Captive Lions /Canned Hunting in SA

[Peter Betts]

CLOSE ALL THESE PETTING?BREEDING FARMS DOWN and give the land to the Govt

[Lisbeth]

BIG CATS, CRUEL LIVES

Better times for lions Tom and Samson — but South Africa’s captive breeding issue remains


Samson, a lion transferred from the Seaview Predator Park in Gqebehra, walks towards Tom after being released into his enclosure at Lionsrock in Bethlehem, Free State. Both lions appear to be settling down well. (Photo: Daniel Born for Four Paws)

By Julia Evans | 19 Oct 2021

The relocation of two captive lions from Seaview Predator Park in Gqeberha to the Lionsrock sanctuary in the Free State underlines that there is still much to do, Environment Minister Barbara Creecy’s draft policy notwithstanding, before the intensive breeding of captive lions is brought under control.
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On Friday, 15 October, after travelling for more than 1,000km and a lifetime of captivity at Seaview Predator Park, two lions, Tom (11) and Samson (6), were released into Lionsrock Big Cat Sanctuary in the Free State.

The sanctuary is run by Four Paws in South Africa, a global animal welfare organisation which reveals suffering, rescues animals in need and protects them from direct human influence.

Daniel Born, PR officer at Four Paws, told Our Burning Planet that the lions are, “a little bit skittish right now, but health-wise seem to be doing well. You know it’ll take them a little while to adapt.

“Their previous enclosures were just very small and they haven’t really seen open spaces properly, so they’re very timid, hiding out in their night enclosure because they prefer a smaller space. Obviously, it’ll change over the next month or so… we’ve got good animal caretakers, they’re going to work… try and get them just a bit more confident.”


Tom, a lion transferred from the Seaview Predator Park in Gqebehra, is released into his enclosure at Lionsrock in Bethlehem, Free State. Tom was released with Samson after a 1,000km trip from Gqebehra to Bethlehem. Both lions appear to be settling down well. (Photo: Daniel Born for Four Paws)

The lions needed a place to go after their original home, Seaview Predator Park in Gqeberha, was forced to close after one of their Siberian tigers killed park employee David Solomon in June 2021 while he was fixing an electric fence near the enclosure. Four Paws had previously rescued two tigers in June, and now is helping Tom and Samson.

Fiona Miles, Director of Four Paws said, “For many years, the country allowed lions to be bred and kept in captivity unregulated. Samson and Tom are just two of an estimated 12,000 lions being held in captivity in private facilities across the country.

“These animals are often used in tourist attractions, such as cub petting, walking with opportunities for viewing purposes and may even be used for trophy hunting. The enclosures in which they are kept are inadequate and provide minimal stimulation.

“This is why we urge the South African government to act now to stop the farming of all big cats and to ban all commercial trade of big cats and their parts from, within and to South Africa, and to finally, #BreaktheViciousCycle.”

In this case, the owner has surrendered the animals to the care of Lionsrock.

Breeding parks

There are about 300 parks like Seaview Predator Park and breeding farms all over South Africa where cubs are bred as tourist attractions or sold for trophy hunting.

“There’s many examples like this,” said Born, explaining that a cub will be taken from its mom once it’s born and from birth until two to three months will be used for cub petting. When they get too big for that they will be used as photo props and for walking experiences, where they put a leash on the lion and walk it around the block or a park.

Once they’re about a year old, they are too big and pose a danger to tourists, as there’s always a chance they’re going to attack. They are put into small enclosures to breed and are then sold to be hunted and shot. After the hunters collect their “trophy” their bones are used for the international bone trade, primarily in Southeast Asia.

Born said the hunting trade is huge in South Africa, with hunters spending up to R300,000 to go on hunts.

There is also canned hunting which is even more extreme than trophy hunting. Born explained that the animals, mostly lions, are held in a small enclosure and someone will be at the back of a bakkie and shoot them from 20m or 30m away. There are laws in place to stop canned hunting, but trophy hunting still exists.


Samson is prepared for the 1,000km journey from the Seaview Predator Park in Gqubehra to Lionsrock Big Cat Sanctuary in Bethlehem, Free State.(Photo: Daniel Born for Four Paws)

Four Paws reported that every year thousands of hunters from Europe and the US come to trophy hunt wild animals, to bring home their “trophy” to display on their wall back home.

