of lions in captivity should only be done by a legitimate conservation agency, well-funded and peer-reviewed. Not one of South Africa’s predator-breeding facilities is working with any recognised conservation agencies or lion ecologists. At present, there are no legal requirements on farmers with regards to understanding biology, animal husbandry, lion ecology, or conservation in general. It is legal to breed as long as farmers comply with provincial legislation that focuses on minimum standards for fencing and enclosure sizes.

Captive predator breeding falls into a grey area, legislatively. Typically, says Michler, environmental departments internationally look after biodiversity and conservation involving wild animals in wilderness areas, while agriculture departments deal with animals in agricultural conditions. “It’s a classic distinction… but with these lions, you have a wild animal kept under agricultural conditions, so they are constantly passing the buck between the two departments, avoiding responsibility.”

On-side is the Minister for Tourism, Derek Hanekom, who says the canned lion trade is damaging “Brand South Africa”. But ultimately it will not be his decision. “Can you imagine,” says Michler longingly, “all the goodwill that would be generated internationally if she [Minister for Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa] were to listen to her cabinet colleague and end it? Everyone is saying something needs to happen here…”

Ian McCallum has a diverse range of skills and talents – medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist, wilderness guide, author and poet. Scott Ramsay spent a few hours in his company

Ian McCallum’s love for the African wilderness and wildlife is clear to see. He has travelled to most parts of the continent from his base in Cape Town.

He is an eloquent and effective advocate of the protection of the wilderness and the restoration of relationships between humans and animals, and with the planet itself.

Ian’s Ecological Intelligence is a highly readable book that will challenge and inspire readers who are concerned about the state of the Earth. His poems in the anthologies Wild Gifts and Untamed are clarion calls for a renewed reverence for wildlife and wild places.

The wildlife and wilderness areas of Africa are under immense pressure, despite the best intentions of some concerned governments and citizen groups. What needs to be done to ensure they are sustained and nurtured?

The critical level will be the number of people who are genuinely concerned about the future of wild animals. The greatest danger is the indifference that so many people have for wildlife and wild areas – the attitude that “it’s got nothing to do with me”.

For example, why should somebody in New York City or Beijing worry about the rhino? Rhinos may go extinct, but so did the dodo. Isn’t this just part of the cycle of life? There’s a terrible sense that there’s nothing that any of us can do as individuals.

This is the biggest challenge. It comes down to the question: what are we – the privileged ones – going to do about it?

We are the ones who are privileged to have had contact with elephants and rhino and lions in a way that most people will never have. We are the ones who must speak up for the wild places and animals.

It depends on an acknowledgement of what I call “web-of-life” thinking. Everything is connected. Wild creatures are part of our identity.

What about the so-called “sustainable utilisation” model, including trophy hunting, as a way to create jobs and increase revenue flows to wildlife areas?

This is quite contentious. We have to be very careful of the sustainable utilisation model, which turns all living things, other than human beings, into objects: Objects for our use, objects which have a monetary value and that therefore are exchangeable on economic terms.

There is another school of thought,that some things – surely – are just simply not for sale. And what is it going to take for us to reach that level of ethics and say, “I’m sorry, this is not for sale. This is priceless.”

Is your mother for sale? Is your daughter for sale? Are you going to put an economic value on child trafficking? Oh, no, we’re talking human beings here. Some will argue this is a different issue. I’m saying no, it’s not a different issue. It’s part of the same continuum.

Do you really give a stuff about your fellow man? Then show me that you actually give a stuff about the animals and the natural state of the planet.

Does your mother have an economic value? No. Would you die for her or your sister? Surely. There are some things worth dying for.

There are different kinds of hunting, of course. Hunting a gemsbok or kudu to feed your family and friends is one thing, but trophy hunting of elephants, rhinos, lions or leopards is a continued act of dominance where the hunter stands on top of his or her prize with a high-powered rifle, where the animal didn’t have a snowball’s hope in hell, and pretending that you have shot it in self-defence or that this is some statement of your personal prowess. This is a mind-set that is heavily cushioned and fed by the sheer amount of money that comes pouring into this industry.

The economics of trophy hunting don’t always match up to what the hunters claim. I’m afraid the reality and some of the statistics don’t always match. The amount of money that goes back into conservation or communities is not as much as hunters say.

What do you say to the trophy hunting operator, who is adamant that trophy hunting is a valuable part of the conservation matrix?

Sometimes you have to kill wild animals, yes, because the highly managed game reserves of today mostly have fences, and can only sustain certain numbers of animals. Why not give those same trophy hunters a quota, and then they can come in to hunt, and get a replica on their way out? Give them the best fibreglass replica of the animal they are allowed to shoot.

But that dead animal stays here in Africa. Nothing leaves here, okay? You can take a photograph of your animal, but there will not be a photograph of you standing in triumph over this animal. You’ve come for the hunt and for the chase.

We need to encourage a new breed of hunters. The message needs to be: “You are welcome to come and track that animal, but you must identify the track first, and then you have to follow it on foot, and find the animal by yourself.”

There will be no use of vehicles, or shooting from the back of vehicles. Let’s regenerate an honourable hunting ethos. Let’s go back to how it all began.

The issue of sustainable utilisation is highlighted by the current crisis surrounding rhino poaching, and the potential legalising of the sale of horn into Asia. What’s your view?

How can you justify the selling of rhino horn for a use which is nothing but sheer superstition? Isn’t this intrinsically wrong? Don’t you think education is the key here?

Why underestimate the intelligence of Chinese and Vietnamese people, where the so-called market is? We’ve got to be very careful about turning the Chinese people into the enemy. Our enemy is right here in SA and, Trailists on the Imfolozi Wilderness Trail in KwaZulu-Natal watching a white rhino. sadly, it is fed by the economic model that follows the money.

The proposed trade in rhino horn is madness, because we haven’t got a clue about who the market is. Who are you going to sell it to? Secondly, we don’t know whether such trade is going to work. It is filled with uncertainty.

The argument against that will be, “Yes, but nothing else has worked in the past”, and we’re saying, “Rubbish”. We haven’t even begun to give it the best chance in terms of global awareness and demand reduction, to educate and stop people from using rhino horn.

