US intervention ‘spawns’ new market for lion parts
SOUTH Africa’s captive lion industry is in an “economically unstable state” after the 2016 US lion trophy import suspension and implementation of the government’s 800 lion skeleton export quota in 2017.
But it appears the US intervention has “inadvertently spawned” a new lucrative direct export market for whole skeletons of euthanised lions.
This is among the findings of a paper, “Born Captive: A survey of the lion breeding, keeping and hunting industries in SA”, published in the scientific journal Plos One, this week.
In August 2017, the researchers, Dr Vivienne Williams of Wits University and Michael ‘t Sas-rolfes of Oxford University, launched a national captive lion survey. This was completed in May 2018 and elicited 117 responses, representing a substantial proportion of the captive lion industry.
“The survey results clearly illustrate the impact of a USA suspension on trophy imports from captive-bred South African lions, which affected 82% of respondents and economically destabilised the industry,” write the authors.
“Respondents are adapting in various ways, with many euthanising lions and becoming increasingly reliant on income from skeleton export sales. With rising consumer demand for body parts, notably skulls, the export quota presents a further challenge to the industry, regulators and conservationists, with 52% of respondents indicating they would adapt by seeking ‘alternative markets’ for lion bones if the allocation restricted business.”
The US suspension changed industry perceptions and behaviour over the export market for other lion body parts. “Whereas industry participants viewed bone exports to Asia as an optional supplementary by-product market from 2008 to 2015, their interest in this market grew immediately following the suspension; this growing interest is likely driven by increasing market prices for skeletons over the last five years. Evidence suggests 2016 heralded a new era for the trade in body parts once large volumes of intact skeletons from euthanised lions entered the export market. The price data reflect a significant and rising price premium for skeletons with skulls, reaching price levels for females that are close to their live sales prices.
“It therefore appears that the USA intervention has inadvertently spawned a new lucrative direct export market for whole skeletons of euthanised lions from breeding farms.”
Industry participants are adapting to trade restrictions in different ways, some of which are not easy to predict.
“Those involved with hunting are seeking new markets and this sector may grow again, albeit at slower rates. However, if there is no substantial change in USA policy, or if there are further EU lion trophy import restrictions, breeders will feel pressurised to explore further options to mitigate expected financial losses. Some are likely to scale down significantly, if not disinvest from lion breeding altogether. At least some will euthanise their animals and attempt to recover costs through sale of skeletons. Most breeders appear hopeful or expectant of at least some ongoing access to an export market for lion body parts.”
They found three types of potential lion skeleton exporters: hunting industry participants who seek to continue the traditional by-product trade; downscaling breeders euthanising animals to recoup financial losses; and, a new category of commercial breeders “who might deliberately continue to act as bespoke intact skeleton suppliers”.
“The extent to which the third category is capable of persisting as a viable stand-alone business sector remains to be seen. Nevertheless, all three sources must compete for allocations of any future skeleton export quotas. The government must evaluate its quota-setting policies against this backdrop of both increasing economic pressures for all industry participants to become sellers and evident increasing demand from Asian buyers (reflected by rising prices, especially for skulls).
“The fact that a large proportion of respondents have stated that they will seek ‘other markets’ for lion bones and other body parts signals the potential for a parallel illegal market to develop if quotas are viewed by industry participants as excessively restrictive… Should any South African captive lion industry participants develop closer links with organised criminal enterprises, the effects could be irreversible and result in greater and more widespread threats of focused commercial-scale poaching of wild felids.”
Given an objective of informing future trade policy decisions, areas that warrant ongoing monitoring and investigation, write the authors, include the total number of captive lions, trends in market prices paid for live animals and skeletons, including the premium paid for skulls, the prevalence of lion poisonings and poaching on private property and how facilities continue to adapt to trade bans/restrictions and/or a quota.
¡ In 2018, the export quota for lion
skeletons was raised to 1500.