The barbaric trade of canned hunting needs to be made illegal immediately, campaigners have urged.
The industry of raising lions to be shot dead by trophy hunters is actively ‘flourishing’ and unwitting tourists are fuelling it.
Born Free have now released a powerful video that shows how the vast majority of lions in South Africa are bred for the bullet.
Cubs are ripped from their mothers at birth and then raised in captivity so tourists can pose with them for ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ pictures.
However, once they are deemed ‘too big’ they are released into enclosures and killed by hunters who are after their body parts for macabre trophies.
They are stripped of their skins, their heads are mounted on walls and their bones are sent to the Far East to be turned into medicine.
Born Free said that some 70% of lions in South Africa are now captive their entire lives and they have called on the government to ban the abhorrent practice.
They have released the video, entitled The Bitter Bond, which shows the reality of life for a lion.