There’s a third factor – ethics. For me, rhino horn is surely something which is not for sale. That, personally, is an important one. I’d like to know that I’m prepared to go and fight for this. Let’s show a little bit of backbone here.

What is the solution to the crisis in conservation?

You’ve got to get the government in SA, for example, to be totally committed to protecting what I’m going to call “national treasures”. They have to declare a state of emergency right now. We need to have world leaders say, “This is not right”. Citizens and governments around the world have got to assist the governments of Africa to solve the problem. It’s a global crisis, and we need global help and co-operation.

Let’s talk about something more personal. Which are your favourite wild regions in Africa?

I have three. Two are in Botswana and one in Namibia.

The Linyanti region in northern Botswana, on the Linyanti River overlooking the Caprivi Strip, is one of them. I’ve spent a lot of time there. Equal to that would be the Okavango Delta. There is a tremendous sense of space.

In both the Delta and Linyanti, you’re looking at a vast expanse of wilderness where there are no human beings and where natural processes have been going on for thousands of years. You are taken back in time, and when I go there I feel as though I’m part of the life cycle.

The other place would be the northwestern part of Namibia, towards Skeleton Coast. It’s phenomenal. What really strikes me is that there are no fences. Even places in Botswana, such as the Moremi Reserve, are defined by a buffalo fence that separates humans from wildlife.

But in Namibia’s northwest there are no fences. There is this unique demonstration of how humans coexist with wild animals, and that is precious. There’s a sense of continuity there.

A lot of the Himba people are continuing a way of life that’s hundreds and hundreds of years old. If I couldn’t die in Botswana, I’d be quite happy to spend the last years of my life there. That desert speaks!

Sadly, there are very few South African wildlife areas that would leap at me in the same way, beautiful as some of them are. I think of Pafuri in northern Kruger Park. It really is wonderful but sadly, for me, there’s a sense of claustrophobia because it’s so highly managed.

And who are some of the people in conservation who have inspired you?

I think the first person is Ian Player. I did my first Wilderness Leadership School trail in 1981 in Imfolozi. I found my spiritual home changed my life, that wilderness experience.

Prior to that I had lots of experience of watching animals from inside a motor car, behind the safety of a windscreen. But when you are walking and living in the bush as a guest, walking in silence, sitting around a fire through the night and listening to the sounds… It was profound, so I owe Ian Player and his friend, Magqubu Ntombela, a huge debt on that score.

Magqubu gave me a branch of the Ziziphus mucronata (buffalo thorn), saying this would tell me how to live my life. The forward-pointing thorn on the branch reminds us to think of future generations, and the one that points backwards reminds us not to forget where we’ve come from. I don’t know of a more simple yet profound philosophy. That’s my philosophy: never forget where you’ve come from. Learn how to say thank you, not just to your parents or grandparents. Where have you actually come from? Once you start getting into the whole field of evolutionary biology, you understand how much we need to be thankful for.

Another person who has inspired me is Ian Michler, a wilderness guide and conservation photojournalist and activist. We have worked very closely together. He is incredibly knowledgeable and a brilliant ornithologist. He’s extremely alert to animal behaviour, and is a great teacher.

Recently he’s been instrumental in exposing canned lion hunting in SA, in his new documentary, Blood Lions. Ian has immense courage and integrity.

There are other people I’m drawn to simply because of their dedication to what they are doing and their love of the wild. I think of characters like Chris Bakkes, Garth Owen-Smith and Margaret Jacobsohn in Namibia, working with communities and wildlife. These are giants of conservation.

Some of the Wilderness Leadership School guides, especially Mandla Buthelezi, also inspire me. Mandla has been around for a long time and he knows how to handle a wild animal. He is like Superman and Clark Kent. When he goes into the wilderness, the transformation is immense and his levels of awareness and knowledge are incredible.

Then there’s Karel “Pokkie” Benade, who is one of the finest trackers I’ve met. Yet he’s one of the most humble human beings. The pleasure I had while working with him at The Tracker Academy cannot be measured. I recently spent a week with him and his wife, Jeanette, who is the principal of the academy. He’s the main tracking mentor.

I’ll never forget the first time I met Pokkie, in 2010. It was in January, the height of summer. We went tracking in the veld. We picked up springbok spoor, and he said, “Ja, maar hierdie dier kom nie van die Karoo af nie”. And he was right. These springbok had been brought in from the Kalahari. Their tracks were just that little bit wider than those of the Karoo springbok. Amazing.

What do you admire most about the wilderness, and what do you miss about it when you’re away from it?

It’s very simple. Wilderness is part of the geography of my identity as a human being. That wildness is crucial for human sanity. Please note, I’m not talking about savagery, that which is raw and crude; I’m talking about that which is spontaneous, which is authentic.

Wildness on a psychological level is something that is untamable in us, thank God. But you can’t civilise it because it is civilised already in its own way. It is civil. I feel it. It’s in my blood. It’s part of my identity as a human being and without it I would die of a loneliness of spirit. I couldn’t put it any other way.

And spending time in wild places of Africa is a sort of homecoming. They are places of homecoming.

The internationally acclaimed film Blood Lions™ – Bred for the Bullet, has partnered with the Born Free Foundation to bring you the London premiere of the documentary.

The controversial feature will be screened on the 27th November at 19h00 at the Royal Geographical Society in London. For a small contribution of only £20 you can witness this groundbreaking film.

“Blood Lions joins other films, such as Gorillas in the Mist, Echo of the Elephants, The Cove, and Blackfish, which have truly influenced the way we interact with wild animals,” says Born Free Foundation president, Will Travers.

Lions bred for slaughter in South Africa is big business. The Blood Lions™ story is a compelling call to action to have these practices stopped. The documentary follows presenter, researcher and safari operator Ian Michler, and American hunter, Rick Swazey, on their journey to uncover the realities about the multimillion dollar predator breeding and canned lion hunting industries in South Africa.

“Being able to screen Blood Lions™ at the Royal Geographical Society with the Born Free Foundation as a partner is a great honour,” said Ian Michler. “The film and its messages continue to receive global attention, and this opportunity allows us to extend the discussion on a personal basis to include the British people and media.”

