Media Articles – Page 12

Wildlife experts spurn invite to serve on environmental panel, indicating bias and co-option

This is an excerpt from an article written by Don Pinnock and published online by Daily Maverick on 15 July, 2020

Three people have declined to serve on a government panel. That’s not exactly news. But, given who they are and the panel on to which they were invited, their refusal has exposed major fault lines in South Africa’s treatment of wild animals.

The high-level panel was set up by the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Barbara Creecy to review the policies, legislation and management regarding the breeding, hunting, trade and general handling of elephants, lions, rhinos and leopards. It was appointed in 2019 and has to report to Creecy by November 2020. Members were required to sign a confidentiality undertaking – it’s deliberations are secret.

Shortly after the panel was formed, fault lines began to appear, soon to open into an almost unbridgeable canyon of dislike and distrust. The first shots were from conservationists claiming that the panel was hopelessly biased in its composition.

There are some traditional leaders on the panel, a few biltong farmers, several scientists and (initially) one animal welfare specialist. But most members are either hunters, game farmers and advocates of international wildlife trade. There are no vets, epidemiologists, climate change experts or ecotourism representatives.

Although supposedly serving in their personal capacities, some panel members have publicly proclaimed that they represent their organisations.

How, it was asked, could they possibly come to conclusions that could, for example, close down captive breeding or canned hunting of wildlife and vote against the export of ivory, rhino horn, lion bones or live animals? Who on the panel would propose non-consumptive alternatives or could understand the long-term effects of inbreeding or zoonotic transfer of disease?

Through the panel’s wall of secrecy have filtered whispers of acrimony and personal attacks on dissenting voices. “Greenies” are not tolerated. The only welfare specialist, Karen Trendler, resigned citing “personal reasons”.

Blood Lions to host free webinar series

This is an excerpt from an article written by Anita Froneman and published online by Getaway on 3 July, 2020

A documentary feature film called Blood Lions shook the world when it exposed South Africa’s cruel canned hunting industries.

‘Currently, anywhere between 8 000 and 10 000 predators, possibly more, are being held in small enclosures on almost 300 captive predator facilities across the country,’ they say on their website.

Other predators including cheetah, leopards and tigers are often also the victims of this lucrative trade.

The organisation works hard to put an end to this exploitation through various campaigns to create awareness and educate the public.

Now, Blood Lions is launching a series of webinars that will unpack different elements which make up the captive predator breeding industry in South Africa and will be hosted by various specialists from the conservation sector.

The first session takes place next week Thursday July 9, and then every second week thereafter.

‘Unfair Game’ reveals the cruel reality of canned lions

This is an excerpt from an article written by Don Pinnock and published online by Daily Maverick on 19 June, 2020.

Almost without exception, every single captive-bred lion in South Africa faces a miserable fate – petted and played with as a cub, then becoming the target in a canned hunt or ending up being slaughtered for the bone trade.

As Environment Minister Barbara Creecy’s questionable Advisory Committee determines future policies regarding the consumptive use of our wild animals, it’s been handed a devastating book by British philanthropist Lord Ashcroft on the ongoing cruelty of South Africa’s captive-bred lion industry.

The final chapter of this book on the horrors of captive lion breeding in South Africa and published this week describes a deeply worrying interaction.

In an elaborate two-year undercover operation funded by Lord Michael Ashcroft, former Special Forces and security operatives documented in detail the names, places, cruel practices and trafficking routes of the industry. All the information was handed to Colonel Johan Jooste, who heads the SAPS wildlife unit. He interrogated Ashcroft’s team members, threatened to arrest them and handed it back.

China raises protection for pangolins by removing scales from medicine list

This is an excerpt from an article written by Michael Standaert and published online by The Guardian on 09 June, 2020.

Campaigners hope the move will help end global trade in the scaly anteater, identified as a possible host for Covid-19.

Pangolin scales have been removed from an official 2020 listing of ingredients approved for use in traditional Chinese medicine in a move lauded by animal protection groups as a key step in stamping out trade in the scaly anteater, the world’s most trafficked mammal.

As many as 200,000 pangolins are consumed each year in Asia for their scales and meat and more than 130 tonnes of scales, live and dead animals were seized in cross-border trafficking busts last year, a figure estimated to represent up to 400,000 animals, according to conservation group WildAid.

Trade in all eight species of pangolin are protected under international law and three of the four native to Asia are included on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered species, including the functionally extinct Chinese pangolin.

Beijing draws up plans to outlaw criticism of traditional Chinese medicine

This is an excerpt from an article written by Helen Davidson and published online by The Guardian on 03 June, 2020.

Draft legislation could lead to criminal prosecution for smearing medicinal approach backed by Xi Jinping.

Authorities in Beijing are drafting legislation to outlaw criticism of traditional medicine in the Chinese capital.

