CAPE TOWN: South Africa has stirred some serious controversy with a recent announcement that it wants to allow the export of hundreds of skeletons from captive-bred lions every year.
The nation has already drawn the ire of lion advocates for being home to an estimated 200 lion farms, where thousands of lions are bred just to be killed every year. The industry exploits lions throughout their entire lives from offering opportunities to pet cubs and ‘walk with lions’ before they’re eventually euthanized or killed by trophy hunters in canned hunts.
The horrors of this industry, and the lies being told to the public in an attempt to convince people this is all being done in the name of conservation, were brought to light by the film Blood Lions.
There have been some big successes in the fight to end this industry, including a ban in the U.S. on importing lion trophies from canned hunts in South Africa, and a vote at CITES CoP17 that bans the international commercial trade in bones and parts from wild lions, but those wins could now be seriously undermined.
The South African National Biodiversity Institute, which is the Scientific Authority to the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), announced its recommendation to allow the export of 800 captive-bred lion skeletons every year. Although it added in an update that there will still be further study before the quota is official, the news isn’t sitting well with conservationists.
“It seems the South African authorities have crumpled in the face of pressure from commercial lion breeders who are only interested in maximising their profits from this despicable practice. In proposing an export quota of 800 skeletons, the authorities have assumed, wrongly in my view, that the trade will have no impact on wild lions, without any evidence to back that up. Indeed, they haven’t even delayed their decision until the studies on the impacts of the bone trade, agreed at the last CITES meeting, have been completed,” said Born Free Foundation President, Will Travers OBE.
Opposition is also being raised by the Humane Society International (HSI) and Pippa Hankinson, the producer of Blood Lions, who are now calling on South Africa to implement a zero export quota, which will suspend all trade in lion parts.
According to HSI, the skeletons will come from lions who have died naturally, were euthanized, or were killed in trophy hunts, while their bones will be sold in large part for use in traditional medicine in southeast Asia. Now, lion advocates fear allowing these exports will help increase the demand for lion bones, and lead to an increase in poaching by those who want to profit from this trade.
There’s no question African lions, whose population has plummeted from an estimated 200,000 across the continent to an estimated 20,000 today, are facing a growing threat of extinction in the wild, and while some continue to argue this industry is taking pressure off of their wild counterparts, but many others disagree.
“The Department of Environmental Affair’s decision to support the trade in lion parts is misguided and shameful. Breeding captive lions is not only cruel and goes against the global shift against captive wildlife, but South Africa’s captive-bred lion bone trade is a potential threat to wild lions. Conservation efforts must focus on protecting lions in the wild, and not prop up facilities where they are bred for slaughter and canned hunting. Unless research proves otherwise, caution must prevail and trade in these parts must be completely suspended given South Africa’s commitments under international law,” said Audrey Delsink, executive director of the Africa office for HSI.