More than 200 farms in South Africa breed lions for trophy hunting and about 1,000 captive lions are killed in trophy hunting each year.

After the NSPCA and the Free State Department of Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs discovered lions in poor physical health, kept in overcrowded conditions with no access to drinking water, and 13 lion carcasses in a freezer at a lion farm in the province in August this year, Fiona Miles, Director of Four Paws in South Africa, said:

“Four Paws is appalled that this is still a reality in South Africa. Lions are being exploited for tourism, trophy hunting and trade in their body parts. We urge the South African government to act and urgently move forward with its decision to eliminate the industry.”

The draft policy

Four Paws is calling for the ban on all commercial trade of big cats and for the complete ban of human activities around big cats (such as cub petting and lion walking), and any commercial use of the lion parts (bones, teeth and claws).

Earlier this year, Environment Minister Barbara Creecy initiated a policy process for South Africa to ban intensive captive breeding of lions and rhinos, captive lion hunting and trade in captive lion parts, which includes plans to ban the breeding of lions in captivity for trophy hunting or tourists to pet.

The draft policy, on which the deadline for comment has been extended, has policy objectives that aim to halt the exploitation of lions and shut down breeding facilities.

Born says hunting is a highly lucrative business in South Africa.

“There’s a lot of money in there. There’s a lot of money that goes back into the government too. And I think that’s why [the government] is sometimes reluctant to close these things down. But I’ve got a lot of faith in our minister, I must say. I think Barbara Creecy is on the right track.

We fully support the draft legislation. It’s a much more sustainable approach to wildlife.”

Released into a sanctuary


Samson, transferred from the Seaview Predator Park in Gqebehra, is released into his enclosure at Lionsrock in Bethlehem, Free State. (Photo: Daniel Born for Four Paws)

According to the team at Four Paws, during the release at the sanctuary, Samson quickly jumped out of his transport crate while Tom calmly walked out to explore their new environment. Four Paws said the pair will live the rest of their lives in a species-appropriate enclosure, with positive stimulation, good veterinary care and diets that are nutritious for their species.

Born explained that the problem with lion parks like the one Tom and Samson came from isn’t that the lions are mistreated or abused, but that they get minimal enrichment.

“They get put out into these smaller enclosures because obviously they want the tourists to see them, to take photos,” said Born, estimating Tom and Samson came from an enclosure that was only several hectares wide, most of which is thicket.

“Lions in captivity need a lot of enrichment because… lions can sleep for 18 hours a day so they get quite fat and lazy in captivity. So they need to be provided with a lot of enrichment activities, so playing with boxes and stuff like that.”

Some would argue these tourist parks stimulate the economy.

“It does bring money into the economy,” says Born, “but I mean, there’s more ethical ways to show lions. You can build much stronger enclosures, you can give them much more space. So they’re doing basically the bare minimum to keep these lions. And it’s not a safe situation for anyone, it’s not a safe situation for tourists, for the workers, and especially for lions.”

Born says there need to be much higher standards for the parks and for the care of lions. “More than just giving them a place to stay and food, it needs to also be the mental aspect of it, it needs to be the supplementation, the veterinary care… all of that has to be considered.”

Right now Tom and Samson are in an adaptive enclosure at Lionsrock until they get used to their new environment.

In about a week when they’re more settled they’ll be released into the larger enclosure — about 125m in diameter.

Born is not sure if it will happen with Tom or Samson because it has been just the two of them for so long, but usually the next step would be to release them into a larger enclosure with other lions in a few years.

These lions can never be released into the wild, for many reasons including the fact that being inbred means their genetics would harm the wildlife population.

Lionsrock site manager Hildegard Pirker says they’ve saved more than 100 big cats from zoos, circuses, breeding facilities and other atrocious conditions worldwide, and every release is a nerve-wracking experience because, “The animals don’t know why they’re in the crates, and when they are finally released, they have so many new sights and smells, it’s all new to them.”

Born says that hopefully, sanctuaries like Lionsrock won’t have to exist in two decades.

“I just think we shouldn’t have any captive lions. Even though Lionsrock has the highest care, this isn’t the natural situation for them.”

Born says the next few years are going to be interesting regarding what will happen to the 12,000 lions that are in the same situation because there are not enough sanctuaries to take them in.

“That’s something the government’s going to have to really think hard about because they are the ones that created this problem; they need to find some sort of solution.

