Dear Honourable Minister Aucamp, Minister de Lille and President Ramaphosa,

On behalf of the 66 undersigned tourism, animal welfare and conservation organisations and 58 professionals from tourism and conservation backgrounds, we would like to bring the following new international poll results to your attention.

This economic tourist poll, commissioned by World Animal Protection in collaboration with Blood Lions, reveals overwhelming opposition, both within South Africa and internationally, to any reversal or delay of South Africa’s planned phase-out of the commercial captive lion industry^[1].

The survey was conducted by Savanta across South Africa and South Africa’s four key source markets – the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands – with a total of 2,528 respondents. The poll found 77% of all respondents support the South African government’s 2021 decision to phase-out the commercial exploitation of captive lions.

Among the four key international tourist markets visiting South Africa:

• 70% state that they would be put off visiting a country that allows lions to be bred and kept in captivity for profit.
• 69% warn that reversing the phase-out would damage South Africa’s reputation as a responsible and ethical tourist destination.
• 77% believe the government should prioritise wildlife-friendly tourism over commercial captive lion breeding.
• 65% said they would choose alternative destinations if the captive lion industry continues.

A copy of the full economic poll results in the “South African Lion Farming Poll: International and Domestic Tourist Opinions” report can be found HERE.

Potential Economic Consequences

As you know, tourism contributes nearly 9% to South Africa’s GDP and supports an estimated 1.8 million direct and indirect jobs. In 2025, South Africa received nearly 10.5 million international tourists, with the UK, USA, Germany and the Netherlands accounting for over 1.2 million arrivals.

If 70% of tourists from these four key source markets were deterred from visiting our country, South Africa could lose an estimated 860,000 visitors. Given that tourism supports one job for every 13 international arrivals, this could translate to approximately 66,000 tourism jobs at risk.one job for every 13 international arrivals

By comparison, the commercial captive lion industry is estimated to support a mere 1,568 to 2,069 jobs nationwide[3].

Strong Domestic Opposition

South African citizens expressed similar concerns to international tourist markets:

• 72% reject promoting exploitative wildlife industries ahead of wildlife-friendly tourism alternatives.
• 66% say commercial captive lion breeding is unethical.
• 66% believe it would be unacceptable to risk tourism demand.
• 63% warn that reversing the phase-out would undermine trust in evidence-based governance.
• 57% believe banning commercial captive lion breeding would make South Africa more attractive and economically stronger.

The political processes described below were partly shaped by sustained global pressure that saw, among others, organisations campaigning to ban “canned” or captive lion hunting, tourism organisations pledging their commitment to ethical and responsible tourism, airlines banning the cargo of captive lion trophies, and countries even banning the import of captive hunting trophies. Currently, more than 215 global tourism businesses have signed the Blood Lions Born To Live Wild pledge, committing to no longer sell and support any tourism activities associated with South Africa’s commercial captive lion industry. Furthermore, nearly 277,500 concerned global citizens have signed the FOUR PAWS #BreakTheViciousCycle campaign petition calling on Government to ban the commercial trade of all big cats and their parts from, within and to South Africa.

The resolution from the Parliamentary Colloquium on captive lions in August 2018 was set to end the practice of captive lion breeding for hunting and the lion bone trade, which was adopted by Parliament that same year. The majority recommendation of the High-Level Panel in 2021 was to phase-out the commercial captive lion industry, which was further supported by the Ministerial Task Team on voluntary exit in 2024. All of these have been significant steps towards democratic policy change and led to the Gazetting of the Policy Position on the Conservation and sustainable use of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros in 2024. Policy Objective 1 of this Policy Position is “to end the captive keeping of lions for commercial purposes and close captive lion facilities, put a halt to the intensive breeding of lions in controlled environments, and end the commercial exploitation of captive and captive-bred lions.”

This democratic process is supported by a growing body of science-based and peer-reviewed evidence, such as the risk of zoonotic disease transmission; the unregulated nature of the commercial captive predator industry in South Africa; welfare implications of the commercial captive predator industry; the behaviour and welfare of lion cubs used in tourism experiences; and the lack of conservation benefits associated with this industry.

Our new polling data shows that failing to end this industry would pose a serious risk to our vital tourism sector. We call on Honourable Minister Willem Aucamp to end the delays and uncertainty and continue this democratic process of policy change by immediately gazetting the notice prohibiting certain activities involving African lion, among others the establishment of new facilities, which has already passed through two rounds of public engagement and moved through the NCOP review process. Closing this industry is not only firmly rooted in science but is also fully in line with his party’s Resolution, tabled at the DA 2023 Federal Congress.

We look forward to engaging with and continuing to support the Minister and his Department in achieving the goal and vision laid out in the White Paper and Policy Position and seeing our tarnished conservation and eco-tourism reputation restored through a responsible phase-out of this exploitative industry.

We look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Louise de Waal (on behalf of the undersigned organisations) – Blood Lions – Director

[1] The term ‘captive lion industry’ in this letter specifically refers to the breeding, keeping, hunting and trade of captive-bred lions and other predators for commercial purposes.

[2] Among the four key source markets, nearly 860,000 respondents (70% of 1,226,786 – the total number of international tourist arrivals in 2025 from the four key markets – USA, UK, Germany & Netherlands) stated that they would be deterred from visiting South Africa if the country continued the keeping and breeding lions in captivity for profit.

[3] Ministerial Task Team Report to identify and recommend voluntary exit options and pathways for the captive lion industry, 2024.