Further: Australia announced an immediate ban on the importation of lion carcasses as trophies. It is the first country to do so. The action came in response to public outrage over 'canned' hunts in South Africa in which lions are bred to be killed in small enclosures with no chance of escape. How a person could consider such brutality 'sport' is beyond the understanding of this writer. Australia's Minister for the Environment said, canned hunts are "appaling acts" and anyone participating in them will be unable to bring back a dead lion to Australia. About 1,000 unfortunate lions meet this disgusting and tragic end. Between 2010 and 2013, ninety-one lion carcasses and parts were imported into Australia compared to the 400 per year into the United States. The new law increases the penalty for wildlife trade offenses to 10 years imprisonment and fines up $170,000 for individuals and $850,000 for corporations.
 |
| Serengeti male |
More: {09.03.15}The EU headquartered in Brussels closed a loophole in European law that allowed the importation of hunting trophies last month. The move was welcomed by conservationists. Permits are now required for six species: African lion, polar bear, African elephant, Southern white rhinoceros, hippopotamus and argali sheep. The measure is intened to insure the hunting trophies come from sustainable sources and is aimed at criminal groups trafficking in endangered or theatened species. Permittees must convince EU authorities that sustainability criteria are met. Of course any law is only as good as its enforcement, but prior to this development the EU had no systematic scrutiny of hunting trophy importation. The loophole was abused by traffickers according to Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella. Several countries may be banned from exportation of lion carcasses including Benin, Burkina Faso and Cameroon. Between 2008 and 2012, 1,438 trophies were imported; sixty-three came from highly endangered populations in West Africa the home of a critically endangered lion subspecies. The vast majority of lion trophies come from South Africa where the
unethical practice of breeding lions for hunting purposes is a profitable business.
 |
| Etosha male |
Under CITES, the global treaty that regulates wildlife trade, stuffed animals considered trophies are regulated as "household and personal effects" and thus receive a trade exemption. Imports of wildlife products into the EU are governed by its own trade regulations and the Union is therefore free to impose stricter provsions than CITES to ensure the trade is sustainable. Conservationists want a hunting ban throughout Africa until lion numbers increase, a position endorsed by
US Person. Currently three countries: Tanzania, Namibia and South Africa are cleared under EU rules to export stuffed lions.
{09.03.15}Seeing a lion up-close in the wild is a lifetime experience. Seeing a lion
(Panthera leo) languishing behind the bars of a zoo can never equal it. Despite being an iconic carnivore at the top of the food chain, the lion is facing hard times in its native Africa, the African Wildlife Foundation tells
US Person. Five to six hundred thousand lions were believed to inhabit Africa at the beginning of the 20th century. In the past twenty years, Africa's lion population has dwindled to only about 23,000 now. Lions suffer from their fierce reputation. Humans retaliate against lions even before livestock is taken as prey or a villager attacked. Their habitat is shrinking and fragmenting as development in Africa continues at a rate to meet the needs of an expanding human population. The threat of extinction is very real. Lions are already extinct in North Africa and severely depleted in West and Central Africa. They are loosing ground in their strongholds of East and South Africa.
Recognizing the danger, the US Fish & Wildlife Service gave the lion a helping hand in October of last year, listing the species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This legal status allows more restrictions to be placed on the importation of lion carcasses as sport trophies. The AWF has recommended that all hunting of lions cease until their populations stabilize. Lions are a key component of healthy ecosystems. Their predation regulates and improves the condition of wildlife populations, especially hoofed herbivores. Lions, wild dogs and cheetahs are the most impacted by external threats preditors says AWF while being the most closely monitored and researched. The organization is focusing its conservation efforts in the Selous and Ruaha regions of southern Tanzania, the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem in Kenya, and the Kazungula and Limpopo regions of South Africa. These populations make up about 60% of the remaining wild population. Unsurprizingly, the sponsored projects target human-lion conflict resolution. In Ruaha, villages can receive rewards such as schoolbooks and veteranary medicines for turning in photographs, not carcasses, of local carnivores. In the Mara, lions are being individualized by naming, cataloging and monitoring them. So far 506 individual lions are recognized. Traditional acacia
bomas (corrals) are being lion-proofed with the addition chain-link fencing. Herders who loose livestock to lions can recieve compensation for their loss. Educating children in the value of wildlife is an important component of changing the lion-human dynamic.
 |
| credit: US Person |
Perhaps the most impressive change in the difficult relationship between the two predators is that exhibited by the Massai. Young warriors or
morans killed lions in a ritual passage of manhood. Now, they compete in a Massai Olympics were young men can demostrate their physical prowess in races, high-jumping, spear throwing, and
rungu (club) throwing. The competition provides a year long education program that allows conservationists to engage young men about the value of protecting wildlife. Tourism is a significant economic contributor in sub-Saharan Africa. It earned $36 billion for the region in 2012 according to the World Bank. In 2011, one in twenty jobs was directly or indirectly tied to tourism. Like
US Person these tourists come to see what is uniquely African--the king of the jungle. Long live the king!