‘Captive lions lose fear of people’

CAPTIVE lions like Shamba have lost their fear of people‚ making them dangerous to interact with.

This is the view of the Endangered Wildlife Trust senior wildlife trade officer Dr Kelly Marnewick following the mauling of Michael Hodge by a 10year-old lion he had hand-raised from birth in Thabazimbi on Saturday.

Marnewick said there was no conservation benefit in keeping captive lions.

“Captive lions lose the fear of people. That is why you see these kinds of incidents‚” Marnewick said.

She said these attacks were not uncommon, pointing to another incident in February in which a 22year-old woman was killed by a lion at a private game reserve.

Marnewick said she would advise people not to visit such places because of safety concerns.

There were also concerns about the welfare of the animals‚ links to the shooting of captive lions and the bone trade, as well as potential negative impacts on wild populations.

Lions should be enjoyed where they belong‚ in the wild, she said.

“Wild lions are usually scared of people. In this incident‚ it appears that the lion was fed from the truck daily and thus likely associated the truck and people with feeding.”

Marnewick said the trust had been calling for more effective regulation of these enterprises.

In March‚ the wildlife trust said it had been calling for radical change in the captive African lion industry in South Africa since before 2009.

It said about 8 000 lions were in captivity in the country and were kept for various commercial purposes including cub petting‚ “walking-with” initiatives‚ photographic tourism and for hunting and their bones. –