World Animal Protection report:
“Breeding wild animals for profit is cruel and poses a threat to humans, according to a report by World Animal Protection. But what’s startling is the NGO’s estimate of the numbers — about 5.5 billion animals from around 487 wild species worldwide” – “Cruel and needless — the grim truth about wildlife farming exposed in new report,” Daily Maverick, 1 April 2024
“Bred for profit: The truth about global wildlife farming” – April 2024
Big numbers
- Millions of crocodiles in 47 countries are farmed for their skins and meat.
- More than 300 million turtles are farmed in China alone.
- Nearly 100 million foxes, mink and raccoons are farmed in 27 countries.
- Almost 9,500 deer farms hold more than 452,000 sika deer.
- Bear farms hold 24,000 Asiatic bears on farms across China, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and South Korea.
- Tigers were found to be farmed in their thousands in several countries, including South Africa.
- Between 8,000 and 12,000 lions are kept on 366 farms in South Africa.
- Millions of ostriches are recorded on farms in over 20 countries.
There was little information on the size of wildlife farms, although one report from Vietnam documented 4,099 farms containing more than 996,000 animals from 175 species.
Source: “Cruel and needless — the grim truth about wildlife farming exposed in new report,” Daily Maverick, 1 April 2024
Further Reading
“Bred for Profit,” World Animal Protection website