This is an excerpt from an article written by Nica Richards and published online by The Citizen on 29 June, 2021

A draft policy position gazette on the conservation and sustainable use of lions, elephant, leopard and rhino is out for public comment.

Following the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s (DFFE’s) announcement in May that commercial captive lion breeding would no longer be allowed, an encouraging draft policy has been released. 

DFFE Minister Barbara Creecy took the momentous step on 2 May to outlaw captive lion breeding, keeping lions in captivity and halting the commercial use of lions or their derivatives. 

In layman’s terms, this means lion bones will no longer be sold and the hunting of captive-bred lions will stop, as well as using captive-bred lions for tourist attractions such as cub petting and “voluntourism”. 

The decision was made after drawn out discussions by a high-level panel. Recommendations were proposed after 62.5% of the panel agreed the practice was cruel and should be outlawed. 

The panel concluded in May that captive lion breeding harms the sustainability of wild lion populations and conservation efforts, and also impacts negatively on the country’s ecotourism ventures.

This is an excerpt from an article published online by Good Things Guy on 17 June, 2021

Youth For Lions celebrate the government for their efforts in ending captive lion breeding in South Africa; they created a special video sharing their thoughts.

South Africa (17 June 2021) – Youth Day (16 June) in South Africa is a day to pay tribute to the youth and recognise the power they have to initiate change. This year, the youth from Youth For Lions celebrated the recent announcement made by Minister Creecy of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment on their decision to end the captive lion breeding industry in South Africa. The youth have shared messages of praise and support for the government, and are encouraging other young people around the world to do the same.

In the newly released report, the High-Level Panel (HLP) recommended that South Africa should no longer breed captive lions, keep lions in captivity, or use captive lions or their derivatives commercially.

Minister Creecy and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) have taken the courageous decision to put processes in place to halt:

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

Produced by Youth For Lions, a short video was created by the South African youth to showcase what they thought about this milestone in the campaign.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Karen Singh and published online by IOL on 16 June, 2021

DURBAN: South African youth from the Youth For Lions campaign have voiced their support for the decision made by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE), to put an end to captive lion breeding in the country.

Minister Barbara Creecy made the announcement to ban breeding lions in captivity for hunting last month.

This comes after the findings of the High-Level Panel (HLP) report, which recommended that South Africa should no longer breed captive lions, keep lions in captivity, or use captive lions or their derivatives commercially.

The aim of the Youth For Lions campaign, which is a is a sub-campaign of Blood Lions, is to educate the world’s youth about how cub petting, walking with predators and volunteering at predator farms is enabling and contributing to the wider captive predator breeding industry in South Africa.

Campaign co-ordinator Cath Jakins said the minister and the government were listening now more than ever before to the public discourse around these issues.

“We have been lobbying the government to make changes to their policies for years, so now that they have started listening and responding with positive action, we need to take the opportunity to thank them.

“We need them to know that this decision, as contentious as it may seem, is an extremely positive step in the right direction,” she said.

This is an excerpt from an article published online by The South African on 16 June, 2021

Youth For Lions are marking Youth Day by showing their support for the recent announcement by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment on their decision to end the captive lion breeding industry in South Africa.

Youth Day in South Africa is a day to pay tribute to the youth and recognise the power they have to initiate change. Youth For Lions is a sub-campaign of Blood Lions aimed at engaging the world’s youth around how cub petting, walking with predators and volunteering at predator farms is enabling and contributing to the wider captive predator breeding industry in South Africa.

Youth For Lions are celebrating the recent announcement made by Minister Barbara Creecy of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment on their decision to end the captive lion breeding industry in South Africa on Youth Day.

The youth have shared messages of praise and support for the government, and are encouraging other young people around the world to do the same.

MEASURES PUT PLACE TO HALT CAPTIVE LION INDUSTRY IN SA

In the newly released report, the High-Level Panel (HLP) recommended that South Africa should no longer breed captive lions, keep lions in captivity, or use captive lions or their derivatives commercially.

Minister Creecy and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) have taken the courageous decision to put processes in place to halt:

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

YOUTH FOR LIONS PRAISE FOR MILESTONE

Produced by Youth For Lions, a short video was created by the South African youth to showcase what they thought about this milestone in the campaign:

This is an excerpt from an article written by Karen Kotze and published in print and online by False Bay Echo on 16 May, 2021

News of South Africa’s planned end to canned lion hunting has been welcomed by those who have campaigned against it.

Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Barbara Creecy said on Sunday May 2 that South Africa would no longer breed captive lions, keep lions in captivity, or use captive lions or their derivatives commercially.

Captive lion breeding was not contributing to conservation and it was doing damage to the country’s global conservation and tourism reputation, she said.

The multimillion dollar lion-breeding industry supplies cubs for tourism, lions for trophy hunts, and bones for traditional medicine.

Ms Creecy announced that the government would stop issuing permits to breed, keep, hunt, or interact with captive lions and was revoking current breeding permits.

The 2015 documentary, Blood Lions, was part of a global campaign of the same name to stop canned lion hunting. In April 2016, the Zandvlei Trust hosted a fund-raiser and aired the hard-hitting documentary at the Masque Theatre, where the Blood Lions crew and guests spoke out vehemently against the industry.

