S. Africa MPs: End captive lion hunting

JoHannesBURg:

South African lawmakers will seek to end the breeding of lions for trophy hunting and the trade in their bones, setting parliament on a collision course with a powerful industry.

South Africa has as many as 8,000 lions in captivity being bred for hunting, the bone trade, tourism and academic research, according to estimates by wildlife groups.

By contrast there are 3,000 wild lions living in the country’s national parks where hunting is prohibited.

Trophy hunting is a US$36mil (RM150.85mil) industry, but parliamentarians have been emboldened by high-profile global campaigns to push for its demise.

An environmental affairs committee comprising lawmakers recommended on Nov 12 that the government reconsider the rules governing the breeding of captive lions for hunting and bone harvesting.

The global trade of body parts from lions killed in the wild is banned by international treaties – but permitted for animals bred in captivity.

The MPs resolved that ministers should review the issue “with a view to putting an end to this practice”.

The decision followed two days of crunch talks between MPs, breeders and animal welfare campaigners.

Lawmakers also want the govern- ment to “reconsider” its recent decision to nearly double to 1,500 the quota of lion skeletons that can be legally traded this year.

In the past decade South Africa has exported the big cat bones to Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and other markets in South-East Asia for use in jewellery as well as their supposed medicinal properties.

“South Africa allows a practice everybody is turning their backs to,” said committee chief Phillemon Mapulane.

“(It undermines) conservation, but (benefits) a small number of breeders without scientific or conservation basis,” said Mapulane. —