Uproar over policy on lion bones
Exporting of skeletons slated after discovery of ‘slaughterhouse’
THE killing of more than 50 lions on a Free State farm last week has conservationists in an uproar over the government’s lion skeleton export policy. Bloemfontein SPCA senior inspector Reinet Meyer said the agency had received a complaint last week which led to the discovery of a “lion slaughterhouse”.
According to Meyer, the complaint received was that two lions were being kept in temporary containers for three days on the Wag-’n-Bietjie farm outside Bloemfontein.
What the SPCA and nature conservation authorities had discovered was a deplorable scene‚ she said, describing it as a “lion slaughterhouse”. “It was terrible,” Meyer said. “For me a lion is a stately animal‚ a kingly animal.
“But here a lion is butchered for people just to make money – it’s absolutely disgusting.”
The SPCA was busy finalising charges of animal abuse against the farm’s owner‚ Andre Steyn‚ and his foreman‚ Johan van Dyk‚ on Monday.
Despite numerous attempts to contact Steyn and Van Dyk‚ TimesLIVE was unable to reach them for comment.
It was reported on Saturday that lions from other provinces were also being transported to the “slaughterhouse”, allegedly without permits as required by law.
It was also reported that a taxidermist in Bloemfontein prepares the skeletons for export to China and the Far East after the animals’ flesh is boiled from the bone.
Animal rights activists at the Blood Lions Campaign said the Department of Environmental Affairs’ new policy permitting the export of 800 lion skeletons every year was partly to blame.
“The sale of lions’ bones, to Asia for medicine, should be a major concern for South Africans,” the Blood Lions Campaign said.
“There are about 8 000 captive-bred lions on farms across the country‚ all of which could be shot and processed in a similar manner‚ for export to Asia.
“The reality is that this is part of a cycle of commercial exploitation on South African farms which involves breeding‚ cub-petting‚ walking with lions‚ canned-captive hunting, and the trade in bones from lions and other predators.”
Meyer said 26 lions were killed on Monday last week and a further 28 were killed the following day.
“These are the animals we should be preserving‚” she said.
“So why are we preserving the animals, but on the other hand we give licences and quotas to kill the animals and export them? “It doesn’t make sense.” Meyer said the two lions that were kept in transport cages could not move around and were visibly depressed.
“It was totally disgusting that they were kept like this,” she said.
“A lion is a wild animal‚ it wants its freedom, but now it’s kept in a small cage for three days. It’s absolutely deplorable.”
Here a lion is butchered for people just to make money – it’s absolutely disgusting