Campaign manager and director of Blood Lions, Dr Louise de Waal, said of the recent announcement: “The Blood Lions team has worked tirelessly to end this cruel and unethical industry and its spin-off activities. This announcement is highly significant and we commend the minister in her decisive leadership to bringing an end to the commercial captive lion breeding industry. The Blood Lions team offer their full support in developing and implementing a responsible phase-out plan to ensure that the industry is successfully closed down in South Africa, once and for all.”

This is an excerpt from an article written and published online by Travel News on 11 May, 2021

SATSA has welcomed the recent release by Environmental Affairs Minister, Barbara Creecy, of the High-Level Panel report that advocates putting an end to captive lion breeding.

The panel was established in August 2018 and concluded its work in December 2020, submitting recommendations on policies, regulatory measures, practices and policy positions related to hunting, trade, captive keeping, management and handling of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros.

“We are particularly heartened that the panel shares our view that the captive lion breeding industry does not contribute to conservation and is doing damage to South Africa’s conservation and tourism reputation. The department’s decision to initiate a policy and legislative review to put an end to this practice as a matter of urgency, could not have come sooner,” said David Frost, SATSA CEO.

This is an excerpt from an article written by John Harvey and published in print and online by Daily Dispatch on 08 May, 2021

Film more relevant than ever amid release of scathing report on unethical captive breeding of species.

The significance of environment, forestry & fisheries minister Barbara Creecy’s recommendation this week that captive lion breeding should be banned will not be lost on anyone, least of those who have campaigned for an end to canned lion hunting.

For the best part of a decade, activists have decried SAs lax environmental laws which have allowed the practice to continue more or less unchecked. They have also taken issue with the highly controversial lion bone trade to the East, where skeletal remains are used in traditional medicines or turned into trinkets.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Shannon Ebrahim and published online by IOL and several other publications on 07 May, 2021

Four winters ago my family and I were in the Kruger National Park, mesmerized by the sighting of five black maned male lions lying in wait on a sandy bank overlooking the Crocodile River.

There they were – Africa’s Apex predator in all their glory, and nothing could compare with coming so close to such majestic beasts. That day in the Kruger store we found a CD called Blood Lions, which piqued my curiosity, only to be horrified by the story it told.

The renowned conservationist and Director of Blood Lions Ian Michler narrated the award winning documentary film which exposed the horrors that captive bred lions endure on farms across South Africa – lions just like the ones we had just seen, which are bred for the bullet.

At the time, wealthy foreigners were paying up to US$50,000 to shoot a lion on a farm, in circumstances that resembled more target practice than an actual hunt.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Gerald Imray and published online by AP (Associated Press) on 06 May, 2021

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa says it will end its captive lion industry in a major move for conservation that would outlaw the heavily criticized “canned hunting” of the big cats and sale of their bones, as well as popular tourist experiences like petting cubs.

The policy, which still needs to be made into law, would effectively end the world’s legal lion bone trade. South Africa is the only country given a special dispensation by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to sell and export lion bones, claws and teeth, and they have to be from captive lions. None of those parts from wild lions can be sold or traded anywhere.

South Africa’s announcement was praised by wildlife groups that want to see the iconic species left to live in the wild or in recognized conservation parks. They say the captive lion business in South Africa has been marked by disregard for the animals’ welfare in favor of profit.

Lions are kept in unhealthy and unethical conditions, conservationists say, and bred to ultimately be killed and their parts sold for trophies or for use in traditional medicines in Asia.

South Africa had made “a courageous decision” to end it, said Dr. Neil D’Cruze, the head of wildlife research at World Animal Protection. “This is no longer viewing the animals as commodities and how you can profit from them.”

This is an excerpt from an article written by Peter Borchert and published online by Daily Maverick on 06 May, 2021

For those familiar with the conservation landscape in southern Africa, the significance of Barbara Creecy’s announcement needs little explanation. But for those who aren’t, suffice it to say there are two main wildlife issues around which almost everything revolves in South Africa – hunting and trade. Unfortunately, the divide is so deep that it makes the Mariana Trench seem like a ditch.

Mid-morning on Sunday, 2 May 2021, I sat glued to my computer screen, and I certainly wasn’t alone, for the day was to prove a seminal moment in South Africa’s long and mostly illustrious wildlife conservation history. The occasion was the public release of Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy’s long-awaited review of the policies, laws and practices around the breeding, hunting, management, trade and handling of four iconic species – elephants, rhinos, lions and leopards. 

It didn’t disappoint. As Don Pinnock writing in Daily Maverick aptly observed: “In a seismic shift that will send shock waves through many areas of SA’s wildlife industry, the Cabinet has endorsed a report calling for the end of lion farming, captive lion hunting, cub-petting and the commercial farming of rhinos.”

Comment was quick to follow. Ian Michler, an investigative journalist, a long-time campaigner against predator breeding, and a key member of the Blood Lions film team, was deeply encouraged by the panel’s findings. “After almost 25 years of opposing the horrors of captive predator breeding, mostly without success, this shift in thinking is significant,” he said. “The minister seems sincere, which means it is also an incredible opportunity to work with the department to rid the region of these practices forever. Blood Lions congratulates her, the ministry, the high-level panel and all those who made submissions calling for an end to the industry.”