Media Articles – Page 14

Lion cub petting and why it’s harmful

This is an excerpt from an article written by Dr Louise de Waal of Blood Lions and published online by Getaway on 03 March, 2020

In recent years, people have become more aware of the concerns around taking lion cubs (and those of other cats) away from their mothers within days after birth and hand rearing them for entertainment purposes.

This practice intentionally brings the females back into oestrus (become fertile) much quicker and feeding the cubs with puppy formula (as most places do) often leads to nutritional deficiencies, diseases and even death.

Captive predators are oftentimes subjected to crippling intensive breeding cycles and are kept in inappropriate, overcrowded and often unhygienic conditions, all so tourists can pet them.

South Africa’s captive lion population is now estimated to be as high as 12,000 lions with thousands of additional other big cats, including cheetahs, leopards, caracals, servals, as well as exotic species such as tigers, jaguars, pumas and even ligers (crossbreed between lion and tiger).

The links between tourism activities, such as cub petting, walking with lions, ‘canned’ hunting and the lion bone industry are well-documented. Despite what the owners of petting facilities may tell the public, a hand-reared lion habituated to humans can never be returned to the wild and will ultimately only have value in the trophy hunting industry or lion bone export trade.

This incessant and legal commoditisation of captive bred lions has led to the export of nearly 2,000 lions per year as live exports, hunting trophies or skeletons.

World Wildlife Day: Why lion cubs should not be part of the ‘petting zoo’

This is an excerpt from an article written by Dr Louise de Waal of Blood Lions and published online by The South African on 03 March, 2020

On World Wildlife Day, Blood Lions campaign manager Dr Louise de Waal reflects on why we feel this urge to engage in the unnatural… and pet a lion?

This is a question I have asked myself many times. Petting a predator is incongruous and unnatural, so why this obsession with petting wild animals in captivity? Why do we believe it is acceptable to put our own needs well above the animal’s requirements? Is it for that “like”-boosting selfie on social media? Does it make us look macho? Does it boost our ego? Is it for the thrill of adventure?

Over the last couple of decades, we have seen a significant shift in public awareness in the recognition that animals are sentient beings with the capacity to feel both physical and mental pain.

People are becoming more cognisant of animal welfare, and awareness campaigns, such as Blood Lions, aim to educate the public on the exploitation and abuse involved with the captive breeding and keeping of lions and other big cats.

Captive lions: Unethical and brutal conditions

There are huge welfare concerns around taking cubs away from their mother within days after birth, which intentionally brings the females back into oestrus (become fertile) much quicker. The hand-rearing of those cubs with puppy dog formula often leads to nutritional deficiencies, diseases and even death.

Captive predators are subjected to crippling intensive breeding cycles and are kept in inappropriate, overcrowded and often unhygienic conditions.

These unethical and brutal conditions are rife in South Africa’s intensive captive predator breeding industry and its associated lucrative chain of exploitative tourism activities.

Predator Breeding & Keeping Industry – South Africa

This is an excerpt from an article written by Dr Louise de Waal of Blood Lions and published online by Conservation Action Trust on 03 March, 2020

Blood Lions Campaign

The Blood Lions goal is to bring an end to canned hunting and the exploitative breeding of lions and other predators on farms across South Africa. The multiple award-winning Blood Lions® feature documentary premiered in 2015. At the same time the Blood Lions Campaign was launched to create global awareness around the captive predator breeding, canned hunting and lion bone industries, as well as the related exploitative wildlife interactive tourism practices.

Captive Predator Population

South Africa is one of the only African countries that allows the breeding and keeping of predators in captivity for commercial purposes, including lions, cheetahs, leopards, caracals, servals, as well as exotic species such as tigers, jaguars, pumas and even ligers (crossbreed between lion and tiger).

In July 2019, the Minister of Environment, Forestry & Fisheries (DEFF) stated in response to Parliamentary questions that there are 366 captive facilities registered in South Africa in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004 (NEMBA): Threatened or Protected Species Regulations, 2007 (TOPS) holding a total of 7,979 lions in captivity.

Blood Lions believes that the captive predator population is highly underestimated. The captive lion population may be as high as 15,000 lions with 1,000s of other big cats that are bred and kept in captivity, including an estimated 800 – 1,000 cheetahs and 1,000 – 1,500 tigers. A large proportion of the captive predator facility are based in the North West and Free State provinces.

China’s Ban on Wildlife Consumption Should Include Lion Bones, Says South African Group

This is an excerpt from an article written and published online by SAPeople on 27 February, 2020

South Africa’s Blood Lions documentary makers have welcomed China’s announcement of an unprecedented ban on the consumption of wild animals as food… but point out it should be permanent, and not only applicable when the world’s focus is on the threat of the new coronavirus. And it should definitely include lion bones which carry the threat of contracting Bovine TB.

Last week, the Chinese authorities announced tougher new measures around wildlife trade, including the proposed immediate ban on consumption.

This follows the outbreak of the coronavirus in China in December 2019… where it was linked to a live animal market in Wuhan City, where both domestic and wild animals are sold.

As of Wednesday 26 February, WHO statistics show the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has infected more than 81,901 people globally and killed at least 2,761.

In early February, the Chinese government issued a temporary ban on all trade in wild animals until the end of the “national epidemic”, which led to urgent calls for it to be made permanent.

Last week, the Chinese authorities finally announced tougher new measures, including an unprecedented ban on the consumption of wild animals as food.

Blood Lions says it welcomes the proposed ban, but that it should be more permanent.

