As we await Minister Creecy’s public announcement of South Africa’s High Level Panel recommendations regarding the captive breeding industry (and other ‘sustainable utilisation’ policies), South Africa’s National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) recent report, “NSPCA Challenges the Captive Lion Industry” (February 2021), makes for a sombre read and reminder of the cruel, …
Trophy Hunting – The Heart of the Matter
Banner Image – Merelize Van Der Merwe and her Valentine’s Day present trophy hunting kill (assisted by Professional Hunter, Chrisjan Bakker) – The Mirror, 25 February 2021 Trophy hunting’s public reputation is not enhanced by those that seek to publicly glory in their killings, or the excuse(s) given for such killings …
Breeding and trading endangered wild animals is not conservation – it threatens their survival
Banner image “Tiger for sale in Bangkok.” By Andreas Wilson-Spath*, Daily Maverick, 9 February 2021 – This article was provided by the Conservation Action Trust. Conservationists have demonstrated that legalised trade and commercial breeding of wild animals stimulates demand, encourages poachers and smugglers and ultimately pushes species towards extinction in the wild. A …
Man Facing Jail in Slovakia for Illicitly Importing ‘Canned’ Tiger Trophy
Flemming Emil Hanson (Zenger, 26 January 2021) reports that “A hunter is facing up to five years in jail for killing an endangered tiger in South Africa, importing it to Slovakia” and then using it “in violation of the law to promote business activities in connection with the mediation …
Is ‘celebrity power’ undermining global conservation efforts?
Are celebrities (and by association the public) misguided in their support of trophy hunting import/export bans? This is the question posed by Alex Morss, in a 15 January 2021 article published in The Guardian – “Celebrity power undermining global conservation efforts, [some] scientists warn” – ie. the accusation being that …
Saving the ‘Highland Tiger’
Banner image courtesy of Saving Wildcats Saving Wildcats (building on the work of the previous body, Scottish Wildcat Action) launched a project in 2020 dedicated to the conservation and recovery of the endangered Scottish Wildcat (the ‘Highland Tiger’) species. Saving Wildcats aims “to prevent the extinction of wildcats in Scotland by breeding and …
2020 Review
“Scotland to ban mass culling of mountain hares” (The Guardian 18 June 2020) – Image courtesy of Robert Harding Well, 2020 has been a year to remember and forget at the same time…..and as we head into 2021, the legacy of 2020 will be coming with us for the foreseeable……hopefully, …
NGO Appeal for Closure of Captive Lion Breeding Industry and Associated Activities
PDF version of letter – NGO Appeal for Closure of Captive Lion Breeding Industry and Associated Activities, 2 December 2020 Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Environment House, 473 Steve Biko, Arcadia, Pretoria 0083, South Africa For attention Faroze Shaik, Chief of Staff [email protected] …
Trophy Hunting is a Major Threat to Lions – Interpretive Bias
By Jared Kukura, Wild Things Initiative, 6 December 2020 Once again, a scientific paper is presented in a way to disparage critics of the trophy hunting community despite its shortcomings and potentially contradictory interpretations. The Threat Analysis for More Effective Lion Conservation attempted to provide a framework for defining issues plaguing lions which …
Call for China to Amend its Wildlife Protection Law
Considering how China’s pharmaceutical industry continues to blatantly utilises wildlife (with the support of naïve western investment), the call is long overdue for China (and others) to curtail the commercial exploitation of species such as pangolins, leopards, tiger, bears and elephants…..for ‘cures,’ trinkets and status symbols. 27 non-governmental organisations call …