Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Exposé of lion farming
RENOWNED British wildlife conservationist and author Richard Peirce says he was left shocked and horrified during his visit to South Africa when he visited various lion farms to shoot his latest documentary, Lions, Bones, and Bullets.
“It was very difficult to accept that the king of the animal world was being factory farmed like a cow or pig. We often witnessed lions being kept in really dismal circumstances, and it was clear that the main motivation was financial, and there was very little interest in the animals’ welfare as long as they could be kept alive until they became an adult bag of bones, and then could be cashed in for profit.”
Peirce and his two film-making partners, Anton Leach and Jasmine Duthie, recently released the gripping wildlife documentary.
It was completed after nearly three years of investigation and filming in South Africa, Vietnam and Laos.
It features interviews with local breeders as well as facilities in which big cats are housed prior to being shot for the trade in lion bones.
Peirce and his team have also revealed their shock and horror during their visits to the Far East.
“Seeing a vast array of wild and domestic animals all under one roof being sold for consumption was a novel and upsetting experience.
“Many of the species being sold in these Far Eastern wet markets are actually being sold illegally because the countries in which the markets exist have signed up to a treaty called Cites which lists endangered species and countries who are in the treaty have theoretically agreed to be bound by its terms and not sell these endangered species.
“Equally shocking and depressing were the products on open sale in shops which were also being sold illegally according to Cites listings. We found tiger products (which may have been lion), ivory, pangolins, rhino horn, and many other species on open sale.”
Parliamentarians attending the screening of the documentary included the IFP’s Narend Singh, the DA’s Dave Bryant as well as members of the Portfolio Committee on Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
The documentary is follow-on from Peirce’s book, Cuddle Me, Kill Me, which was an investigation into the captive lion breeding industry.
“Originally the main reason the lions were bred in captivity was to satisfy the demand for canned hunting. Cubs are taken away from their mothers at only a few days old for various reasons all of which were related to profit ... Most of the time the end of the exploitation chain was a bullet from a canned hunter’s gun. However, in recent years various bans on importing lion trophies have greatly reduced the demand for canned hunting, and most of the bones now end up in the bone trade and are sent to the Far East and China.
“This is because it is impossible to tell a lion skeleton apart from a tiger skeleton, and due to the high demand for tiger products in the Far East lions are now substituted.”
Peirce says lion farmers are conducting a 100% legal activity, and the way humans view cow farming as opposed to lion farming is to a degree based on the emotion behind the iconic image of the lion.
“The reactions to Lions, Bones and Bullets so far have been that people have been shocked, angered, and dismayed. However, on a general level there has almost been a reaction of gratitude for the information we have presented and the awareness it has triggered.”