“An ideal thing would just be to get suitable homes, stop this whole nonsense and hopefully, one day, we only have a wild population, even if it’s a much smaller population. At least it’s a wild population.” DM/OBP

[graham]

“They get put out into these smaller enclosures because obviously they want the tourists to see them, to take photos,” said Born, estimating Tom and Samson came from an enclosure that was only several hectares wide, most of which is thicket.

Hectare is a measure of area - 100m x 100m

In about a week when they’re more settled they’ll be released into the larger enclosure — about 125m in diameter.

So about 1.25 hectares

“An ideal thing would just be to get suitable homes, stop this whole nonsense and hopefully, one day, we only have a wild population, even if it’s a much smaller population. At least it’s a wild population.”

Couldn't agree more.

[Lisbeth]

I cannot believe it...drugged lions They will have to give them drugs for their whole lives, if not.......

Rescued lions on ‘love drug’ transform from unhappy cats into friendly kitties



Lionesses play with a toy pumpkin after their oxytocin treatment. (Photo: Jessica Burkhart)

By Shaun Smillie | 12 Apr 2022

Oxytocin, the hormone that is responsible for feelings of love and social bonding, is being used with great success in helping big cats at rescue sanctuaries.
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Lion’s Rock Big Cat Sanctuary, near Bethlehem in the Free State, is where broken misfits are brought to heal. They arrive from bombed-out circuses, petting zoos and canned-lion safaris – carrying the trauma of their past lives.

Getting them to lead the lives of normal lions after years of abuse is often difficult. But now a drug being used at Lion’s Rock is showing results.

It is jokingly referred to as the “love drug” and its ability to take the edge off aggressive cats and chill them out is offering a lot of promise in the feline rescue world.

The drug is oxytocin, the hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter and is responsible for feelings of love and social bonding.

Neurologist Dr Jessica Burkhart has, for the past couple of years, been part of a group of academics from the Lion Research Center at the University of Minnesota who have been studying the effect of oxytocin on lions in Dinokeng, just north of Pretoria.

Their findings, which have proved that oxytocin does make lions more friendly, were published in the latest edition of the journal iScience.

Now Burkhart is using oxytocin on the big cats of Lion’s Rock.

“I am primarily doing introductions between unfamiliar individuals. They are just unhappy, living solitary lives. It is actually very bad for their mental and physical health,” she explains. “So it is better to put them together because they are social animals. But it is not easy to stick them together because they fight over territory – and this is where oxytocin helps a lot.”

Oxytocin recently helped with the socialisation of two lions at the sanctuary.

“I just put a pair together that had been taken away from their mothers at birth and had [each] never been with another animal. They had no idea how to behave and we were having trouble getting them to show interest in each other at the fence.

Lions who had been given oxytocin became more tolerant of other animals in their space. (Photo: Jessica Burkhart)
“With the oxytocin, we were able to get them together. And now they’re so happy together,” says Burkhart.

The academics conducted their experiments in 2018 and 2019 using a number of lions at the Kevin Richardson Wildlife Sanctuary in Dinokeng.

Lions were chosen for the experiment because of their sociability. It still proved tricky at times as the hormone had to be administered as a nasal spray, which meant getting up close. Burkhart eventually got a system going that required some deft moves – as well as a little deception.

“We tried all types of things – plastic tongs, metal tongs, whatever – but my sure method is to take a long stick and put a chunk of meat on the end of it. I then stick it against the fence, using my foot to hold it.

“The lion will come and pull on the meat and, while they are doing that, I quickly squirt the oxytocin up their nose.”

After the treatments, they found that 23 of the lions who had been given oxytocin became more tolerant of other animals in their space. They also roared less, a further indication they had mellowed out.

Even their facial expressions are said to soften under the influence of the love drug.

Oxytocin has been found to make other big cats groovy too: “I’ve worked on some cheetah relocations. It’s really awesome when you see that the cheetahs are so chilled in the crates, which is really nice because cheetahs can die from stress and anxiety,” says Burkhart.

‘No miracle drug’

The learnings from those experiments could benefit humans one day too. Oxytocin therapy could help people with neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism, post-traumatic stress and depression.

But, for the moment, the hormone is helping lions at a time when the apex predator faces an uncertain future.

“Oxytocin can be used when making up groups of lions to potentially repopulate areas,” says Kevin Richardson, a wildlife conservationist and YouTube personality who is known as the “Lion Whisperer”. Lions at his sanctuary were used for the study.

