This is an excerpt from an article written and published online by Yahoo! News on 02 May, 2021

South Africa on Sunday revealed plans to ban the breeding of lions in captivity for trophy hunting or for tourists to pet, advocating a more “authentic” experience for visitors.

The decision was in response to recommendations contained in a government study into the controversial practice.

The panel studied the rules governing the hunting, trade and keeping in captivity of lions, elephants, rhino and leopards.

Environment Minister Barbara Creecy told a news conference that the study recommended a halt to the “domestication of lions through captive breeding and keeping.”

“We don’t want captive breeding, captive hunting, captive (cubs) petting, captive use of lions,” the minister said.

The decision, which is yet to be formulated into policy, is likely to set the government on a collision course with the powerful multi-million-dollar industry of captive lion breeding.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Morgan Winsor and published online by ABC News on 02 May, 2021

LONDON — South Africa announced Sunday it plans to end its multimillion-dollar captive lion industry and said it won’t oppose the international ban on the rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory trade.

The announcement was made alongside the release of a nearly 600-page report by a special government-appointed advisory committee tasked with reviewing the country’s policies, legislation and practices related to the management, breeding, hunting, trade and handling of elephants, lions, leopards and rhinos.

“The panel identified that the captive lion industry poses risks to the sustainability of wild lion conservation,” South African Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Barbara Creecy said in a statement Sunday. “The panel recommends that South Africa does not captive-breed lions, keep lions in captivity, or use captive lions or their derivatives commercially. I have requested the department to action this accordingly and ensure that the necessary consultation in implementation is conducted.”

This is an excerpt from an article written by Don Pinnock and published online by Daily Maverick on 02 May, 2021

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.

In an unprecedented move to reposition South Africa as a world leader in wildlife conservation, the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries has called for the protection of iconic wild animals to be prioritised over the cruelty of commercial exploitation.

The 580-page High-Level Panel (HLP) report is the result of nearly two years of often heated discussion and research by a panel of specialists assembled by Minister Barbara Creecy, with more than 70 written submissions from individuals and organisations. 

The minister accepted a panel majority finding that the treatment of, particularly, lions and rhinos was unacceptable and detrimental to the image of South Africa as a prime tourist destination. The report now awaits endorsement by Parliament.

The report will be applauded by a tourism industry battered by Covid-19 and worldwide criticism of canned hunting, and will be hotly contested by those involved in the exploitation of wildlife for reasons other than conservation.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Don Pinnock and published online by Daily Maverick on 02 May, 2021

The High-Level Panel report on Lions, Rhinos, Elephants and Leopards marks a tectonic shift from apartheid-era exclusive ownership and use of wildlife to a more inclusive and transformative approach that acknowledges community stewardship of conservation and the sentience and welfare of animals. It’s not all the way there, but it’s a remarkable start.

The report began with the 2018 Parliamentary Colloquium on lion farming and would probably not have happened without that historic kickstart. It’s merely a report of course, albeit a massive and comprehensive one, and many reports have been buried and forgotten in the past. What started in Parliament must now end in Parliament as law, and that still lies ahead. 

But the momentum that propelled the report goes much further back than 2018 and this is more likely to accelerate than to slow. 

The report has followed the wheel tracks of documentaries such as Blood Lions, forensic and innovative reports from NGOs like the EMS, Landmark and Born Free foundations, Ban Animal Trading, Humane Society International-Africa, the Cape Leopard Trust, legal challenges by the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA), high and Constitutional Court findings against cruelty and on the sentience of animals, landmark legal opinions by law firms such as Cullinan and Associates and the Centre for Environmental Rights and on exposés by media organisations such as the Mail & Guardian, Oxpeckers and Daily Maverick. And more recently, impetus was added when responsible tourism and the mainstream conservation sectors got involved.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Paul Ash and published online by Sunday Times on 02 May, 2021

Acting on a wide-reaching report, Barbara Creecy concedes that canned hunting doesn’t contribute to conservation.

SA’s controversial lion breeding industry may soon be history.

On Sunday, forestry, fisheries and environment minister Barbara Creecy released a long-awaited high-level panel report on the management, breeding, hunting, trade and handling of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros…

This is an excerpt from an article written by Susan Njanji and published online by IOL on 02 May, 2021

Pretoria – Environment Minister Barbara Creecy on Sunday revealed plans to ban the breeding of lions in captivity for trophy hunting or for tourists to pet, advocating a more “authentic” experience for visitors.

The decision was in response to recommendations contained in a government study into the controversial practice.

