She says: “There is a great risk, if you cut off the only legal supply route, the demand will be met by wild lions in an illegal and unregulated way. This is a real concern for lion protectors. The country`s environment ministry will no longer issue permits to breed, keep, hunt or interact with captive-bred lions. At this stage, it is unclear what the future holds for the breeding and use of captive lions. Hopefully, the recent case of animal cruelty, presentations and publicity have given additional visibility to the industry and the plight of lions. Internationally, the exotic animal trade is a multi-billion dollar industry. The Humane Society of the United States ranks it second only to drug and arms trafficking in terms of revenue. “South Africa has taken a different path from other South African countries when it comes to wildlife, which has led to an extraordinary industry where lions are bred in captivity and cubs are taken from their mothers while they are still young,” said Charlie Mayhew, chief executive of Tusk, the African conservation organisation. The flyer in my hotel room in the Eastern Cape offered the opportunity to cuddle a lion cub at a nearby wildlife rescue centre. As a tourist, I had no idea if it was a well-run sanctuary or not. That was before I learned about breeding lions in captivity.

Following this decision, South Africa set an export quota of 800 lion skeletons in 2017 and doubled this amount to 1,500 in 2018. (That year`s quota was later reduced and is still the subject of an ongoing trial.) It should be noted that the ministry ultimately responsible for setting the quota has emphasized that animal welfare and related matters are outside its jurisdiction and does not have the authority to regulate these matters. The African lion population is rapidly declining, with only 22509 wild lions remaining. Nowhere is this more painful than in South Africa, where there were only 2,070 wild lions left in 2019.* In fact, the captive-bred lion industry has grown exponentially in terms of the quantity of animals, the use of these animals, and the number of people employed. Jobs include farm workers, hunting operators, taxidermists – and even slaughterhouse workers. Indeed, humanity`s fervent quest for the commercialization of nature is rarely more evident than in South Africa`s intense lion breeding. Despite years of local and international outrage, it is still legal to use these former jungle kings for a range of lucrative business activities, including trophy hunting and exporting their bones. Many captive lions are sold to hunting facilities at the end of their lives, Michler says, where they are shot by trophy hunters, sometimes in “canned hunts” in fenced areas.

Trophy hunters keep skins and heads, and their bones are often exported to Asia for use in traditional medicine. Therefore, there are no specific regulations for the prison industry, which are officially promulgated by the government. Other, more general regulations on threatened or protected species are more than a decade old and do not effectively protect these animals or regulate the industries that use them. The trade in bones raises other animal welfare concerns. Lions bred for slaughter do not have to be aesthetically pleasing (unlike trophy-hunted lions, which are specially designed to be displayed), so captive-bred lions often suffer from physical defects. Lions raised for slaughter do not need to be healthy, but diseased lions pose a risk to human health due to zoonotic diseases such as tuberculosis. When choosing an exotic animal, it is important to keep ethical considerations in mind, as many traders sell illegally. Therefore, it is your responsibility to ensure that you purchase a pet from a reputable dealer or company. In a May 2 statement, Barbara Creecy, South Africa`s Minister of Forests, Fisheries and Environment, acknowledged the “view that the captive lion breeding industry does not contribute to conservation and damages South Africa`s reputation for conservation and tourism.” The decisions we make over the next few years will undoubtedly have national and global implications for lions – indeed, for all nonhuman and human animals. Whatever happens, the actions and omissions that made this industry possible in the first place will force us to test our morality for many years to come. In addition to the lion bone trade itself, there is also a large “voluntary” sub-industry that has grown considerably and attracts international tourists.

Visitors pay to touch and spend time with the young cubs, a seemingly innocuous activity that really familiarizes young animals with human contact and prepares them for the next stages of a captive-bred lion`s life cycle.