Sunday Times

Cuddle Me, Kill Me

by Richard Pierce Penguin Random House, R200

- Paul Ash

The explosion in lion “sanctuarie­s”, where tourists can walk with lions and cuddle cubs, is a disgracefu­l business that Pierce attacks in this moving book.

Most so-called big-cat sanctuarie­s do zero for predator conservati­on. They are money-making schemes, funded by gullible tourists who are easily bamboozled by greedy operators, he says.

Pierce also takes aim at canned-lion hunting operations. Despite continued negative publicity, both here and overseas, hunters still come to South Africa to hunt lions under conditions that clearly pervert the principles of fair chase.

My feeling? If you really want to hunt a lion — if somehow killing a lion will make you a manly man — then hunt it the way the Maasai do: on foot, with a spear, and in a place where the lion can escape.

That way the playing field will be somewhat levelled, and if you get chowed, so be it. Anything else is just murder. —

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