Lion Park back to cub petting

A ban on the practice ‘would cost R100m’

A R100 million decision. That’s how the controversial Lion and Safari Park has described its move to backtrack on an earlier commitment to stop cub petting at its new premises in the North West.

In a letter to the Campaign Against Canned Hunting (Cach), the national council of SPCAs and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) last week, the park said it had resumed cub petting for financial reasons.

The NSPCA’s wildlife unit and the EWT said the park was now “confusing” people.

In 2014, a CBS 60 Minutes exposé revealed the park, then in Lanseria, bred lions to ensure a year-round supply of cubs. When they reached maturity, they were shipped out to canned hunting outfits because they were too dangerous to be near tourists.

In its letter to the conservation groups, the park said the new Lion and Safari Park had opened on July 16, offering only ethical lion experiences, with no cub petting.

“Unfortunately this led to a dramatic and unexpected drop in the number of visitors and tour operators.

“The net result: we were not competing on a level playing field and, unless our competitors also stopped the cub petting, the massive R100m investment in our new worldclass facility, the survival of our business and the livelihoods of all our staff would be at stake.

“Reluctantly, we had no choice but to temporarily re-introduce cub petting.”

Yolan Friedmann, chief executive of the EWT, said while they understood the business challenge, it would be better for the “lion park to rather be part of the process of educating the public as to the serious pitfalls associated with most captive lion facilities, and those that offer cub petting”.

While profitability could take a short-term knock, they were sure an educated public would appreciate the lion park’s commitment to help clean up “a rather dubious industry”.

Isabel Wentzel, who runs the SPCA’s wildlife unit, agreed: “Cub petting is done to lure people to these facilities. This decision by the lion park is a money thing, that’s all. There’s a big move from overseas tour companies not to bring tourists to facilities.”

In its letter, the park said its cubs were never sold to hunters. Once they were too old for petting, they were kept until they died naturally or were donated to reputable zoos and parks.

Linda Park, the Joburg director of Cach, met park management last weekend, saying afterwards the exceptional facilities meant they now had a massive mortgage bond and without petting would probably have been in serious financial trouble by the end of the year. It was not practical for one facility to take the responsibility of abandoning cub petting.

Cach founder Chris Mercer said they were talking to various organisations in a bid to “reach our goal of achieving a ban on the captive breeding of lions for interaction and canned lion hunting”.

“The only way to win this ban is to engage with all organisations and persons, both ethical and non-ethical, to achieve a result,” Mercer said.

‘Cub petting

is done to lure people to these facilities. This decision is a money thing,

that’s all’