This is an excerpt from an article published online by Good Things Guy on 17 June, 2021

Youth For Lions celebrate the government for their efforts in ending captive lion breeding in South Africa; they created a special video sharing their thoughts.

South Africa (17 June 2021) – Youth Day (16 June) in South Africa is a day to pay tribute to the youth and recognise the power they have to initiate change. This year, the youth from Youth For Lions celebrated the recent announcement made by Minister Creecy of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment on their decision to end the captive lion breeding industry in South Africa. The youth have shared messages of praise and support for the government, and are encouraging other young people around the world to do the same.

In the newly released report, the High-Level Panel (HLP) recommended that South Africa should no longer breed captive lions, keep lions in captivity, or use captive lions or their derivatives commercially.

Minister Creecy and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) have taken the courageous decision 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.
• The hunting of captive bred lions.
• Tourist interactions with captive lions, including, so-called voluntourism, cub petting, etc.

Produced by Youth For Lions, a short video was created by the South African youth to showcase what they thought about this milestone in the campaign.