Another application of oxytocin, Richardson suggests, is to use it to help lions with anxiety disorders. But, he warns, it is not an end-all miracle drug.

“It is not a silver bullet. You still have to implement other practices of good husbandry, understanding behaviour and then also understanding that some animals just aren’t compatible.” DM168

[Richprins]

Seems ok?

[Lisbeth]

Try to think about all the consequences What happens when they go into abstinence, It's a drug!

[Lisbeth]

BAD TO THE BONE

Report on captive lions raises huge welfare, health red flags, and a zoonosis warning


In South Africa, there are up to 8,000 lions being raised in nearly 400 commercial captive breeding facilities. (Photo: Supplied)

By Don Pinnock | 17 May 2022

Zoonosis, where disease jumps from animals to humans, caused the Covid-19 pandemic. Apart from welfare concerns, the huge number of pathogens in caged and farmed lions is a time bomb waiting to explode.
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In South Africa, up to 8,000 lions are being raised in nearly 400 commercial captive breeding facilities. Every now and then the NSPCA is called in by a concerned neighbour or a conservation organisation snaps some distressing pictures. There’s very little control and no scientific studies on the effect of permanently caging wild lions or holding them on commercial farms.

In trying to get a scientific handle on this widespread industry, the NGOs Blood Lions and World Animal Protection embarked on a global search for hard facts on captive lion welfare. The results are disturbing.

Using a novel method, six wildlife scientists reviewed terms related to negative behaviour and health across 91 global studies on lions in captivity. Most of these are related to disease and injury, followed by negative behaviour, mental stress and nutritional concerns. What concerned them was a virtual absence of studies on captive lions in South Africa, a reflection of the hostility of breeders to any interference from “outsiders”.


A lion with a deformed leg. (Photo: Blood Lions)

Lions are bred for tourism interactions like cub petting and voluntourism, trophy hunting or to harvest their body parts (mainly bones) for local and international traditional medicine practices. They’re kept for purely commercial, not conservation reasons.

South African legislation allows for the commercial captive breeding of lions under a patchwork of complex laws and regulations at national and provincial level.

Internationally, African lions are the only species of the Panthera genus listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), allowing managed international commercial trade. South Africa is the only country permitted under these regulations to legally trade in lion bones, provided they are sourced from the captive-bred population.

The export of lion bones has been suspended in South Africa, but between 2007 and 2016 the country exported 70 tonnes to South-East Asia, peaking at more than 1,700 skeletons in 2016.

For many years, criticism and concern have focused on the negative animal welfare impacts and unregulated nature of the industry. When bones are the trade item, the condition of the lions they bear is irrelevant to breeders. Inspections of 95 lion farms during 2016-17 by the National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) found that nearly half of the facilities were housing lions in substandard conditions.

Across the 91 papers reviewed for the Blood Lions/World Animal Protection study, a startling 170 different terms relating to negative aspects of captive lion welfare were identified. The issues cited included self-mutilation, abnormal pacing, unnatural aggression, chronic stress, anxiety, irritation and neuroticism and antagonistic behaviour leading to injuries, most likely from inadequate environmental conditions such as overcrowding.

Poor hygiene and inadequate food, the study found, most likely contributed to a broad spectrum of diseases and clinical symptoms, including autoimmune, gastrointestinal, respiratory, musculoskeletal and neurological conditions.

Nutrition-related concerns included anaemia, dehydration and nutrient deficiencies. This, say the authors, could lead to mechanical issues such as malformation and spinal cord degeneration. Dental decay was also a problem. In addition, raising lions in small captive populations can lead to inbreeding, which increases susceptibility to infectious diseases such as bovine tuberculosis.


An emaciated lion in a South African breeding facility. (Photo: Supplied)

The premature separation of mothers and cubs and the subsequent bottle-feeding of cubs on alternative milk formula that lacks essential amino acids, such as taurine, and is deficient in vitamin A, is also practised at commercial breeding facilities. The resulting nutritional deficiencies can compromise the immune system and leave animals more susceptible to pathogens.

During 2016-17, the NSPCA Wildlife Protection Unit inspected 95 lion breeding and holding facilities across South Africa. It found poor hygiene protocols, insufficient diet, unsatisfactory enclosures, lack of enrichment, insufficient provision of shelters and lack of veterinary treatment for injured or unhealthy lions.

