This is an excerpt from an article written by Paul Ash and published online by Sunday Times on 09 December, 2020.
The trade in bones and captive lion breeding pose a serious threat to SA’s tourism industry.
Wild lions will come under increasing pressure in Southern Africa if the trade in lion bones is not stopped, say animal welfare activists and scientists.
Speaking at an HSI-Africa/ Blood Lions webinar this week, Dr Paul Funston, lion programme director at big cat conservation group Panthera, said the trade in lion bones, which are sold as traditional medicine in Asia, had grown from almost zero a decade ago…