The Blood Lions™ team are implementing campaigns of awareness and action aimed at the general public, both local and international government and provincial decision-makers, the scientific and conservation community, the tourism industry, the professional hunting bodies, and the volunteer agencies. The team are also establishing two projects to feed funding into support for a Wild Lion Range Expansion Project and the NSPCA in South Africa.

“We are proud to partner with the Born Free Foundation for the UK premiere of our feature documentary in London later this month,” said Pippa Hankinson, the producer and driving force behind Blood Lions™. “The support that the film has received from across the United Kingdom has been phenomenal, and it is already playing a significant part in our campaign to create global awareness around the captive lion breeding industry in South Africa and to end the terrible exploitation of these lions.”

Andrew Venter, CEO of Wildlands and executive producer said:  “Blood Lions™ exposes the cons of lion breeding and hunting in South Africa. Over 900 lions are hunted each year, with 99% bred for the bullet. They are hand-reared by paying volunteers that believe they are saving ‘Africa’s lions’. Four days after their release from a life in captivity, they are considered wild and can then be shot by hunters looking for a guaranteed kill; or slaughtered for the lion bone trade to China. We have to stop this barbaric and fraudulent practise, and we believe that Blood Lions™ will help us do this. Creating awareness through this film across the world is an absolute honour, and Wildlands is very proud to be a part of this movement.”

Will Travers concludes by saying: “South Africa’s failure to address the canned hunting industry has emboldened those who make a living out of the death of lions bred, raised and slaughtered on a ‘no kill, no fee’ basis. The canned hunting industry is unnatural, unethical and unacceptable. It delivers compromised animal welfare and zero education. It undermines conservation and creates a moral vacuum now inhabited by the greed and grotesque self-importance of those who derive pleasure in the taking of life.Blood Lions™ lays bare the truth behind the canned hunting industry that, far from contributing to the future survival of the species, may in fact accelerate its extinction in the wild, leaving behind a trail littered with the rotting corpses of its helpless victims.”

To reserve your seats to view this groundbreaking film, please visit www.bornfree.org.uk/bloodlions. The screening at the Royal Geographical Society is located at: 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR (Exhibition Road entrance).

American hunters and SA’s Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) are meeting behind closed doors at a resort near Polokwane today to plan the future use of SA’s wildlife. The four day conference of The African Wildlife Consultative Forum, is being run jointly by DEA and Safari Club International, America’s biggest and most influential hunting fraternity .

From the agenda, African Wildlife Consultative Forum – 8 -12 Nov 2015 the gathering is clearly aimed at building an African pro-hunting lobby at the forthcoming meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) scheduled for Johannesburg next year.

There seems to be doubt, if not quiet deception, about who exactly is invited to the conference. The African Wildlife Consultative Forum is an offshoot of Safari Club International. But NGOs requesting access were emailed by DEA deputy director Mpho Tjiane saying ‘this is a Government meeting and is not open to the general public.’

Journalists requesting accreditation have been told that attendance is by invitation only and they’re not invited. There is no indication that deliberations will be made public.
‘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,’ said Karen Trendler of the NGO Working Wild. ‘Many conservation and response organisations will be affected by the various issues being discussed, as will broader South Africa, and it would be preferable to have wider representation.’

Ian Michler, who produced the film Blood Lions, questioned why a foreign a hunting club was playing such a significant role in deliberations about the sustainability of wildlife in Africa. ‘The agenda is clearly not only pro-hunting, but also seeks to raise doubts about the value of photo-tourism against hunting. It also appears to support those wishing to overturn the CITES ban on trade in rhino horn.

‘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.’
The first session kicked off with an address by professional hunting associations and presentations include issues around the trade of ivory and rhino horn, the role of sport hunting, the Vietnamese demand for rhino horn, import/export permits, the breeding of colour morphs for hunting and the value of hunting as opposed to photo-tourism.
DEA moderators are being assisted in every session by George Pangeti, an official of Safari Club International who was head of administration in the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management in Zimbabwe.

His online biography makes it clear that the African Wildlife Consultative Forum was created by Safari Club International to ‘discuss issues of sustainable wildlife management, sport hunting and benefit flow’ in Africa. It was also tasked to lobby CITES ‘in support of sustainable use, especially sport hunting, and trade in wildlife products.’

Following the recent death of Cecil the lion and a huge tusker in Zimbabwe, One Of Africa’s Biggest Elephants Was Just Killed By Trophy Hunters, trophy hunting has come under considerable pressure from governments and conservation organisations. Questions have been raised about whether trophy hunters are protectors of biodiversity, as they claim, providing funds and a reason to protect wild areas, or whether they are simply killers of wild animals?

Safari Club International has a large and wealthy membership keen to counter negative publicity about trophy hunting. The agenda at the Polokwane meeting makes it clear that they aim to convince African delegates to support trophy hunting and act as a bulwark against growing distaste among members of CITES.

The South African Governments enthusiastic support for this line of thinking, despite scientific studies, Big game hunting in West Africa, What is its contribution to conservation? which show that little money from hunting goes to communities and that killing the biggest and fittest animals, Why Killing a Bull Elephant With Big Tusks Hurts the Herd is detrimental to species, is of concern to many involved in genuine conservation.

EDEN to Addo, Ian Michler, and the Blood Lions team thank the good people of Plettenberg Bay for coming out to support the screening of the docuflick Blood Lions in Plett earlier this year.

Says Eden to Addo director and eco campaigner Ian Michler: “Given the size of Plett, the turnout was one of the largest to date and we are immensely grateful for the donations that have gone towards my trips to the States. Many thanks to everyone for all the support – it is hugely appreciated.”

Since that screening, Blood Lions has been seen in over 140 countries around the world. MSNBC launched the film across the USA in early October, and Discovery Channel has been screening it on every other continent. By the end of the year, the film will have been seen in over 180 countries.

This week, Ian heads to Colombia, the European Parliament, and Finland for screenings and presentations. He is then joined by producer Pippa Hankinson and executive producer Andrew Venter, for screenings at the Royal Geographic Society in London and The Explorers Club in New York. These initiatives are all aimed at having legislation changed.

