Parliamentary Report – Captive Lion Breeding, South Africa

BREAKING NEWS: New Parliamentary report calls for an end to captive lion breeding in South Africa:

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs on the Colloquium on Captive Lion Breeding for Hunting in South Africa: harming or promoting the conservation image of the country, held on 21 and 22 August 2018, report dated 8 November 2018 (released 14 November 2018)

“Captive breeding of lions for hunting has long been a blemish on South Africa’s wildlife and tourism landscape…..There is generally no conservation value in the captive lion breeding industry in South Africa. “

Well, let’s hope the lessons from this robustly written Parliamentary report (resulting from the colloquium held in August 2018) are finally heeded and the mass of negative elements derived from the abhorrent captive breeding industry finally means decisive action is taken to close the industry down in all its forms, including the lion bone trade.

The Tuberculosis (TB) (link reference, Question 4, “’Captive’ Lions – DEA Fails to Answer Questions Fully,” IWB and CACH, 21 August 2017) risk (from the human consumption of lions bones) and the potential build up of liability for South Africa has also been given due prominence in the report (at Paragraph 7.9).

The Republic of South Africa, Parliamentary Committee for Environmental Affairs has called “for a Policy and Legislative Review on Captive Lion Breeding for Hunting and Lion Bone Trade” (Press Release dated 12 November 2018).

Statement from Blood Lions:

“This is an important day for Blood Lions and all those who have been fighting against the captive lion breeding industry in South Africa. After some years in production, Blood Lions launched the feature documentary film and global campaign to end all exploitative predator practices in 2015.
Since then, and together with a number of our partners in South Africa and around the world, we have fought hard to expose the horrors that comprise the commercial exploitation of Africa’s most iconic species. Blood Lions acknowledges the immense work being done by so many across the conservation, tourism and welfare sectors. While this is a small victory for everyone involved, we also understand that much work still lies ahead. In this regard, we thank the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environment Affairs for their immense efforts to date, and urge them to continue this process until the brutality ends.”

Further Reading:

Linda Park, Voice4Lions, “TB in lions,” YouTube, 11 February 2021