This is an excerpt from an article written by Sameer Naik and published online by Saturday Star and IOL on 27 November, 2021
Johannesburg – Global animal welfare organisation Four Paws have urged government to consider legislative changes to stop the commercial trade of all big cats in South Africa.
With South Africa remaining the biggest exporter of live big cats globally, and with widespread big cat farming taking place across the country, the global organisation is pressing for urgent legislative changes.
They want the SA Department for Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to include all big cat species within the protective legislation it’s planning to implement for lions.
Most recently, Four Paws obtained shocking, unreleased footage, which has revealed widespread big cat farming across South Africa.
The footage documents and supports estimations as many as 12,000 lions, and an unknown number of tigers, are being intensively farmed in captive facilities across the country.
“While the Government’s Draft Policy Position to end the breeding and keeping of captive lions in South Africa for commercial purposes, is a hugely impactful step in the protection and conservation of the species, there is a pressing need to include all big cats within this protective legislation,” Fiona Miles, director of Four Paws in South Africa, told the Saturday Star this week.