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| wild lions in Kruger NP |
South Africa's government has released a lion management plan that conservation critics say is an attempt to legitimize trade in lion parts. Asian trader became interested in African lions when the decline in tiger numbers became acute. In folklore superstition, tiger and now lion bone is powdered and used to make wine and cake that supposedly cures a whole range of human ills. It is Asia's version of snake oil.
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| note light-colored mane of captive male |
The are currently 2300 wild lions in the country's national parks
[photo above, credit A Meintjes] and 800 more living in managed reserves. The plan reccomends downlisting lions from Vulnerable to Least Concern. But the data is ten years old says a trustee with LionAid, a UK charity working to save lions. There are 6,000 lions bred in captivity to basically waiting to be slaughtered in canned hunts, a morally degenerate activity that is legal in South Africa
[photo right, credit I Michler]. A breeder can be paid $5000 to $25,000 per lion shot, but can earn $1000 to $2000 more by selling the bones to a Chinese trader. Hunting trophy operators and no doubt poachers outside South Africa have already started selling lion bones. It is a small step for man's greed to legitimize the insane Asian parts trade in South Africa. Such legalization further endangers wild lions. Instead South Africa should be making plans to protect wild lions from hunting by man, eliminate the obscene canned hunt trade entirely, and establishing more protected habitat for lion populations to expand. Compare the two pictures in this post. How do you want to see lions treated by man in Africa?
