NEWS RELEASE
“You’re Killing Them Softly” Mural For World Lion Day
For Immediate Release
“You’re killing them softly” is an impactful message released for World Lion Day (10 August) by South African NGOs campaigning to bring an end to the commercial captive lion industry in South Africa. To extend awareness beyond World Lion Day, we are excited to announce the release of a striking mural by graffiti artist Giffy on the Durban Promenade.
The mural continues to bring awareness to the fact that any visitor or volunteer paying to play, bottle feed, and/or hand-raise captive-bred predator cubs, use them as photo props, or merely visit predator parks, are fuelling South Africa’s cruel commercial captive predator industry.
“Blood Lions decided to translate the “You’re Killing them Softly” message into a powerful mural by graffiti artist Giffy on the Durban Promenade. We want the public to be fully aware that their actions fuel this unethical industry that is responsible for the brutal death of 1,000s captive-bred lions and many other predator species”, says Dr Louise de Waal (Director, Blood Lions).
Giffy is a Durban street artist, who takes his inspiration from his local environment. He is known for his colourful and life-like wildlife murals in predominantly Durban’s public spaces, not only bringing our South African natural beauty to life but also encouraging people to be more involved in wildlife conservation efforts.
“This is not the first time that Giffy has raised his artistic voice for the Blood Lions cause, to bring an end to the captive lion industry in South Africa. In 2020, he created a poignant mural for the then 800 Voices for 800 Lions campaign”, says de Waal.
In South Africa, lions and many other predators are bred solely for commercial purposes, such as cub petting, walking with predators, voluntourism, “canned” or captive trophy hunting, the live trade, and the trade in their bones, parts and derivatives.
Each time we choose to visit a predator park or engage in interactive activities with lions or other predators, we are perpetuating captivity. Our actions and choices are killing them softly.
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World Lion Day 2024 video and campaign information: check HERE
For more information contact Dr Stephanie Klarmann:
Email: info@bloodlions.org
Phone: (+27) 082 304 8447
Short history of the commercial captive lion industry in South Africa
- The commercial captive lion industry in South Africa started in the 1990s and has been allowed to grow unimpeded.
- In 2015, the award-winning Blood Lions Documentary premiered, blowing the lid off misleading claims made by the predator breeding and canned hunting industries in South Africa.
- Lions and many other indigenous and exotic large felids are bred in captivity for commercial purposes, such as cub petting, walking with lions, voluntourism, “canned” or captive hunting and for their bones, parts and derivatives for the domestic and international traditional medicinal use, predominantly for their bones in Chinese Traditional Medicine until 2019.
- In August 2018, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Environmental Affairs convened a Colloquium on “Captive lion breeding for hunting in South Africa; harming or promoting the conservation image of the country”. The recommendations of the Colloquium were adopted by the national assembly on December 6, 2018, including that “the Department of Environmental Affairs should as a matter of urgency initiate a policy and legislative review of captive breeding of lions for hunting and lion bone trade with a view to putting an end to this practice”.
- In August 2019, a High Court judge ruled that the setting of the bone quota in 2017 and 2018 of 800 per year was “unlawful and constitutionally invalid” and that consideration should have been given to welfare issues relating to lions in captivity when determining such quota. Since this ruling, the DFFE has deferred the setting of a CITES lion bone export quota.
- In 2019, the Minister of DFFE appointed a High-Level Panel (HLP) of experts to review policies, legislation, and practices on matters of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros management, breeding, hunting, trade and handling. The majority recommendations in terms of captive lions included that South Africa would not breed lions in captivity, keep lions in captivity, or use captive lions or their derivatives commercially.
- These recommendations were adopted by Cabinet and on May 2, 2021, Minister Creecy announced that the Department will be adopting the majority recommendations on these issues.
- In 2023, a Ministerial Task Team (MTT) was appointed by Minister Creecy to identify and recommend voluntary exit options and pathways for the captive lion industry. Their recommendations were approved by Cabinet in March 2024 and their final report published. One of their key recommendations was that voluntary exit should only be the first step in the longer-term government objectives of ultimately closing the commercial captive lion industry in South Africa.
To view more details about the progress we have made, click here.