If you want to see what a canned hunt is like, click here for a video clip. Warning, this is not pleasant viewing.

Canned Hunting to be Legal in South Africa?  

lion

The Northern Province of Limpopo is considering legalising canned lion hunting as part of a major policy review. The secret proposal unleashed a flood of protests from animal rights and tourism organisations when it leaked recently, with threats of a multinational boycott of Limpopo game reserves.


The proposal, outlined in a 50-page internal discussion document, argues that the concept of a 'fair chase' in commercial hunting is flawed, and suggests that trophy hunters should be free to shoot lion in the shortest possible time and with the least possible effort.


Current regulations require lions to be given a fair chance to escape hunters by not being caged, pursued from vehicles or planes, electronically tagged, or otherwise inhibited. Canned lion hunters, however, guarantee kills for their clients by confining prey to small enclosures, chasing game with 4x4 vehicles, providing bait to lure them to hunters, and often using tame animals that are hand-reared by humans and do not flee from hunters.


Animal rights activists

A coalition of South African animal rights activists said recently that both the world and South Africa's largest hunting associations, Safari Club International and the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa, had separately condemned canned lion hunting. The coalition also accuses Limpopo of deliberately sidelining conservationists and allowing the cash-rich hunting industry of 'hijacking' the policy review process.


Limpopo's conservation regulatory manager Veltus Brandt declined to respond to the boycott threats but confirmed that the discussion document proposed liberalising provincial hunting and captive lion breeding regulations. The proposed liberalisation might, he said, relax a ban on the shooting of caged lions.

Brandt stressed, however, that the proposals were meant to stimulate debate within conservation authorities and were not yet a formal provincial position paper on the issue. 

"The document was drafted by a small conservation department team, and broadly reflects the status, plans, and concerns of the hunting industry," said Brandt.

He conceded that planners had failed to consult with animal rights or conservation stakeholders. "We only intended consulting with them during the public participation phase of the policy review - after we publish a position paper," said Brandt.

lion & lioness

Hunting industry

Conceding that the strategy appeared to favour the hunting industry, Brandt said this was not deliberate and stressed that the policy review was part of a broader national rethink on conservation and hunting regulations. Brandt also pointed out that the 1,644 foreign hunters who visited Limpopo last year generated R150 million (£9.5 million) for the province by shooting 10,287 animals.

The local hunting industry currently supports 1972 professional hunting outfitters and guides, with a further 390 aspirant professional hunters registering at hunting academies in 2001. The contentious discussion document meanwhile suggests that the public's previous 'emotive'
objections to canned lion hunting can be neutralised by releasing target lions into special hunting enclosures of at least 10 square kilometres  some 21 days before being hunted.


Outrage

Outraged animal rights activists claimed that the new policy places the burden of enforcing animal welfare entirely with charities such as the National Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA). Pointing out that the NSPCA and other animal welfare organisations were in budgetary crisis, the statement by the Centre for Animal Rehabilitation (CARE), Sanwild Predator Sanctuary, Kalahari Raptor Centre, Enkosini Lion Sanctuary and Xwe, warned that Limpopo's conservation authorities were abdicating their Constitutional responsibilities.

"Any sensible person reading this dreadful document could understandably feel that the hunting industry has hijacked nature conservation in South Africa," said coalition spokesperson, Chris Mercer. Mercer also objected to suggestions that wandering lions, which had escaped from game reserves, be classified as 'vagrants' or 'migrants' and 'utilised' accordingly.

"The priority urged for such animals is their 'removal from the environment quickly, efficiently and permanently.' Such lions, say the officials, should be made available to the captive lion breeders or hunting industry wherever
possible," said Mercer. "They even propose the invasion of private land without the consent of the landowner to kill such animals under certain circumstances." There is, Mercer added, no provision for capturing wandering lions and translocating them to reputable wildlife sanctuaries for care and protection.

There are also no provisions for lions to be protected from exploitation, and the discussion document proposes that rehabilitation centres and sanctuaries continue to be prohibited because they are 'unnecessary'. 

"It is alarmingly apparent that the entities entrusted with conserving and preserving our natural heritage are in fact acting counter to their own mandate as enacted
by legislation. This is yet another example of why conservation has become, like apartheid, a dirty word," said Mercer.

Mercer adds that the discussion document suggests there are approximately 2500 captive-bred lions in South Africa. 

Sources: African Eye News Service         

 PAWTAL       South Africa Anti Animal Abuse Education & News

 

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