Johannesburg - South Africa’s Department of Environmental
Affairs plans to establish an annual quota for the export of skeletons from
farm-bred lions and won’t authorize shipments until one has been put in place.
An export permit will only be granted when a scientific
authority has advised that it won’t be detrimental to the survival of the species,
Albi Modise, a spokesman for the department, said on Tuesday in response to
questions, adding that the proposal is for 800 skeletons to be exported. He
said the export quota for captive lions may help prevent the poaching of wild
lions as demand surges following initiatives from countries including India and
Russia to better protect tigers.
“Well-regulated trade will enable the department to
monitor a number of issues, including the possible impact on the wild
populations,” Modise said. The quota proposal will be sent to the United
Nations’ Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora.
Plunging population
There are 20 000 lions left in Africa, 43 percent less
than two decades ago, and only six countries host populations with more than
1,000 animals, Panthera, WildAid and the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit
said in a report last year. Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe
together are home to almost a third of the continent’s lions while the species
is extinct in at least 15 African countries. Lion bones, which can substitute
for tiger bones, are used in East Asian countries including China as
medicinal remedies said to treat a wide range of ailments from insomnia to
osteoporosis.
““Four Paws opposes the Department of Environmental
Affairs’ recommendation,” Fiona Miles, country director of conservation group
Four Paws South Africa, said. There should be a “total suspension of trade in
captive lions and their bones” and an end to captive-lion breeding in order to
protect the species, she said.
African lions are classified as “vulnerable” on the
International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened
Species. A WildCRU report estimated that South Africa has more than 9,000 lions
with about one third of them free-roaming in reserves and the rest kept captive
on farms. In total, 1 160 lion skeletons were legally exported from South
Africa between 2008 and 2011 after regulations on the hunting of captive bred
lions was tightened, according to the joint report by lion advocacy
organizations Panthera, WildAid and WildCRU.
The quota should be higher than 800 skeletons and the
trade poses no threat to wild lions and in fact diminishes it, Carla van der
Vyver, the CEO of the South African Predator Association, which represents lion
farmers, said in an e-mailed response to questions.
’Consistent supply’
“If there is a regulated, consistent supply at a
reasonable price, it reduces the likelihood of illegal traders getting the
opportunity to supply the market at prices that make illegal trade worthwhile,”
she said.
As many as 8 000 lions and other big cats are kept on 200
or more breeding farms, according to wildlife charity Born Free Foundation.
Lion skeletons can sell for more than $2 000 each with consumers in Asia paying
“far higher” prices than that, according to the organisation.
Tiger Tonics
The South African National Biodiversity Institute will
start a three-year study to monitor lion bone trade in South Africa and
investigate how the trade in bones from captive lions using a quota system
affects wild lion populations, Modise said. The public has until Feb. 2 to
comment and a final quota will be sent to CITES in March, he said.
“South Africa’s commercial lion breeding industry is
unspeakably cynical and cruel, poses a threat to wild lions and other big cats,
and needs to be shut down,” said Will Travers, foundation president of the Born
Free Foundation, which campaigns for the survival of the predators. “The trade
will further stimulate demand in Asia for lion bones and perpetuate the demand
for tiger-bone tonics which often contain lion bone. This will, in turn, put
already beleaguered wild tigers, as well as lions, at greater risk from
poachers seeking a quick profit.