Banner image: Video screen grabs from an undercover investigation at Safari Club International‘s annual hunters‘ convention in Las Vegas. (Photo: HSI / Africa) By Don Pinnock – this article was originally in the Daily Maverick, 2 March 2022 If you want to kill animals for fun, South Africa is the place. …
Year of the Tiger?
Big cat farming in South Africa: the need for international action “South Africa is intensively breeding tigers and lions for a commercial trade in live animals and their body parts. There is also a significant commercial trade in leopard parts through hunting trophies and trade in live jaguars and their parts from captive sources. The trade …
2021 Review
In last year’s review, it was hoped that in 2021 we could start to return to some kind of ‘normality’ after Coronavirus (Covid-19) impacted the globe – it would seem we are still a long way from any guarantee of ‘normality,’ as the fight against the virus endures. On a …
30 Lions Euthanised After Burning in Free State Fires in Shocking Animal Cruelty Case
Banner Image: 30 Lions Euthanised After Burning in Free State Fires. Photos suppliedOriginal article link,”30 Lions Euthanised After Burning in Free State Fires in Shocking Animal Cruelty Case,” SA People News, 3 October 2021 Thirty captive lions on a private breeding farm in the Free State, South Africa, have had …
Identical ‘Cecil’ Killing of Another Hwange Lion, Mopane
A lion called Mopane was shot by a bowhunter on 5 August 2021 on a hunting concession bordering the unfenced Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. He was 12 years old and a breeding pride male. Original story, “Trophy hunters kill another breeding Hwange lion – Mopane,” Africa Geographic, 13 August …
South Africa’s Draft Policy Position – Elephant, Lion, Leopard and Rhinoceros
After last year’s High-Level Panel (HLP) submission process in South Africa, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) released its HLP Report in May 2021. Among many proposals, the DFFE proposes to enhance the conservation of lion and rhino species in the wild by halting their commercially driven domestication/exploitation. …
South Africa’s High Level Panel Report
Banner Image courtesy of Mark Boulton – Elsa Trust and Elsamere The Republic of South Africa’s Cabinet approved the High Level Panel’s (HLP’s) report [High Level Panel Report_15 December 2020] last week, so a briefing for stakeholders was held today, Sunday, 2 May 2021. Minster Creecy (Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and …
The Vicious Circle
It’s not just lions/big cats being cruelly exploited in South Africa’s captive breeding industry, but also vulnerable people: “One of our key findings following multiple interviews with industry stakeholders, was the exploitation, not only of South Africa’s wildlife, but the exploitation of its people too on these farms. By talking …
Challenging the Captive Lion Industry
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, …
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 …