The SA Predator Breeders Association, commenting on a pending canned lioned hunting case where lion breeders are challenging the government on closing their industry down, says it will have 'enormous consequences' for the 123 lion breeders operating in SA.

A Cape Times report quotes Association spokesperson Carel van Heerden, who said members have invested millions of rands in the industry over the past 10 to 15 years on buying and fencing land, getting wildlife permits, building hunting lodges, marketing costs or acquiring a gene pool to produce top-quality trophy lions. He argues that lion breeders contribute to wildlife conservation by relieving hunting pressure on wild, free-ranging lions. But SA lion expert Dr Paul Funston says he does not buy the argument that hunting captive-bred animals relieves pressure on wild lions in game reserves. 'Since the inception of canned hunting there has been no reduction in lion hunting outside SA - so their argument falls flat.'
Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)


If local lion breeders lose their case, the captive-breeding/hunting industry will have to shut down or go underground, notes a report on the IoL site. When this happens, lion breeders say, there will be no alternative but to 'euthanase' most of the captive-bred lion population estimated at about 5 000 animals. Local animal welfare groups say there are not enough zoos or sanctuaries to accommodate so many lions and acknowledge most of them will probably have to be destroyed. There is also a possibility the government will grant the lion-breeders a phasing-out period to wind up their businesses and offer the last captive lions to hunters and other takers. But there is also a much grimmer alternative - turning lions into the equivalent of bone meal. David Newton, the Johannesburg-based head of the international wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic, said intelligence sources indicate cat bone traders in Asia could be prepared to accept lion bones as an alternative to tiger bone, as the two big cat species are closely related and also capable of interbreeding. In his opinion, local wildlife officials could be entitled to sign a Convention on Illegal Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) export permit for lion bones if scientific experts decided such trade was 'not detrimental' to the species.
Full report on the IoL site