Our vision of a lion is that of a majestic animal, carrying an impressive golden or black mane as he roams wild and free across the open plains. A lion whose gaze raises the hair on your back, who’s thunderous roar rumbles through your chest, knocking a nervous smile onto your bewildered face.
But if you pull back the curtain on the wildlife industry in South Africa, that vision is only a half truth.
Since 2007, the conservation spotlight has been mostly focused on South Africa’s rhino poaching crisis. However, another issue looms just as large - the intensive breeding of thousands of lions and other predators for the hunters bullet. These animals are being bred specifically to be shot in confined or enclosed areas with little to no chance of escape. Canned hunting or ‘captive hunting’ as the breeders and hunters call it, is still legal in South Africa.
“In this day and age is it appropriate that we breed lions in cages and other confined enclosures so people can shoot them for fun?” asks Ian Michler, who has been researching and campaigning against these industries for over a decade.
When Michler started his research at the turn of this century, “There were 500-800 predators in cages in South Africa… in 2006 it was up to 3,500, and now there is anywhere between 6,000 to 8,000 predators in confinement.” By comparison, South Africa has a wild population of around 2,750 lions.
Professor Pieter Potgieter, chairman of the South African Predator Association (SAPA) believes that breeding and hunting captive bred wildlife is acceptable: “The hunting of wild animals that were bred and raised in captivity is an international practice, in line with the principle of sustainable use of wildlife resources,” says Potgieter.
According to Potgieter around 200 individuals and institutions have permits to keep and breed lions in South Africa and about half of them are members of SAPA.
And he is supported by the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa (PHASA). “We have raised the bar higher than is needed," said Adri Kitshoff, CEO of PHASA in an April interview with Financial Mail. “Among standards set, a lion must be released at least seven days prior to a hunt in an enclosure of at least 1,000 ha.”
“In 2012 approximately 617 lion were hunted for trophy purposes, with fewer than 10 estimated to be wild lions,” says the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA).
So who is responsible for protecting the lions from these horrors? Well no one it appears.
The DEA have asserted that “the hunting of captive-bred lions relates to an ethical matter that does not fall within the legislative mandate of the Minister of Environmental Affairs,” adding “the Minister does not have the legal mandate to prohibit the hunting of captive-bred lions in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEMBA).”
“Other than provincial fencing requirements, there seem to be no rules or regulations governing canned lion hunting, that is why the government can wash their hands of it,” says Michler. “It doesn’t fall under NEMBA, because they aren’t wild lions nor does it fall under the auspices of the NSPCA – because they’re not categorized as domestic animals. Everyone can exploit them.”
The DEA attempted to put the brakes on the industry in 2005 by introducing legislation prescribing that captive bred lions had to be released into a wildlife system for 24 months before being hunted. SAPA (formerly the South African Predator Breeders Association) took the then Minister of Environmental Affairs, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk to court and after losing the first round, in 2010 the Appeals Court ruled in their favor on a technical issue.
Since that case the DEA have taken no further steps to address the breeding and hunting of lions and the number of predators in captivity has more than doubled.
“The DEA have been hiding behind the outcomes of that court case for years,” says Rynette Coetzee of the Endangered Wildlife Trust. “If you issue a hunting permit you can’t divorce yourself from the welfare issues surrounding the management of that animal.”
The DEA want to hand over responsibility to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) who oversee animals kept in captivity. They believe the Department of Agriculture should regulate animal welfare matters as they can apply the Animal Protection Act that criminalizes cruelty to animals.
“How can you make Agriculture in charge of wildlife? The DEA is shirking responsibility,” says Coetzee. Allowing the categorization of our lions under the mandate of DAFF would mean that we as a nation have given the canned lion hunting industry the green light.
David Bilchitz of the SA Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law pointed out that “the mere fact that another department must also address questions of animal welfare does not relieve the DEA of its obligations in that regard.”
Tourism professionals such as Colin Bell, co-author of Africa’s Finest, question whether a few hundred lion breeders should be allowed to tarnish the international reputation of what he terms Brand South Africa. “Are we going to allow a small number of people tarnish South Africa’s international reputation as a responsible tourism destination and have a negative impact on our international long-haul tourist arrivals?”
According to Statistics South Africa the tourism industry contributed R93 billion to the GDP in 2012. PHASA says hunters spend well-over R1bn annually in South Africa.
In 2012 9 million tourists visited South Africa and of these, 9000 were foreign hunters representing a fraction of annual visitor numbers. It begs the question, should South Africa’s image suffer at the hands of such a small minority?
International indignation continues to grow. “The fact that it’s actually legal here…this horrifies most international audiences,” says Michler who travelled to Europe and Australia earlier this year to meet with government ministers.
The statistics show that 99% of all trophy hunters that come to South Africa come from outside the African continent. For this reason, Michler believes it is important to address the international community with the aim they become part of the solution. ”The killing is taking place in Africa, but the killers are coming from outside the continent,” he says.
“It’s not fair, it’s not humane, it’s not 21st century. On my watch it’s not acceptable,” says Greg Hunt, Australia’s Environment Minister.
During Michler’s visit in October, Hunt announced that his government would consider a permanent ban on the importation of lion parts and lion trophies into Australia.
Just this week the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the African lion as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) after a lion petition went viral. The listing, if finalized, could also establish a permitting system for the importation of sport-hunted lion trophies, requiring that the lions originate from countries with a scientifically sound management plan for African lions.
The good news for predators and those opposed to these practices is that momentum is growing within the international community to ban the importation of lion trophies. Michler has been invited back to Australia and will be returning to Europe early in 2015. He is also due to visit the USA later this year.
http://www.eturbonews.com/52794/canned- ... e-tourism-