Eden to Addo is also pleased to announce two additional local screenings: at Pezula in Knysna on December 10, and at the White House in Plettenberg Bay on December 28.

Cape Town – 33 rescued lions now await the flight to South Africa after a life of brutality in the circuses of South America. The Independent UKdescribes the now playful life these rescued lions are living compared to a horrific one, we would never wish on our worst enemy.

24 lions have been rescued from Peruvian circuses, reports the Independent UK. Animal Defenders International (ADI) seized the lions with the help of local authorities. The British charity has campaigned for Peru’s national 2011 national ban.

The Independent UK reports the lions endured years of abuse under the Peruvian circus. According the paper, they animals were fed chicken feet and only left their small cages for parading for the circuses.

In November, the lions will be joined with nine other rescued lions from Colombia on a chartered plane to a South African sanctuary. This will be the largest airlift of lions in aviation history reports the Independent UK. According to ADI president Jan Creamer, many lions have had the claws extracted, undeveloped muscles and broken teeth, because of abuse. Some lions are blind.

These great cats are now enjoying things all cats do in a temporary rescue home in Lima, Peru. Compared to the domestic house cat, lions have similar taste in toys and snacks – although varying in quantity. A chew on a traffic cone or a treat from massive bag of catnip may be lived in a matter of seconds, but the lions are being nursed back to health.

 The Independent reported that the lions lack the crucial hunting skills they need to survive in the wild.

The lions will move to Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary in Limpopo.

Earlier this year Emoya pledged a cry to help 33 lions in need of a magic carpet to South Africa. The lions have been rescued and are being micro chipped for tracking, reports the Independent.

A campaign around the new documentary film, Blood Lions, has gone global, threatening to bring down South Africa’s lucrative captive lion breeding industry.

London comedian Matt Lacey rocketed to fame when his Gap Yah sketch, which poked fun at posh young Brits volunteering in the developing world, received over five million YouTube views. But when Lacey embarked on his own volunteer experience at Ukutula lion-park in South Africa, he was rather more earnest. Writing in the UK’s Daily Telegraph, Lacey described Ukutula as “dedicated to conservation and research”. The lion cubs he cared for were “cute and playful” while the older lions “soon lose their tameness, enabling them to be released into the wild”. Four large males in a separate pen, “were due to be sent off to Congo to help replenish the stocks of lions there that had been devastated by war”.

Sadly and ironically, Matt Lacey was conned. Like thousands of other well-meaning volunteers, he bought the story that his efforts helped conserve lions. Yet according to leading conservation NGOs such as Wildlands, Endangered Wildlife Trust and Panthera, captive lion-breeding centres do nothing for conservation. Indeed, not a single captive-bred, hand-reared lion has been successfully released into the wild. Instead, every day in South Africa, two to three captive-bred, effectively tame, lions are killed in canned lion hunts. And helping to fuel this industry are thousands of eager volunteers who unwittingly pay +-US$1,000 per week to look after lion cubs that are bred for the bullet. The volunteers believe they are orphans, yet the cubs are deliberately removed soon after birth, forcing their mothers back into oestrus and ensuring that they become continuous breeding machines. The scale of the industry is huge, with some 4,000 lion cubs born in captive breeding facilities in South Africa each year.

In 1997, ITV’s The Cook Report exposed South Africa’s canned lion hunting industry, eliciting a wave of outrage that prompted government to ban the practice, determining that captive-bred lions must fend for themselves for 24 months before being hunted. However, in 2010 the SA Predator Breeding Association won a High Court Appeal to overturn this legislation and today canned lion hunting is legal, generating some US$10 million per year. This, coupled with exponential growth in the volunteerism sector, has created a highly lucrative industry, with lion breeding centres generating up to US$100,000 per month from volunteer fees alone.

More recently the massive growth in Asian demand for lion bones (used as a proxy for tiger bones in the making of tiger bone wine) has created yet another revenue stream – an estimated 1,000 lions are now killed annually for the burgeoning lion bone trade. With three major sources of revenue, the lion breeding industry has grown exponentially – today there are 6,000-7,000 lions in cages in South Africa, representing a quarter of all lions remaining in Africa.

Over the past few weeks however, there have been growing signs that the industry’s hey-dey may be over. The shocking new South African documentary film, Blood Lions, hit global television screens on MSNBC and Discovery Channel in early October, unleashing a storm of outrage. The social media tsunami that ensued not only crashed the Blood Lions website but triggered a domino effect that could prove to be unstoppable.

In the few weeks since Blood Lions went live on international screens:

– #BloodLionsSa has become one of South Africa’s top twitter trends, with hundreds of angry messages calling for a ban on captive lion breeding. The tweet storm included messages from Hollywood actors Ellen DeGeneres and Ian Somerhalder who sucked in millions of fans, while Facebook and twitter sites such as Volunteers in Africa Beware, #talktotheclaws, #WheresRicky, and #BredForTheBullet were bombarded.

– A petition was launched on advocacy site www.change.org, calling on RealGap, the Association of British Tour Operators and TUI to stop sending volunteers to lion breeding programmes, garnering thousands of signatures. It warned of possible legal action against RealGap and its holding company, TUI, by misled volunteers.

–  Global hotel group Marriott found itself in the middle of a tweet storm over its Protea Ranch Resort and Lion Park, one of 116 hotels acquired when Marriott bought the Protea Hospitality Group last year.

– Johannesburg’s Lion Park, one of South Africa’s top tourist attractions, announced that it would stop tourists interacting with lion cubs from 2016.

– In the USA and Europe, several tourism companies cancelled programmes or diverted groups that were destined for lion encounter programmes, while South African Tourism board member Colin Bell warned of the captive lion industry’s damaging impact on “Brand South Africa”.

– The Australian Government implemented a ban on the import of wildlife trophies, with Federal Labor Member Melissa Parke calling predator breeding and canned hunting “a moral failure on the part of the human race”.

– Fair Trade Tourism announced it would tighten its certification criteria for volunteer programmes – aiming to promote best practice, safeguard the safety of children, animals and volunteers, and eradicate false marketing.