Investigating SA’s captive lion breeding industry and the lion bone trade

This is an excerpt from an article written by Paula Luckhoff and published online by 702 FM on 23 February, 2020.

Richard Peirce discusses his documentary ‘Lions, Bones & Bullets’, which follows the trade to the Far East.

What is the current state of South Africa’s controversial captive lion breeding industry?

Nature conservationist Tim Neary invites wildlife conservationist and author Richard Peirce to talk about the documentary he’s completing, on Refiloe Mpakanyane’s Weekend Breakfast show.

Lions, Bones & Bullets follows the trail of the derivatives of the local industry to South East Asia.

Penned African lions still on offer at US trophy hunting convention

This is an excerpt from an article written by Michael Biesecker and published online by IOL on 12 February, 2020.

Washington – An undercover video recorded by animal welfare activists shows vendors at a recent trophy-hunting convention promoting trips to shoot captive-bred lions in Africa, despite past public assurances by the event’s organisers that so-called canned hunts wouldn’t be sold.

Investigators for the Humane Society of the United States captured the footage last week at the annual convention of Safari Club International in Reno, Nevada. SCI is among the nation’s largest trophy-hunting groups and its yearly gatherings typically draw thousands of attendees and hundreds of vendors selling firearms, overseas safari trips and items made from the skins and bones of rare wildlife.

In the video captured by the Humane Society last week, tour operators said the lions for sale were bred in captivity. Typically, the lions are raised in cages and small pens before being released into a larger fenced enclosure. Once reaching young adulthood, customers pay to shoot them and keep the skins, skulls, claws and other body parts for trophies.

“They’re bred in captivity. They’re born in captivity, and then they’re released,” a salesman for Bush Africa Safaris, a South African tour operator, says on the video. “There’s guys who are going to tell you something different on the floor, they’re going to bulls—t you, that is what it is.”

Salesmen from two other safari operators also confirmed they had captive-bred lions for sale, including advertising a bargain-rate of $8 000 (R120 000) for a ranch in South Africa. Multi-day safaris for hunting wild lions can easily cost 10 times that – money that hunting advocates say helps support anti-poaching and conservation efforts in cash-strapped African nations.

Lions Kill 21-Year-Old Animal Lover on Private Game Reserve in Bela Bela, South Africa

This is an excerpt from an article written and published online by SA People on 08 February, 2020

An undisclosed number of lions attacked and killed a 21-year-old woman at a private game reserve near Bela Bela in the Limpopo province of South Africa, on Thursday afternoon.

The woman has been identified as Swane van Wyk (although several local reports named her as Swans van Wyke), an animal lover who worked with lions at the reserve.

The reserve has not been named by the South African Police Service (SAPS), but on Van Wyk’s Facebook page it says she worked at Zwartkloof Private Game Reserve, and Zwartkloof list her as their Game Manager on their website. (SAPeople.com has contacted Zwartkloof for comment.) The reserve advertises its sport and adventure camps; and photos of tourists in front of lion enclosures can be seen on Instagram. According to Blood Lions, the reserve has free roaming animals and a number of white and tawny lions in enclosures.

Van Wyk – who studied at Centurion Academy – was apparently horrifically mauled by at least two lions whilst in the lions’ enclosure, performing her daily duties.

SATSA clarifies ‘erroneous SA wildlife interactions ban’

This is an excerpt from an article written by Selene Brophy and published online by Traveller24 on 29 January, 2020

South Africa is a wildlife adventurer’s paradise, with the Big Five enthralling locals and international visitors alike.

The issue of canned lion hunting, lion bone trade and the rife poaching of our rhino population have been contentious issues over the years, prompting movements to improve animal interactions and responsible tourism practices.

One such driving force has been the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA), who has developed a comprehensive tool to assist the international travel industry, visitors and volunteers to make ethical and morally informed decisions around which types of tourism facilities they should or should not support in Southern Africa.

New SATSA guidelines discourage wildlife interactions

This is an excerpt from an article written by Leila Stein and published online by Getaway on 27 January, 2020.

The SATSA has announced that its new guidelines will ban all infant wildlife interaction, walking with predators or elephants, interacting with predators or riding wildlife activities in the country.

According to Travel Africa Magazine, they hope to implement these new guidelines by the end of July 2020. This after a year-long research process into the industry.

The new guidelines acknowledge that captive attractions and activities that involve wild animals are unethical and often do significant harm to the animals involved. In addition, they also warn against facilities which may be involved in the illegal wildlife trade, canned hunting and breeding.

“The guide provides all those involved in the tourism value chain with informed method of selecting appropriate animal interaction products within the tourism sector of South Africa,” said SATSA on their website.

South Africa’s legal lion bone trade exploited by criminals

This is an excerpt from an article written by Andreas Wilson- Spath and published online by Daily Maverick on 21 January, 2020.

Through what appear to be wilfully ignorant policies, South Africa is facilitating the illegal trade in lion bones, not only enabling the activities of notorious international crime syndicates, but also threatening the survival of tigers and lions in the wild.

Few South Africans would have taken note of a short statement released by the Hawks in November 2019, which details the arrest of two individuals with very similar names.

Yun Li had been on the run from authorities for years, having been set free on bail after being caught in possession of rhino horn in 2015. His associate, Yin Li, was arrested for his connection to some 600kg of lion bones worth R2.25-million seized at OR Tambo International Airport in recent months.

These arrests offer a small glimpse into the sleazy workings of a growing South African industry most people have never even heard of, revealing its extreme, greed-driven profitability and its deep entanglement with global criminal networks involved in the bloody slaughter of Africa’s rhinos, elephants and other wild animal species.