A notice published by health authorities called for public submissions on the draft, which would ban any individual or organisation from making false or exaggerated claims about traditional Chinese medicine, or using it for illegitimate interests or to damage public interest.

It would potentially lead to the criminal prosecution of people who criticise traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) or “cause trouble or disturb public order” by breaching the law.

The move comes amid a broader campaign by China to promote TCM at home and abroad. In March state media said TCM therapies had been playing a “critical role” in the prevention and treatment of Covid-19, and some were sent to other nations as part of China’s international aid.

You can look, but you better not touch

This is an excerpt from an article written by Melanie van Zyl and published online by Getaway on 28 May, 2020.

Captive wildlife attractions and animal interactions remain a controversial issue, but the industry is changing, and it’s mostly thanks to tourists.

Growing awareness has visitors calling for conscious tourism, and to help them make informed choices the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA) has released a toolkit of new guidelines to ethical animal encounters, which advise tourists not to endorse facilities that offer human-animal interactions, animal performances, or activities that involve unnatural animal behaviour.

Other tourism bodies and operators are also taking a stance. TripAdvisor has ended ticket sales to attractions that breed cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) or ‘continue to contribute to their captivity’. Airbnb has launched its own ethical experiences on their popular adventure platform, and G Adventures offers travellers a guilt-free guide to wildlife interactions.

Escaped Limpopo lions found

This is an excerpt from an article written by Anita Froneman and published online by Getaway on 13 May, 2020

All seven lions that have escaped from Ingogo Safaris on Monday night [11 May], have been located and captured.

The Limpopo Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET) posted on Twitter that their team, working with a veterinarian, was able to capture and dart the three lions by yesterday around 3pm followed by the remaining four by 6pm.

According to LEDET MEC Thabo Andrew Mokone, the essential workers did an outstanding job in capturing all seven stray lions within 11 hours of being on the scene. The South African Police Services reported the stray lions to the department yesterday [12 May].

‘The lions escaped through one of the gates at the facility which was broken into. The department will allow the facility to conduct its own investigations into the matter as they suspect sabotage,’ LEDET said on Twitter.

Concern has been raised over the health condition of the lions, however. ‘Several captive bred lions that escaped from their cages at Walter Slippers’ Ingogo Safari in Limpopo on Monday night have since been located, but in extremely poor health,’ lion conservation organisation Blood Lions said on their Facebook page.

See original article: https://www.getaway.co.za/travel-news/escaped-limpopo-lions-found/

Coronavirus: WHO backs away from ban on live animal markets, prompting warnings over emergence of new diseases

This is an excerpt from an article written by Jane Dalton and published online by Independent on 12 May, 2020.

The organisation ‘has an obligation to advise countries to lower the risk of another pandemic’ by outlawing such places.

The World Health Organisation has backed away from supporting a global ban on open-air slaughter markets despite the coronavirus pandemic, prompting objections that such places are breeding grounds for diseases.

Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO food safety and animal diseases scientist, said live animal markets were critical to providing food and livelihoods for millions of people and that authorities should focus on improving them rather than outlawing them ⁠– even though they can spark epidemics in humans.

Many scientists have said an animal market in Wuhan, China, was likely to have played a significant role in the emergence of the new coronavirus, possibly spreading it from bats via pangolins, but the WHO is not recommending that such markets be shut down globally.

Man arrested for possession of lion skins

This is an excerpt from an article written by Anita Froneman and published online by Getaway on 07 May, 2020

A North West man was arrested after authorities found three lion skins as well as mandrax tablets at his home in Hartbeesfontein.

Hawks members, a Klerksdorp response team and the Stilfontein stock theft unit raided the house and the 23-year-old was charged with contravening the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act and for being in possession of illegal drugs.

The teams reportedly followed up on a tip-off they received.

Provincial Hawks spokesperson Captain Tlangelani Rikhotso said it was still unsure whether the man was involved in the ‘canned hunting’ industry, according to SA People. An investigation is underway.

See original article: https://www.getaway.co.za/travel-news/man-arrested-for-possession-of-lion-skins/

Neoliberalism and sustainable use are cut from the same paradigm

This is an excerpt from an article written by Ian Michler and published online by Daily Maverick on 26 May, 2020.

Where neoliberalism subjugates the natural world and people to the commercial whims of markets and globalisation, sustainable use has ensured the international commercialisation of biodiversity, and determined that price and trade be the arbiter of what value each species holds.

One of many narratives since the outbreak of Covid-19, particularly among a sector within the status quo, tells us this pandemic has been an unforeseen crisis, a surprise, one that has caught the political and business community from the blind side.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This misinformation is an attempt by those with vested interests in the current systems to hide the shortcomings, failures and poor leadership, which in turn becomes a self-serving rationale for why fundamental change is not required.