Dr Luke Hunter, president of the global wild cat conservation organisation Panthera, this week described the captive lion breeding industry as “ethically miserable” and said: “The bottom line is the lion encounter industry does nothing to conserve wild lions.” Kelly Marnewick, head of Endangered Wildlife Trust’s carnivore conservation programme, said: “Captive breeding is not a conservation recommendation for carnivores. We are extremely concerned at the number of facilities holding predators for financial gain.” And Dr Andrew Venter, CEO of Wildlands, accused the captive lion breeding industry of doing damage on multiple fronts and added: “We will not rest until this industry has been completely transformed.”

Following the premier screening of Blood Lions at the Durban International Film Festival, Hermann Meyeridricks, president of the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa, wrote to members: “The tide of public opinion is turning strongly against this form of hunting. Even within our own ranks, respected voices are speaking out publicly against it…. I have come to believe that, as it stands, our position on lion hunting is no longer tenable.” The South African Predator Breeding Association has scrambled into action, approaching North West University to investigate the value of the captive lion industry in preparation of its defence.

The cat, so to speak, is firmly out of the bag.

 

Waterberg, South Africa  – Something moves in the thicket. Hunter Stan Burger and his tracker approach quietly, set the rifle up on a tripod to ensure its stability, and take aim.

A shot rings out. Moments later, the two South Africans emerge from the bush, carrying the carcass of a bush pig covered with coarse yellowish hair, a wound bleeding in its neck.

“A clean kill,” Burger says. “He was eating grass, and he was stone dead the moment the bullet hit him. Fortunately, the wind held for us” – coming from a direction which did not allow the prey to smell human presence.

The hunt took place in northern Limpopo province in an area measuring 2 700 hectares, one in approximately 10 000 private game ranches in South Africa, where wealthy foreigners pay thousands of dollars to hunt some of the continent’s most emblematic animals.

The trophy hunting industry run by professionals like Burger is worth more than 1 billion rand (77 million dollars) annually, according to government figures.

But after the killings of GPS-collared lion Cecil and of an unusually large elephant in neighbouring Zimbabwe sparked international outrage, and amid reports that some of the trophy hunters in South Africa target half-tame lions, the reputation of the industry has suffered.

It is “morally indefensible” to hunt animals for trophies, lion rights campaigner Linda Park said. “It is a relic from colonial days, with the great white hunter.”

Several airlines have announced that they will no longer transport big-game trophies, while Australia banned the import of lion trophies and the European Union toughened restrictions on trophy imports earlier this year.

Foreign hunters exported about 44 000 trophies from South Africa in 2013, according to the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa (PHASA).

The vast majority of the hunters come from the United States, while other markets include Europe, Australia and Japan.

The prices of the animals range from $400 (about R5 304 @ R13,26/$) for an impala antelope to up to $80 000 (about R1.06 million @ R13.26/$) for a rhinoceros.

Many hunters buy a seven-day package allowing them to hunt five animals for $7 000 to $8 000, according to Burger, who will take up the presidency of PHASA in November.

Those aiming for the “big five” – lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros – may pay $200 00 for 21 days.

The hunters often stay in luxury tents at game lodges from where they go out in four-wheel drive vehicles, scanning the landscape for game to stalk on foot with their guide.

When the animals the hunter wants are not available on the game ranch, the organizer may take him or her to South African provincial wildlife reserves, or to Zimbabwe or Mozambique.

The US dentist who killed Cecil only wounded him with an arrow, allowing him to flee and suffer for 40 hours before he was found and finished off.

South African trophy hunting organizers admit that some of their clients need to be trained at shooting, but say that many are experienced hunters.

“They come here for an African adventure they have long dreamed of,” Burger said.

The industry says the high fees paid by the hunters have rehabilitated natural habitats, allowing the numbers of wild animals in South Africa to increase. Game ranches now contain an estimated 16 million animals on 20 million hectares, according to PHASA.

The industry also says it gives direct employment to more than 100 000 people.

The meat of hunted animals is often donated to ranch employees or local communities, while ranch owners prevent poaching by hiring rangers and by encouraging locals to see wildlife as an economic asset, according to PHASA.

Such arguments do not convince animal rights campaigners.

Ainsley Hay from South Africa’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says the rise in numbers of “animals confined to small unnatural camps or captive situations … is not a true reflection of an increase in biodiversity.”

Trophy hunting has not reduced poaching in South Africa, while “merely giving communities the meat and offcuts from trophies is not benefiting them in the long run,” Hay said by e-mail.

Campaigners also dispute statements by hunters that they mainly target older animals.

Trophy hunting “is unnecessary and not in the interest of the individual animals or the species as a whole,” Hay said, calling for a ban on the practice.

Such views however get no support from South Africa’s government. Trophy hunting makes a “substantial contribution” to the economy and “promotes private investment in wildlife,” said Magdel Boshoff from the Department of Environmental Affairs.

“Hunting is not just about killing,” but about the experience of being in the wild, Burger said, criticizing hunters who pose for photographs with their foot on the dead animal.

“The life of something has just been taken,” he said after shooting the bush pig. “You have to show a little respect.”

HOEDSPRUIT – International blockbuster Blood Lions roared into Hoedspruit on Tuesday night to a large and enthralled audience and will echo across the world for some time to come.

The documentary exposing the large scale commercial breeding and canned hunting industry in South Africa shocked many and confirmed the worst fears of others with an in depth investigation, revealing interviews and powerful imagery. The viewing at the Southern Cross School was attended by nearly l50 concerned residents and visitors and was followed by an enlightening discussion with the documentary makers. The panel lead consultant and wildlife activist Ian Michler: producer Pippa Hankinson, described by dailymaverick.com as consisted of ‘inspirational’; and the executive producer Andrew Venter, who is also CEO for the Wildlands Conservation Trust.

Of the estimated l0 000 lions in South Africa over 7 000 are on private Farms specifically bred to be killed. The huge volunteering industry where generally younger foreigners pay exorbitant fees to “rehabilitate orphaned lions” is exposed as one of the cruelest cons in conservation. Allegedly most “sanctuaries” that allow petting and contact or walking with lion are not rehabilitating them for the wild but for canned (confined by small enclosures or due to the lions habituation) hunting.

