Slow progress on shutting down captive lion industry
TWO years have passed since the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment announced its intention to phase out the captive lion industry, but progress has been slow.
This is according to global animal welfare organisation Four Paws, which fears the government is showing signs of not knowing how to implement the phase-out.
Keeping lions in captivity is a multimillion-dollar industry in South Africa, where there are an estimated 12 000 captive lions. At every stage of their lives they are used for profit – tourists pay to pet cubs at predator parks, walk with juvenile and adult lions and take selfies; and then there’s canned hunting or trophy hunting and the lion bone trade.
There is a moratorium on the bone trade, but farmers have openly said they stockpile bones in the hope that the ban will be lifted.
Four Paws said animal welfare at these facilities, whose primary goal is commercial gain, is often poor to non-existent.
“Throughout the farms in South Africa, there is evidence of the intensive breeding in inhumane, dirty, overcrowded conditions, where the animals are often diseased or even inbred.”
This have been widely documented throughout the past decade and the country has seen its reputation as a leader in conservation tarnished. Four Paws said the country was the world’s largest exporter of big cats and big cat parts.
It further said that South Africa was perpetuating a demand for big cat parts, compromising conservation and enforcement efforts in other parts of the world and across all big cat species.
Barbara Creecy, the Minister of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, declared at the time of the announcement, two years ago, that “the captive lion breeding industry did not contribute to conservation and was doing damage to South Africa’s conservation and tourism reputation”.
Four Paws said a survey it conducted in 2022 showed that 66% of South Africans did not support big cat farming for commercial purposes and 94% agreed that big cats should receive better protection through legislation.
Since the announcement in 2021, Creecy’s department has established a ministerial task team to identify and recommend voluntary exit options for facilities in the captive lion industry.
Last month, the task team invited participants who would consider a voluntary exit from the captive lion industry to register their details with it. It also called for stakeholder engagement where many organisations provided information on the topic.
The director of Four Paws in South Africa, Fiona Miles, said: “What people forget is that the longer the process of the phase-out takes, we still have what could be more than 12 000 lions and an unknown number of tigers kept on farms across the country.”
She said many of these farms were still intensively breeding animals, meaning the problem continued to grow.
“Without an explicit moratorium on breeding, the number of lions and tigers enduring this may still be increasing. The reality of this situation is that two years on from the initial announcement nothing has changed for the big cats on the ground or their protection,” Miles said.
The lack of effective regulation on keeping, breeding and trading in tigers in South Africa has yet to be addressed.
“All five big cat species of the Panthera genus are in decline and given that all big cat trade is interconnected, we believe South Africa is contributing to the decline of big cat species globally. It has become an international issue that requires urgent action,” Miles said.