The panel studied the rules governing the hunting, trade and keeping in captivity of lions, elephants, rhino and leopards.

Creecy told a news conference that the study recommended a halt to the “domestication of lions through captive breeding and keeping.”

This is an excerpt from an article written by Anton Crone and published online by Getaway on 02 May, 2021

In a move aimed at improving South Africa’s wild lion conservation, and the country’s tarnished ecotourism reputation, the Ministry of Forestry and Fisheries and Environmental Affairs will take action against the breeding, hunting and trade of captive lions.

On 2 May the department’s Minister Barbara Creecy released the report of a high-level panel that was appointed to review policies, regulatory measures, practices and policy positions that are related to hunting, trade, captive keeping, management and handling of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros.

In her announcement she said the panel identified that “the captive lion breeding industry poses risks to the sustainability of wild lion conservation resulting from the negative impact on ecotourism, which funds lion conservation and conservation more broadly, the negative impact on the authentic wild hunting industry, and the risk that trade in lion parts poses to stimulating poaching and illegal trade”.

This is an excerpt from an article written and published online by SA People on 03 May, 2021

It’s great news for wildlife as Minister Barbara Creecy of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) today announced crucial and long-awaited steps towards changing the status quo of the commercial captive lion breeding industry in South Africa.

Speaking at a stakeholder’s feedback meeting in Pretoria, Minister Creecy said that South Africa will no longer breed captive lions, keep lions in captivity, or use captive lions or their derivatives commercially.

Minister Creecy has instructed her Department 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);
• halt the hunting of captive bred lions;
• halt tourist interactions with captive lions (including, so-called voluntourism, cub petting, etc).

“The [High-Level] Panel identified that the captive lion breeding industry poses risks to the sustainability of wild lion conservation resulting from the negative impact on ecotourism, which funds lion conservation and conservation more broadly, the negative impact on the authentic wild hunting industry, and the risk that trade in lion parts poses to stimulating poaching and illegal trade”, said Minister Creecy in her announcement today.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Elizabeth Claire Alberts and published online by Mongabay on 08 April, 2021

• Researchers have identified that captive and wild lions carry 63 pathogens that could result in about 83 diseases and clinical symptoms.
• Drawing on this research, conservationists have named five diseases that have the potential to spill over into the human population and impact public health: human ehrlichiosis, human babesiosis, toxocariasis, trichinosis, and African sleeping sickness.
• Animal welfare advocates say that captive lion facilities in South Africa tend to keep lions in unsanitary, stressful conditions that provide the perfect environment for disease.
• With this in mind, conservationists are advocating for the South African government to shut down the captive lion industry.

In 2019, animal welfare inspectors visited Pienika Farm, a captive-lion facility in the North West province of South Africa. They found sick lion after sick lion living in conditions inspectors described as “horrific.” Twenty-seven animals were severely infected with mange, a condition caused by parasitic mites, while cubs twitched in the dirt, suffering from neurological disorders. Dozens of lions were crammed into cages meant only to hold a few. Rotting food and feces littered the ground.

These are the ideal conditions for pathogens to grow and spread, resulting in disease, says Louise de Waal, a wildlife conservationist and one of the directors of Blood Lions, a nonprofit organization launched after the release of the 2015 film Blood Lions. The spread of disease is not only dangerous for the lions (Panthera leo) themselves, she said, but there is a possibility that disease could spill over into the human population, threatening human health and even triggering future epidemics.

According to a recent peer-reviewed paper co-authored by De Waal and other experts from Blood Lions and World Animal Protection, captive and wild lions are known to carry a total of 63 pathogens — including parasites, bacteria and viruses — and these can result in about 83 diseases and clinical symptoms. Some of these pathogens can be transmitted from lions to other species, including humans, the research says.

This is an excerpt from an article published in print and online by Wildside Magazine in their April 2021 edition

A joint scientific study by Blood Lions and World Animal Protection (published in September 2020) highlights how the captive lion breeding industry in South Africa poses a serious health risk to thousands of tourists, industry workers and communities.

Five major diseases (dubbed The Sick 5 in our new campaign) have been identified that can inflict serious health issues for people. These diseases are associated with at least 63 potentially harmful pathogens linked with both wild and captive lions, as identified in our peer reviewed paper.

Underestimating the impact of such pathogens and the associated zoonotic diseases could lead to future epidemics with reductions in life expectancy, increased child and maternal death and serious socioeconomic consequences.

The Sick 5 are Human Ehrlichiosis, Human Babesiosis, African Sleeping Sickness, Toxocariasis and Trichinosis.