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Thousands of lions are bred in disgusting breeding farms to be slaughtered by wealthy trophy hunters.
Other big cats are being slaughtered so they can turn their bones into "drugs" after being sold to dealers in the Far East.
The revelations come after a year-long investigation into the cruel industry led by UKL politician and philanthropist Lord Ashcroft.
His probe discovered that some of the lions were even targeted in enclosures fenced by rich trophy hunters.
The "canned hunt" industry is so despicable that even other hunting organizations want to stand out.
Among the shooters, there are British who pay thousands of dollars for the "privilege" of killing the beautiful animals, reports the Mail on Sunday.
Those who do not get shot by heartless hunters are slaughtered in slaughterhouses for their bones – used to treat ailments like rheumatism.
Besides the bones, other parts of the body are in great demand because the animal represents strength and bravery, which are supposed to be transferred to the patient.
The Global Nature Fund estimates that more than 1,000 lions are killed each year for the burgeoning bone trade, including in South Africa.
Lord Ashcroft has now criticized the British government for failing to ban the import of trophy skins – a booming industry worth tens of millions of pounds a year.
His shocking investigation revealed:
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- Clients receive photos of male captive lions by e-mail so that they can choose which one to kill
- Hunters pay up to £ 42,300 ($ 54,000) for killing depending on the size and quality of the mane
- More than 50 lions were killed for bones in a so-called "ecological farm" in just two days
- A British filmed shooting an exhausted lion with tranquilizer darts in an illegal hunt
- The lions were kept in squalid cages before being slaughtered in appalling conditions
- Tourists unwittingly encourage this horrible trade by paying to play with their little ones
The Simba operation found that in South Africa, an estimated 12,000 captive bred lions, four times more than the country's wild lions.
Babies born on the most ruthless farms are taken away from their mothers only a few days to be raised by hand.
As lions become too dangerous to be allowed near tourists, some of them are delivered to South Africa's thriving "trophy hunting" industry.
Lord Ashcroft told the Mail on Sunday: "My year-long investigation reveals the barbaric and illegal practices at the heart of the extremely shameful lion trade in South Africa.
"The survey, revealed exclusively in The Mail on Sunday Today, shows how up to 12,000 lions bred in captivity are destined either to be slaughtered by wealthy hunters – in what is often a pathetic charade of evil. 39 – a hunt – to be killed in sleazy slaughterhouses.bones can be exported to the Far East.
"The clandestine investigators, who include former Special Forces soldiers, have also exposed Britain's complicity in lions' fish farming, showing how hunters and middlemen in the country are involved. this odious trade. "
The comrade then revealed to the wealthy hunters that they pay up to £ 42,300 ($ 54,000) to slaughter a big male, often head high against a wall.
Some may not have known that the animals they had slaughtered had been bred for illegal hunting.
South Africa allows the export of 800 skeletons of lions bred in captivity each year. They pay about £ 125 ($ 161) per kilogram, or £ 4,600 ($ 5,950) for a whole skeleton, including the skull.
Almost all legal sales go to Vietnam, Thailand and Laos, where the bones are reduced to mush and turned into a cake.
But activists believe that many others leave the country each year because of the illegal smuggling of lion bones.
Dr. Mark Jones, veterinarian and policy officer at the Born Free Foundation, a charity for wildlife protection, said: "Far from contributing to the protection of wild lions, captive breeding centers cynically exploit these animals at each stage, for profit.
"In the end, many of these animals will end up in canned hunts or in the bone trade. It is industrial agriculture under another name.
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