If South Africa Ends Lion Breeding, What to Do with Captive Cats?

The Nineteen Nineties noticed rapid growth within the South African personal wildlife {industry}, when massive numbers of cattle, sheep, and goat ranchers changed their home inventory with wild animals, which rich hunters would pay to shoot. Many hunters had been after lions, and to fulfill rising demand, some ranchers started breeding massive numbers of the large cats in cages or small enclosures. Soon, a whole lot of ranchers had been concerned within the business, some with a whole lot of lions. Their shoppers paid between $25,000 and $40,000 to shoot a captive-bred cat — considerably lower than a real wild lion hunt and extra time-efficient, too, as a result of the animals normally had no concern of people and had been straightforward to search out.

Many ranches additionally started internet hosting overseas volunteers, who paid handsomely to hand-raise lion cubs, and charged vacationers to carry and be photographed with younger animals. Some used adolescent lions for “walking with lions” excursions round their properties; when the animals turned too massive and harmful, they had been bought to be shot by trophy hunters.

Ranchers then realized to revenue from lifeless lions. Previously, the bones and meat of shot animals had been dumped, after their skulls and pores and skin had been eliminated for taxidermy. But in 2008, ranchers started legally exporting bones to Asia, the place they had been bought as costly “tiger bone,” for use in conventional Chinese drugs and for different makes use of. Before lengthy, ranchers and middlemen had been yearly exporting a whole lot of skeletons, and typically greater than a thousand.

Conservationists estimated that by 2015, about 200 ranches held a minimum of 8,000 captive-bred lions. Almost the entire 638 lions that had been trophy-hunted in South Africa that yr got here from this inhabitants. Most hunters had been American, collectively paying $16 million in trophy charges. Although lion breeders mentioned their {industry} was an vital a part of the “biodiversity economy,” producing revenue and jobs from wild species, a strong backlash was building in opposition to it.

Journalists uncovered poor situations on some lion farms, the place sick, underfed animals had been crowded in tiny enclosures. Animal welfare organizations’ undercover investigations revealed that some lion breeders had been telling their “voluntourists” that animals can be launched into the wild for conservation functions. (South Africa’s wild lion inhabitants isn’t endangered.) Leaked movies of captive-bred lion hunts confirmed tame animals — typically apparently drugged — positioned in small, fenced areas for unskilled guests to shoot. Over time, reporters documented more and more frequent incidents of captive-bred lions injuring or killing ranch employees, lion homeowners, and guests. Tourism specialists mentioned that breeders had been damaging “Brand South Africa,” hurting the much more vital ecotourism {industry}.

In 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that captive-bred lions provided no conservation profit as a result of they didn’t incentivize the safety of pure habitat and it banned the import of these trophies. (The company continued to permit a small variety of wild lion trophy imports from South Africa as a result of a portion of charges did help wild lion conservation.) This prompted some breeders to mass-euthanize their lions and promote their bones, however in 2019 a South African decide effectively shut down such exports on animal welfare grounds.

That identical yr, atmosphere minister Barbara Creecy arrange a panel of specialists to develop a administration coverage for 4 iconic species, together with lions. The panel beneficial that South Africa not breed or preserve lions in captivity, or use captive lions or their physique components commercially. The National Cabinet, which incorporates President Cyril Ramaphosa, agreed, and in May of 2021 Creecy introduced that her ministry would begin the consultations legally required to shut the {industry} down. She later instituted a task team that features conservationists and lion specialists to plan a “voluntary exit strategy” for captive lion breeders. The lion breeders’ days had been numbered, or so it appeared.

But now, greater than two years after the minister’s announcement, the duty workforce has begun growing plans to assist lion breeders and their weak employees build various businesses. Yet it stays unclear what is going to occur with the lions themselves, or how quickly the {industry} will truly stop operation.

The first stumbling block is money. Lion breeders say their {industry} was developed legally, has paid taxes, and has offered employment, so that they’re entitled to compensation. But the federal government, battling failing infrastructure and a 32 p.c unemployment price, says it can’t contribute vital funds to a shutdown. “They want us to voluntarily exit,” mentioned Hannes Wessels, of the South African Predator Association (SAPA), which represents among the largest breeders. “But we have one question for the government: What’s in it for us?” Although there are persistent rumors of personal donors who’ve agreed to fund a minimum of some points of a shutdown, neither the quantities on provide nor the names of donors might be confirmed.