The discussion panel made it clear that legitimate conservationists are campaigning to increase the range and protect current habitats for wild lions.

A telling point of the film was Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom’s statement that canned killing has already damaged brand South Africa and as a nation “We need to decide if it something we are proud of’. The Environment Minister was not available for a screening in spite of multiple offers, but several of her senior departmental and ministerial staff did view the documentary some weeks ago, The Minister however continues publically to deny that canned hunting takes place.

This will set up an intense community and cabinet debate about putting a R94 Billon tourism industry at risk for the sake of a R122 million canned lion killing business.

Australia has already banned the import of hunting trophies. With several European countries making sounds in support of joining that ban to end this cruel and unnecessary trade.

Pieter Potgieter se veldervarings P en natuurlewebetrokkenheid is uniek in verskeie opsigte. Ek kan woorde gebruik om hom te beskryf soos “onverstoorbaar” en “outentiek”. Maar selfs dan – en hier sal al sy vriende en kennisse saamstem – het ek nog nie heeltemal reg laat geskied aan sy menswees en sy bydraes tot die georganiseerde jag- en wildbedryf in Suid-Afrika nie. Maar kom ek begin by die begin, en met verloop van sy storie sal ook die lesers wat hom nie ken nie, verstaan waarom ek hom so aan julle voorstel. En waarom ek hom klassifiseer as een van die lewende legendes van die jagveld.

Namibie – sy wéreld

 Pieter Potgieter (of alombekend as Pottie) is ‘n afstammeling van die Dorslandtrekkers en latere Angolaboere, wat hul in 1928 in die destydse Suidwes-Afrika gaan hervestig het. Al sal almal nie noodwendig met my saamstem nie, was dit dalk hierdie erflikheid en omgewingswerklikhede (die “argetipe”, soos Carl Jung dit beskryf het) wat die oorsprong was van die eienskappe wat ek hierbo genoem het. Hy is gebore in die Gobabisdistrik en het in 1959 in Otjiwarongo gematrikuleer. Dat hierdie hartland lewenslank deel van sy menswees sal bly, raak vir my duideliktoe ek oor ‘n soveelste koffie vir hom vra hoe gereeld hy nog daar kom. Rustig en berekend haal hy sy Namibiese identiteitsdokument uit en sé met ‘n flikker in sy oe dat hy pas twee weke gelede teruggekom het van sy derde besoek aan sy wéreld vir die afgelope jaar (en dit net ng die “installering” van ‘n pasaangeer).

As laerskoolseun het hy begin kleinwild jag: tarentale, fisante, varke, steenbokke en duikers saam met sy hond, Vanger. In die periode tussen grootword in die Gobabis-omgewing en skool klaarmaak in Otjiwarongo, was die hele bos en die sandveld sy jaggebied; hier het hy sy liefde (lees “verslawing”), kennis en respek vir die veld gevestig. Pottie vertel my van sy pa se Herero-werker, Claudeus. Pottie en sy Itimiititi1i van 30 jaar, Bun Malan, in die TOT-AS Kalahari op soek na gemsbokke (Die Herero’s het die manier gehad om sulke klassieke name te gee soos Festus, Josephine, Victoria, ens. Dit kom van die Duitsers af- hul grootste vyande, maar ook hul grootste rolmodelle.) Claudeus het hom in sy kinderjare oortuig dat sommige steenbokke getoor is: Jy kan op 25 m ‘n punt-22 se magasyn op hom leegskiet maarjy sal hom nie raak nie. Hy sal jou net met sy groot oe staan en aankyk asofjy van ‘n ander planeet af kom. Gelukkig het die eerste koedoebul (met ‘n oopvisier-30.06) en al die anderwild oor ‘n leeityd sedertdien nie hierdie jinx gehad nie.

Die “elandskool”

Die afwesigheid van die Jinx is nou behalwe vir die elande van die Omaheke. Die Omaheke is die Hererowoord vir die sandwéreld oos van Otjiwarongo en noord van Gobabis. Die habitat daar is hoofsaaklik digte vaalbos en sandgeelhout, en dit is die gunstelinggebied vir daardie wéreld se groot (en slim) elande. Hier was Pottie vir ‘n hele paar jaar in die “elandskool”, so benoem deur Eddie van Wyk, die eienaar van die plaas Panorama, wat geleé is waar die Waterberg se rug in die Kalahari-sand verdwyn.

“My ervaring met die elande van die Omaheke het oor ‘n aantal jare gestrek; soms suksesvol, ander kere onsuksesvol. Na elke onsuksesvolle jag, waarin ek myle agter die elande aangestap het sonder om hond / eland haaraf te maak, sou die boer vir my sé: ‘l-YK my oom was weer vandag in die elandskool.'”

 “Watter lesse het ek in hierdie skool geleer?

• Use enough gun! (met erkenning aan Robert Ruark). Jy skiet op 2O tot 5O m, dikwels deur digte bos waar jy net-net ‘n stukkie van die eland deur die bos en blare sien. Daarom is ‘n .375 ideaal. Moe nie met jou meerkatgeweer daar probeer eland jag nie.
• Moenie net loop en soek soos jy met rooibokke en koedoes maak nie. Jy loop jou vas in koeitroppe wat jou sien lank voor jy hulle sien. Hulle het rondomverdediging, soos ons in die infanterieskool geleer het. Soek ‘n groot bul se spoor by die water en loop daarop tot jy sy warm tekens begin kry. Dan weet jy hy is naby en met geduld kan jy ‘n skoot op hom inkry – partykeer net ‘n stukkie geelbruin vel deur die vaalbos.
• As jy eers ‘n elandbul laat wegkom het, kry jy hom nie weer nie. As jy hom verras, spring hy met ‘n vaart weg, maar gou begin hy draf en dan stap hy. Daarna draai hy van sy rigting af en gaan staan so 5O tot 100 m links of regs van sy vlugspoor onder ‘n boom en hou sy spoor dop. Jy sal hom nie kry nie. Hy wag vir jou. Ek het eenkeer meer as 1O km so agter ‘n elandbul aangestap. Die boer se kommen taar toe ek gedaan by die huis kom: ‘Les nommer een in die elandskool. As jy ‘n elandbul eenkeer ge-spook het, los hom en gaan soek vir jou ‘n ander een.’
• Op oop plase, waar wildwerende heinings nie hul bewegings aan WILD & JAG NOVEMBER 2015 bande lé nie, word elande se bewegings hoofsaaklik deur die maan bepaal: drinktye en weitye. En volmaan is vir hulle een of ander magic. Hulle trek weg – nugter weet waarheen. Een dag is daar nog 200 elande op die plaas. As dit begin volmaan raak, is hulle weg. ‘n Week later is hulle weer terug.

