Conservationists growl over captive-bred lion exports

Lion bone trade is a serious threat to wild lion populations. Picture: EPA

Lion bone trade is a serious threat to wild lion populations. Picture: EPA

Published Feb 2, 2017

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Cape Town – Conservation groups have called on South Africa to halt all captive-bred lion exports pending the outcome of studies.

This, after a Department of Environmental Affairs proposal of an annual commercial export quota of 800 skeletons from captive-bred lions.

Public comment on the proposed quota closes on Thursday.

The EMS Foundation, Captured in Africa Foundation, and conservation groups have urged the department to institute a zero export quota, fearing that exports could endanger the lives of wild lions across the continent.

EMS Foundation director Michele Pickover said: “The Department of Environmental Affairs appears to be setting an arbitrary quota, presumably under pressure from wildlife breeders, without considering what the wider impacts of such a trade will be on already struggling wild populations of lions and other big cats."

“The captive-breeding industry is poorly-policed with many facilities operating ‘under the radar’, hardly a situation that inspires confidence that any quota system can be effectively managed."

“Simply because, prior to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) resolution, the South African government had given the canned predator industry free rein in terms of the lion bone trade, does not mean that it should be allowed to continue.”

Captured in Africa Foundation director and founder Drew Abrahamson said completed research asserts that lion bone trade is a significant threat to wild lion populations.

The groups suggest as many as 8 000 lions and other big cats exist across more than 200 captive breeding facilities in South Africa.

The intensively bred animals are used for tourism purposes, to supply lions for the “canned hunting” industry, and to generate body parts and products for trade.

Between 2006 and 2015, skeletons and skulls of an estimated 3 217 captive-bred African lions were traded from South Africa for personal, commercial, and hunting trophy purposes, primarily to Vietnam, Laos, and the US.

Demand for lion bone is high in Southeast Asia, where it is sought as a replacement for tiger bone in traditional medicines and tonics.

Department spokesperson Albi Modise emphasised that no exports of lion bones will be authorised in 2017 until the export quota for the trade in these specimens has been established and communicated to the Cites Secretariat.

The department says the proposed quota is based on an assessment of previous year’s trade data, including trade in bones and hunting trophies. The South African National Biodiversity Institute will also initiate a study to monitor the lion bone trade in South Africa and investigate how the trade in captive-produced lion bone under a quota system affects wild lion populations.

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Cape Times

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