Some animal welfare activists have proposed that captive-bred lions be moved to well-managed “sanctuaries.” These spacious services enable cats to stay out their pure lifespans, forestall breeding, and forbid pointless dealing with and business exploitation. There are, nevertheless, only a few accredited lion sanctuaries in South Africa, and these are already full.

Some breeders have prompt changing their services to sanctuaries, but it surely’s unclear how these can be financed. It prices about $10,000 a yr to feed and supply take care of a sanctuary lion, mentioned Cathrine Cornwall-Nyquist of the Panthera Africa Big Cat Sanctuary, close to Cape Town. “Sanctuaries will probably only be an option for a small number of lions,” mentioned Louise De Waal of Blood Lions, an activist group that campaigns in opposition to the captive {industry}.

Another various can be large-scale euthanization of captive lions, an concept that some conservationists and animal welfare activists help. But they acknowledge such a transfer would generate a world media firestorm for all events — together with the federal government, anti-industry marketing campaign teams, and the lion breeders. “No one wants to fund the mass euthanasia of lions,” mentioned De Waal.

Kamalasen Chetty, chairperson of the exit technique job workforce, mentioned, “There are clear no-nos, and one of those is mass euthanasia.” His group isn’t contemplating that choice. It is, nevertheless, open to placing down a small variety of unwell or very outdated captive lions after evaluation by veterinarians, he mentioned.

Breeders say that their animals might be “rewilded” for conservation, citing a few industry-funded research that present captive-bred lions can study to hunt for themselves, and that captive lions on the ranches sampled are not inbred. But Paul Funston, govt director of African Lion Conservation, mentioned that every one the accessible lion habitat in nationwide parks and personal reserves is already absolutely occupied; the nation has a surfeit of true wild lions. In addition to these on government-owned land, there are about 900 wild lions on some 58 personal reserves within the nation, he mentioned. These cats breed properly, he added, and if extra protected land turned accessible, conservationists would inventory it from these populations, not with captive-bred cats.

There are indicators {that a} minority of lion homeowners will signal as much as voluntarily exit. A couple of smaller-scale breeders seem like promoting their animals to bigger operators, mentioned Mpho Mokoena, an inspector with the National Council for the Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA), who visits lion ranches frequently. A handful of searching outfitters have recently offered discounted lion shoots, apparently to eliminate cats, and Blood Lions says that about 200 lions are live-exported yearly — largely to Asia and the Middle East — apparently to get across the bone export ban.

But there’s no proof that almost all of breeders intends to cease. Mokoena mentioned that some had been transporting lions to extra loosely regulated provinces or building services in neighboring Zimbabwe. Breeders have re-branded their captive-bred cats as “ranch lions” and are welcoming again American shooters. Even although the U.S. nonetheless doesn’t enable these trophies to be imported, Pennsylvania-based Kanati Taxidermy Studio has developed a workaround: shooters ship the corporate photographs and measurements of their kills, from which it creates ultra-realistic synthetic trophies — Americans now not must ship actual skulls, skins, and claws to their taxidermists. Wessels of SAPA mentioned that 2023 has seen unusually massive numbers of lion shooters visiting South Africa, resulting in a recent scarcity of trophy-grade captive-bred lions.

And though the federal government has not issued permits for bone exports for years, some breeders, anticipating the success of a authorized problem to the cessation of those exports, at the moment are stockpiling bones: Wessels says he is aware of of a minimum of 2,000 stockpiled skeletons within the nation. He and others verify that some lion breeders proceed to promote bones to be smuggled out of South Africa, and Wessels mentioned that he doesn’t intend to cease breeding. “There’s a big fight coming,” he mentioned, “and I don’t think the lion farmers are going to lose. I will not stop breeding. Never!”

Dries van Coller, CEO of the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa, which helps the well-regulated captive breeding of lions, mentioned the federal government merely doesn’t have the capability to control the {industry} and is merely “kicking the can down the road.” The authorities, he mentioned, should both say, “Okay guys, let’s bite the bullet. We are going to euthanize a whole lot of lions and suffer the fallout from that,” or it should work with {industry} to discover a “comprehensive, fair means” of coping with 1000’s of captive huge cats, which may embrace searching them.

“The future of these animals still hangs in the balance,” mentioned Blood Lions’ Louise De Waal. “What to do with them is the big elephant in the room.”