Despite overwhelming worldwide opposition, including a parliamentary resolution to close down the captive lion breeding industry, SA’s government is ignoring red flags that the industry is damaging the country’s reputation and deliberating on a 2020 annual trade quota for the export of lion bones.
The department of environment, forestry & fisheries said in April that the decision for a lion bone quota has been deferred to later this year. It claims that public opposition and a 2019 court case between the minister and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA), who say breeding and trade in captive-bred lion parts raise significant welfare issues, have delayed determining last year’s export quota.
Wildlife trade experts say the legal trade in lion bones, used for medicinal purposes in southeast Asia, is fuelling an illegal market.
They say that the permit system is weak and creates loopholes for illegal wildlife trafficking, which is further affecting wildlife conservation. There are an estimated 12,000 captive lions in SA, while fewer than 10,000 wild lions roam the continent. More than 6,000 lion skeletons have been exported from SA since 2008.
According to the department, the decision will be based on the recommendations of a panel, mandated to review policies, legislation and practices on matters related to the management, breeding, hunting, trade and handling of four iconic species, including lions.
The panel is required to provide recommendations to the minister by the end of November. But this comes after a 2018 parliamentary committee recommended that the captive lion breeding and lion bone trade industry be closed and a high court judgment that previous annual export lion skeleton quotas were illegal because they ignored animal welfare.
“Should the department issue a lion bone quota now, no matter the stockpiles that are accumulating on lion breeding farms, it will send a very clear signal that the voice of public opinion, scientific reason, and of legal judgment has been ignored and that only money and no doubt corruption matters on the issue of lion bones and captive breeding,” says Paul Funston, lion species director at Panthera, an organisation exclusively devoted to the conservation of the world’s 40 wild cat species and their landscapes.
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With international criticism, reports highlighting animal cruelty and the lack of conservation value, conservationists are questioning the minister’s motivation in considering a trade in lion bones which supports the continuation of the captive lion industry. They say she is wasting resources when the writing is on the wall for the industry to be closed down.
“The lion breeding industry is making a few lion breeders a lot of money but is costing Brand SA billions,” says Colin Bell, a wildlife conservationist and founder of Wilderness Safaris.
“Not only is this industry barbaric, it is terrible for Brand SA and has cost SA many millions — even billions in lost tourist arrivals, revenues and jobs when tourists elect to rather travel elsewhere.”
According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, more than R400bn is generated by SA’s travel and tourism industry. The captive lion breeding industry supports little more than 1,000 jobs.
The department claims welfare will be considered in determining the 2020 quota with the engagement of welfare experts. But there are no welfare authorities on the panel. The only welfare specialist on the panel, Karen Trendler, has resigned and the NSPCA, which received a late invite, has declined membership for reasons it won’t divulge.
Others, including the Humane Society Africa and environmental lawyer Cormac Cullinan, also declined membership, saying that the panel is weighted with parties invested in the commercial use of wildlife and wildlife body parts and has no interest in welfare.
Despite the existence of animal welfare legislation in SA, it lacks adequate representation and enforcement. While the department is mandated to oversee biodiversity conservation, animal welfare falls under the department of agriculture, land reform & rural development, which in turn routinely passes the buck to the NSPCA, a nongovernmental body tasked with enforcing the Animal Protection Act but which receives no state funding.
With limited welfare enforcement, more than 450 breeding facilities capitalise, unhindered, on breeding lions for hunting or trade. Many of these facilities pose as lion conservation centres or sanctuaries, but on closer inspection are more akin to lion factories.
Lion conservation experts say breeding lions in captivity has no conservation value. In a statement, the Endangered Wildlife Trust says: “The captive keeping and breeding of large carnivores does not contribute to carnivore conservation in SA.
“There are nationally and internationally recognised conservation plans for cheetahs, lions, wild dogs and leopards and none of them identify captive breeding as a required conservation action.”
Recently, studies have shown that lion breeding farms are a “hotbed” for zoonotic diseases. One report says captive lions carry a range of harmful pathogens, including Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
With many lion farms offering cub petting and walking, these facilities are posing a real threat to tourists and staff.
This article was funded by Conservation Action Trust. MELISSA REITZ