“Ek kan nie sé dat ek al die lesse goed geleer het nie, maar een ding is seker: Daar in die Omaheke is ‘n elandbul ‘n formidabele uitdaging. Een dag verspot maklik om te skiet, maar meesal sit hy jou ore aan.”

 In die Khomas Hochland

Op my vraag oor ander besonderse ervarings wat hy in die jagveld gehad het, vertel hy verder: “Gelukkig was ek darem nie net in die elandskool nie. ‘n Ander stuk jagervaring van my lé in die Khomas Hochland – daardie bergwéreld wes van Windhoek tot teen die Namib. Tsammams is die naam van die 11 OOO ha oop plaas van Moolman van Zyl. As jy ‘n gelyk plek in daardie wéreld wil hii, moet jy dit self maak. Koedoes, gemsbokke en Hartmann se bergsebras – en natuurlik luiperds – is daar genoeg.

“Om in daardie berge met die voet te jag, is nogal ‘n uitdaging. Kan jy jou voorstel hoe dit is om van een berghang na die ander een te skiet? Vervolg Cdr 73 ” Vervolg Ek het vier jaar agtermekaar probeer om ‘n sebrahings daar te skiet (benewens die koedoes en gemsbokke), maar ek sal volgende jaar weer moet probeer. Die een wat daar in die Khuri Kaub (‘n diep kloof wat deur die plaas loop) bly, het my nommer op.”

 Nou sal lesers begin wonder hoe dit kom dat hier nog niks geskryf is oor buffels, leeus en olifante nie: Hierdie reeks verskyn immers onder die opskrif “Lewende legendes van die jagveld” en dit bring meesal die beeld van die Groot Vyf na vore. Die rede is eintlik voor die hand liggend – daar is persone wat op ander wyses bydraes tot die jag- en wildbedryf lewer en gelewer het wat van hulle ook “legendes” in eie reg maak. Een so ‘n persoon is Pieter JJS Potgieter.

Tipies beskeie sé hy dan ook dat hy beslis nie daarop aanspraak kan maak dat hy ‘n wafferse bydrae tot die jagbedryf gemaak het nie. Hy het ook nie wonderlike Afrika-jagervarings gehad met olifante, buffels en leeus nie. Toe hy op die toneel gekom het, was daardie era al grootliks verby, met die uitsondering van professionele jagters en trofeeversamelaars (hoofsaaklik van oorsese lande). PJ Schoeman het darem sy jong kop vol jagstories gepraat en toe hy Engels kon lees, het hy Robert Ruark gelees en baie by hom geleer.

 “Ek moes tevrede wees met koedoes en gemsbokke en elande wat nou nie juis stot vir epiese jagstories oplewer nie,” sé hy rustig dog sonder apologie. “Die blywende waarde van ‘n jagervaring lé mos nie in hoe groot jou prooi was of hoeveel jy daarvoor betaal het nie, maar eerder in die uitdaging wat hy aan jou as jagter gestel het en hoe jy jou eie beperkinge moes oorkom om suksesVol te wees,” verduidelik hy filosofies.

 Bydraes tot jag- en wildbewarings bedryf

Pieter Potgieter hoef nie beskeie of apologeties te wees oor sy bydraes tot die jag- en wildbewaringsbedryf in Suid-Atrika nie. Hier volg die posisies en instellings waarbinne hy sy bydraes gelewer het en steeds lewer: .

• Stigterslid en eerste voorsitter van die Hartbees Jagtersvereniging in Potchefstroom .
• Visepresident (opleiding) van SA Jagters- en Wildbewaringsvereniging (SAJWV) .
• Adjunkpresident van SAJWV
• President van SAJWV (2007-2010)
• President van SA Roofdiertelers vereniging (2011 tot tans).

Ek kry Pottie so ver om uit te brei oor sy betrokkenheid, wat hy wel doen, maar onmiddellik sé hy dat ‘n mens moet onthou “dat dit altyd as deel van ‘n span was waarvoor ander ouens in die SAJWV eintlik die krediet moet kry”.

Debat oor etiese jag

Een besondere bydrae wat hy gelewer het, was om die debat oor etiese jag te fasiliteer terwyl hy president van die SAJWV was. Ek haal hom woordeliks aan:

“In die jagomgewing kry ‘n mens die puriste en die realiste. Vir die puriste is slegs klassieke walk and stalk-jay egte jag. As jy dit nie doen nie, is jy nie ‘n etiese jagter nie maar ‘n skieter. Die realiste daarenteen sé: Loop en bekruip is natuurlik die klassieke manier van jag, maar daar is ook ander geldige jagmetodes wat deur die terrein en die plantegroei gedikteer word.

“Ek het hierdie debat probeer fasiliteer toe ek by die SAJWV was. Mettertyd is ‘n paar eenvoudige waarhede uitgesorteer:

• Jy kan in die Kalahari of die Namib of die Karoo stap en jag, maar dan moet jy gesond en fiks wees en jy sal miskien een bok per dag huis toe bring. Bale min jagters kan dit doen en dit is meesal nie meer aanvaarbaar in die tye waarin ons tans leef nie – nie vir die wildplaaseienaar nie en ook nie vir die jagter nie.
• Die werklikheid is dat bakkiejag en voorsitjag verantwoordelik is vir ten minste 80 persent van alle jag in Suid-Afrika.
• Daar was toe nogal konsensus dat die konsep ‘etiese jag’ nie meer ‘n baie bruikbare een is in ‘n tydvak van etiese relativisme /diversiteit nie. Wie se etiek is nou eintlik die geldende een? As dit deel van my kultuur is om met honde te jag, wie is jy om vir my te sé dit is oneties?