Two lion cubs confiscated by the NSPCA from a breeder in North West in 2019 suffered from bacterial meningoencephalitis with long-term health implications, as well as the skin conditions mange, pyoderma and alopecia.

According to the study, there are anecdotal reports of “lion abattoirs” where lions are slaughtered by tranquillising and shooting them through the ear rather than the cranium to preserve the integrity of the skull for buyers.

The writers say that, following Minister Barbara Creecy’s intention to adopt the recommendations of her Department of Environment to end the commercial use of lions in South Africa, she should now focus attention on lion farms themselves.

“Increased transparency on the conditions provided at lion farms as well as access to these facilities would ensure proper animal welfare standards are continuously met and that relevant regulations are adhered to during the transition away from the current state of the industry.”

For the record, this is the list of conditions and diseases cited in the studies the report perused relating to lions in captivity. It’s not easy reading, but it tells a story that needs to be known.

Physical problems include:

Weight loss, anaemia, loss of condition and body weight, advanced emaciation, vitamin A deficiency, stress from surrounding environment, range restriction, restriction of opportunity for social contact, disturbed daytime and night-time behaviours, abnormal pacing, stress caused by visitor presence, display of aggression, self-harm, head tossing, auto mutilation, faeces licking, refusal of food, reduction in complex and exploratory behaviour, dragging of the hind paws, neuroticism, impulsiveness, fright, distress, frustration, boredom, fearful, suspicious, tense, insecure, constrained, fearful of conspecifics, timidity.

Injury and disease include:

Capsular vasculature, chronic renal disease, echinococcosis, enlarged kidney, fibrous omental adhesions, granuloma, haematoma, lymphoma, mid-abdominal mass, perirenal cyst, polycystic kidney disease, renal cystadenoma, renal neoplasia, subclinical kidney disease, thickened capsule, carcinoma, anaplastic squamous cell carcinoma, aural disease, autoimmune disease, basal cell carcinoma, broken teeth, canine distemper virus, cardiac mesothelioma, cardiovascular disease, clinical hypertension with symptoms consistent with stroke.

Congenital disease, dental disease, dental trauma, dermatologic issues (such as foot-pad cracks and lesions), endocrine disease, endocrine tumours, endometrial carcinomas, enteric adenocarcinoma, feline distemper, fibrosarcoma (ribcage), gastrointestinal disease, genetic disease, parasites/infection, haematologic disease.


In South Africa, there are up to 8,000 lions being raised in nearly 400 commercial captive breeding facilities. (Photo: Supplied)

Haemolymphatic tumours, hepatic disease, hepatobiliary tumours, histiocytic sarcoma of the spleen, hypertrophic cardiomyopathies, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, pericarditis, integument disease, interspecific infection, leiomyosarcoma of the uterus, leiomyosarcomas, mammary gland adenocarcinoma, mammary tumours, metastatic adrenal cortical carcinoma (lung and liver), metastatic cardiac mesothelioma, multicentric lymphosarcoma (lymph nodes, liver, spleen).

Myosarcoma of the subcutis, ocular disease, rabies, renal disease, reproductive disease, reproductive tract-related disease such as pyometra, reproductive tumours, respiratory disease, toxicosis disease, trauma, tubulointerstitial nephritis, lungworm infection, anorexia, bilateral pulmonary disease, dyspnoea, corneal opacity, lameness caused by mycobacterium bovis infection, marked alopecia, tachypnoea, ataxia, gingivitis, tooth decay and fractures, oral cavity disorder, congenital biliary cystadenoma, cysts on liver and kidney, dental fractures, feline immunodeficiency virus.

Generalised muscle atrophy, head and neck abnormalities, lordosis, lumbar kyphosis, lumbar lordosis, paraparesis, parasitic infections or disease, paresis of the tail, proprioceptive deficit hind limbs, spinal ataxia, weakness, hypermetria, infectious disease.

Chronic stress, lymphocytosis suggesting possible leukaemia, malignant lymphoma bone marrow, malignant lymphoma liver, malignant lymphoma of lymph nodes, malignant lymphoma pharynx, splenomegaly, malignant lymphoma of spleen, mammalian orthoreovirus, musculoskeletal disease, neoplasia, neurologic disease, skull malformation, spinal cord degeneration. DM/OBP