 “Die uitkoms van die debat was dat daar besluit is om eerder te praat van ‘verantwoordelike jag’, wat veel makliker is om te definieer en toe te pas. Die jag is naamlik verantwoordelik wanneer:

• dit wettig is .
• die prooi met een goed geplaasde skoot gedood word
• die veiligheid van al die betrokke partye verseker is.”

Herstrukturering van die SAJWV

Sy betrokkenheid by die SAJWV het saamgeval met ‘n fase van uitbreiding van die organisasie. Van ‘n hoofsaaklik Pretoria-gebaseerde organisasie het dit in ‘n baie kort tyd tot ‘n organisasie met ‘n nasionale voetspoor ontwikkel. Die ledetal het eksponensieel gegroei en takke het oor die hele land tot stand gekom. Die bestaande konstitusie van die vereniging was net nie meer goed genoeg om die else en uitdagings van die nuwe situasie te hanteer nie. Die vereniging se uitvoerende komitee het toe besluit om ‘n omvattende herstrukturering te doen.

Dit was Pottie se voorreg om daardie proses te help bestuur. Die nuwe strukture is van 2005 af ingefaseer en dit het ook gepaardgegaan met die vestiging van ‘n bepaalde jagkultuur, wat ‘n sterk saambindende effek op die vereniging gehad het elemente soos ‘n jagterslied (geskryf en gekomponeer deur Ben Bierman), taklogo‘s wat die identiteit van elke tak weerspieél, en ‘n trofeesaal waarop elke lid trots kan wees. En natuurlik ‘n bestuurskultuur wat deelnemend en deursigtig is en wat lede op die grondvlak bemagtig om hul eie ding te doen. Jagtersopleiding is ontwikkel tot sekerlik die beste in die land. Die SAJWV is vandag een van die grootste en bes bestuurde nieregeringsorganisasies in die land – danksy die toegewyde span waarvan Pottie deel kon wees.

Pogings om groter eenheid in die jagbedryf teweeg te bring

Die toneel van jagorganisasies in Suid-Afrika was van die begin af gefragmenteer. Elke streek het sy eie jagorganisasie gehad. In 1981 is eenheid bewerkstellig met die stigting van Chasa (Suid-Afrikaanse Jagterskonfederasie). Die eenheid was egter maar van korte duur. In 2004 het dit die slagoffer geword van die groot-visin-die-klein-dammetjie-sindroom toe die SAJWV geskors is.

 Gedurende sy termyn as president is daar ernstig probeer om die eenheid te herstel. Die beginsels van ‘n konstitusie vir ‘n herenigde Chasa (weliswaar onder ‘n ander naam) is aanvaar, maar dit het nooit tot voltooiing gekom nie.

Agterna beskou dink Pottie dat dit goed is so. Daar was naamlik nooit ‘n dwingende rede vir strukturele eenheid tussen die verskillende jagorganisasies nie. Vandag word daar funksioneel saamgewerk in Hawasa (‘n koukus van organisasies in die wild- en jagbedryf) oor gemeenskaplike sake sonder dat die identiteit van die verskillende jagorganisasies in die gedrang kom.

Betrokkenheid by die leeubedryf

Na sy uittrede as president SAJWV in 2010 het die leeuboere, wat pas hul hofsaak teen die minister van omgewingsake gewen het, hom gevra om hulle te help om die leeubedryf op ‘n volhoubare grondslag gevestig te kry. Hoewel die leeubedryf toe al goed gereguleer was, was daar groot leemtes in wetstoepassing. Sekere operateurs het die bedryf voortdurend om die verkeerde redes in die kalklig gestel deur hul onwettige en onverantwoordelike optrede. Daarmee het hulle as’t ware die “propagandastof” op ‘n skinkbord vir die diereregte-aktiviste aangebied. Die film Blood Lions is die jongste voorbeeld daarvan. Volgens Pottie kon die provinsiale omgewingsake-owerhede dit nooit uitgeroei kry nie, veral nie in die Noordwesprovinsie nie.

Die SA Fioofdiertelersvereniging het toe besluit om self norme en standaarde vir die jag van leeus wat in gevangenskap geteel is, te ontwikkel en om sy lede sover te kry om dit vrywillig toe te pas. ‘n Stelsel van akkreditasie is ontwikkel om leeujagplase, wat volgens die reels speel, te identifiseer en hulle as leeujagbestemmings van wéreldgehalte te bemark.

Aldus Pottie: “So hoop ons om markkragte te gebruik om die skelms en die kansvatters uit die leeujagbedryf te druk. Net die tyd sal leer of ons daarin gaan slaag. Dis ‘n wedloop teen tyd.”

Ten slotte

Ek het die voorreg gehad om ‘n paar keer saam met Pottie en ander jagmaats gemsbokke en springbokke in die Koés /Aroab-omgewing te gaan jag. Dit was wonderlike ervarings, des te meer so vanweé Pottie se natuurlike leidinggewing. Sy fyn humor om die kampvuur is afgewissel met toegewyde erns wanneer ons deur die strate en oor die duine met die Cruiser gekreun het. Sy twee gunsteling-, pasgemaakte gewere is sy .25-06 en sy .300 H&H. Dit was besonders as Pottie jou toegelaat het om met die .25-06 en handgelaaide rondtes kopskoot-springbokke op lang afstande te Iaat val.

Dit dan is Pieter Potgieter- die mens wat hom as akademikus, dekaan en bestuursleier onderskei het, strategies kan dink en suksesVol mense met hom kan saamneem na ‘n gemeenskaplike visie ten opsigte van die jag- en wildbewaringsbedryf in Suid-Afrika. Ook en veral die mens-mens wat aangedaan kan raak oor die wonder van die natuur en oor hoe hy sy tienerkleinseun Aldrich, wat in Texas bly, sy eerste springbok in Leonardville se wéreld kon Iaat skiet. Maar eers nadat Aldrich daar ver moes leer fyn skiet en die geskandeerde telkaarte aan oupa moes stuur voordat hy toegelaat is om sy eerste bok te skiet. En toe kry die mannetjie dit sommer reg om nege kopskote met tien patrone te skiet!